In public, Barack Obama's giving the simple version of his beliefs for the mass public. In private, he can discuss it at a really high level.

Conservatives are much more comfortable supporting the leader who's in power than liberals.

Barack Obama is an intellectual.

Obamaism is the future of America.

At best, Trumpism will be a more right-wing version of the same old Republican Party.

President Obama is so much smarter and a better communicator than members of Congress in either party. The contrast, side by side, is almost ridiculous.

Because many people remembered a time when the Republican Party was not so extreme, and hadn't full grasped how much it had changed, people blamed Obama for his failure to get Republicans to agree with him. That blame coloured so much of how the public saw Obama during his presidency. The public thought he was dealing with a brand of Republican leader that just didn't exist any more.