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"I'm thinking about them as a chance to say thank you for this amazing journey, to celebrate the ways you've changed this country for the better these past eight years, and to offer some thoughts on where we all go from here," Obama wrote.

President Obama said he was following the precedent set by George Washington, who penned a farewell address to the American people over 220 years ago.

George W. Bush also delivered a farewell address in 2009 from the White House.

"Since 2009, we've faced our fair share of challenges, and come through them stronger," Obama wrote Monday.

"That's because we have never let go of a belief that has guided us ever since our founding -- our conviction that, together, we can change this country for the better."

President Obama has said that while he won't weigh in on every issue once he is out of the White House, he would consider speaking up about issues that go to "core questions" about American values and ideals.

Chicago is where President Obama got his start in politics after graduating from Harvard Law School and where the first family called home before moving to the White House. Obama's presidential library will also be located in Chicago.

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Obama to deliver farewell address in Chicago (CNN)

President Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe scatteredpetals togetheron the waters of Pearl Harbor on Tuesday in a symbolic act aimed at laying to rest the enmity of the Japanese attack 75 years ago that drew the U.S. into World War II.

In a moment consumed with history, both leaders were fixed on the future. They expressedconcernthat the lessons of the war might be forgotten amid a shifting world order and the anti-internationalist sentiment that has swept over politics around the globe, most notably with the ascendance of President-elect Donald Trump.

Even when hatred burns hottest, even when the tug of tribalism is at its most primal, we must resist the urge to turn inward, Obama said. We must resist the urge to demonize those who are different.

The ceremony was conceived of as an affirmation of close U.S. relations with Japan, once a bitter wartime enemy, andObama and Abe underscored the importance of building bonds between nations and the risks of slipping into isolationism. Their remarks also appeared to bewarnings forTrump, whose divisive campaign took aim at longstanding alliances and stoked fears with harsh rhetoric about immigrants and minorities.

Ours is an alliance of hope that will lead us to the future, Abe said, speaking to World War II veterans after paying tribute at the Pearl Harbor memorial. What has bonded us together is the power of reconciliation, made possible through the spirit of tolerance.

Obama, as has been his custom in public remarks since the election, argued for the merits of his own worldviewwithout naming Trump, saying,There is more to be won in peace than in war.

During the campaign and since his election, Trump haschallenged assumptions about U.S. commitments to the security of Asia. One of the central tenets of Obamas foreign policy was a commitment of resources toward Asia with an eye toward countering the rise of China.

But Trump has obliterated long-established protocols. He spoke with Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wendespite the U.S. policy of officially acknowledging no Chinese government other than the one in Beijing. And when he met with Abe last month in New York, Trump brought not a battalion of Asia experts but rather his daughter Ivanka.

Trump also promised last week to expand Americas nuclear arsenal after decades of a deliberate shrinking of the American and Russian stockpiles.

Let it be an armsrace, he told an MSNBC host, unnerving leaders in Asia, where North Korea and China are growing more aggressive.

Though the U.S.-Japan relationship has evolved considerably in recent decades, the healing over World War II has gone more slowly, making Abes visit to Pearl Harbor, and Obamas tripin May to Hiroshima, Japan, the site of one of the two nuclear attacks that ended the war, significant gestures.

Abe became the first Japanese prime minister to make a highly publicized visit to the USS Arizona Memorial, though three of his predecessors are thought to have visited Pearl Harbor more quietly.

Under a bright, sunny sky, Abe and Obama rode a small boat to the white memorial building in the harbor that looks out over the sunken remains of the Arizona, attacked by the Japanese on Dec. 7, 1941, killing2,403 people and thrustingthe U.S. into World War II.Abe laid a wreath in honor of the dead.

Veterans of the war gathered across the harbor to hear Obama and Abe deliver their brief speeches.

Among those in the crowd was Sterling Cale, 95, a sailor at Pearl Harbor on the day of the attack.

Of those killed that day, 1,177 were crew members of the Arizona. It was Cales job to pull bodies from the burning battleship.

Herecalled watching ashes rising from the deck of the ship. He and his crew were able to remove about 100 bodies.

On Tuesday, he looked across the water where the Arizona is submerged.

He did not come hoping to hear Abe apologize, he said.

Sorry is just a word, Cale said. What matters more is the action of coming here and going out there with our commander in chief. That says more than words.

Abe did not issue a formal apology, even as he detailed the horror of the sinking of the Arizona.

Each and every one of those servicemen had a mother and a father anxious about his safety, Abe said. Many had wives and girlfriends they loved, and many must have had children they would have loved watching grow up.

Rest in peace, precious souls of the fallen, he went on. I offer my sincere and everlasting condolences to the souls of those who lost their lives here.

After that somber expression of sorrow, Obama stepped to the lectern and declared the site a symbol of reconciliation.

Today, the alliance between the United States and Japan, bound not only by shared interests, but also rooted in common values, stands as the cornerstone of peace and stability in the Asia Pacific, and a force for progress around the globe, Obama said.

In what may be his final visit with a world leader before he leaves office in January, Obama expressed hope.

As nations and as people, we cannot choose the history that we inherit, he said. But we can choose what lessons to draw from it and use those lessons to chart our own futures.

christi.parsons@latimes.com

Follow @cparsons for news about the White House.

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UPDATES:

5:10 p.m.:This story was updated with more comments from Obama and Abe.

This story was originally published at 3:50 p.m.

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At Pearl Harbor, Obama says 'we must resist the urge to ...

Sean Spicer, the incoming White House communications director, suggested Sunday that President Obamas imposing Russian sanctions related to email hacking was politically motivated, considering China recently did far worse without punishment.

Maybe it was; maybe it wasn't, Spicer said on ABCs This Week. China took over a million records. And a White House statement wasn't even issued. So there is a question about whether there's a political retribution here versus a diplomatic response.

Obama, a Democrat leaving office next month after two terms, has insisted the hacking probe is non-political, saying, There is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections that we need to take action."

But he also has made clear his belief that the Russian hacking "create(d) more problems for the Clinton campaign than it had for the Trump campaign."

Obamas announcement Thursday of the sanctions follows the U.S. intelligence community making statements that connect Russia to the hacking and releasing of emails from the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta, the campaign chairman for 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Clinton supporters argue that the emails contributed to Clinton's defeat by Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Spicer insisted several times Sunday that Trump will decide after meeting this week with U.S. intelligence officials about whether Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin were indeed involved.

Meanwhile, he suggested that Americans, including the mainstream media, immediately and overwhelming accepted the assumption about Russias involvement without all of the facts.

Everyone in the media wants to jump forward and make a conclusion based off...anonymous sources that are coming out of the intelligence community, Spicer said.

He also argued that the Obama administrations report on the sanctions was supposed to prove Russias involvement but instead pointed out lapses in the DNCs Internet security.

What this says is that the DNC had a problem with their IT security and people tried to hack it and that (the DNC) needs to do a better job of protecting it, Spicer said.

He also seemed to suggest that Obamas punitive actions on Russia were politically motivated, considering their severity and because theyll be put in Trumps lap when he takes over the White House in three week.

You haven't seen a response like that in modern history for any action, Spicer said about Obama expelling 35 Russian diplomats and closing separate Russian compounds in Maryland and New York.

He argued that Obama took no known action two years ago when China took the million-plus records that included sensitive data on federal employees including him.

They sent everyone who had worked in the government a letter saying that youll get free monitoring of your credit, Spicer said. That's all they did.

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Spicer hints Obama's Russian sanctions 'politically motivated'

President Obama suggested in an exit interview with his former top adviser that, had he been able to run, he could have won a third term in the White House.

Describing his confidence in an America that is tolerant and full of energy, Obama said: I am confident in this vision because I'm confident that if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could've mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it.

President-elect Donald Trump fired back Monday in a tweet: "He should say that but I say NO WAY!" He cited the rise of the Islamic State terror group and trouble with Obama administration agenda items including ObamaCare.

The outgoing president made the comments as part of an extensive interview with David Axelrod, for his podcast produced by CNN and the University of Chicago. Axelrod was one of Obamas top advisers during the 2008 campaign and his first term in the White House.

I know that in conversations that I've had with people around the country, even some people who disagreed with me, they would say the vision, the direction that you point towards is the right one, Obama told Axelrod, defending his assertion.

Obama was term-limited and could not run, clearing the way for his former primary rival and secretary of state Hillary Clinton to be the partys standard-bearer in 2016. She nevertheless ran in large part on Obamas agenda, vowing to preserve some of his signature policies as Donald Trump and his Republican allies campaigned against them.

As other top Democrats have done in the wake of President-elect Trumps victory, Obama did acknowledge that Democrats and progressives face political challenges, especially in rural areas.

If we can't find some way to break through what is a complicated history in the South and start winning races there and winning back Southern white voters without betraying our commitment to civil rights and diversity -- if we can do those things, then we can win elections, he said.

Obama also warned about an era where we are looking for simple solutions that we end up starting to shut ourselves off from different points of view, shutting down debate, becoming more dogmatic, becoming more brittle. And I don't see that being a successful strategy for us winning over the country.

He reminded listeners that his party won the popular vote on Election Day, but said: We don't have very good population distribution from a democratic perspective.

Vice President Biden offered a somewhat tougher critique of his party in a similar exit interview with the Los Angeles Times.

He said his party failed to connect with working-class, largely white voters, and warned that a bit of elitism has crept in to party thinking.

He recalled watching a Trump rally in Pennsylvania near where he grew up. Theyre all the people I grew up with, he said. Theyre their kids. And theyre not racist. Theyre not sexist. But we didnt talk to them.

Excerpt from:
Obama: I could have won third term | Fox News

"I am confident in this vision because I'm confident that if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could've mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it," Obama told his former senior adviser David Axelrod in an interview for the "The Axe Files" podcast, produced by the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN.

"I know that in conversations that I've had with people around the country, even some people who disagreed with me, they would say the vision, the direction that you point towards is the right one," Obama said in the interview, which aired Monday.

"In the wake of the election and Trump winning, a lot of people have suggested that somehow, it really was a fantasy," Obama said of the hope-and-change vision he heralded in 2008. "What I would argue is, is that the culture actually did shift, that the majority does buy into the notion of a one America that is tolerant and diverse and open and full of energy and dynamism."

Neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton won a majority of the vote in the 2016 contest. Clinton beat Trump in the popular vote by almost 2.9 million ballots, though Trump won more electoral votes and thus the presidency.

In the 50-minute session, Obama repeated his suggestion Democrats had ignored entire segments of the voting population, leading to Donald Trump's win. He implied that Hillary Clinton's campaign hadn't made a vocal enough argument directed toward Americans who haven't felt the benefits of the economic recovery.

"If you think you're winning, then you have a tendency, just like in sports, maybe to play it safer," he said, adding later he believed Clinton "performed wonderfully under really tough circumstances" and was mistreated by the media.

Trump on Monday afternoon responded to the President's assertion that he could have won a third term. Though the President-elect framed Obama's comments as describing a head-to-head matchup between the pair, which Obama did not say in his interview with Axelrod.

"President Obama said that he thinks he would have won against me. He should say that but I say NO WAY! - jobs leaving, ISIS, OCare, etc.," Trump tweeted.

Trump hit Obama again on Tuesday, tweeting, "President Obama campaigned hard (and personally) in the very important swing states, and lost. The voters wanted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

Trump and Obama have largely steered clear of direct criticism of each other since the election. They met in the White House two days after Election Day and according to both parties, have talked by phone several times since.

The podcast interview was Obama's latest post-election analysis, which has focused on Democrats' failure to convince non-urban voters and a media preoccupied with negative stories about Clinton. Obama said his party this year hadn't made an emotional connection to voters in hard-hit communities, relying instead on policy points he said didn't make enough of an impact.

"We're not there on the ground communicating not only the dry policy aspects of this, but that we care about these communities, that we're bleeding for these communities," he said. "It means caring about local races, state boards or school boards and city councils and state legislative races and not thinking that somehow, just a great set of progressive policies that we present to the New York Times editorial board will win the day."

Obama cited an unlikely model for future Democratic success: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who he said had executed an effective -- if obstructionist -- strategy.

"Mitch McConnell's insight, just from a pure tactical perspective, was pretty smart and well executed, the degree of discipline that he was able to impose on his caucus was impressive. His insight was that we just have to say no to that," Obama said.

He said part of his post-presidential strategy would be developing young Democratic leaders -- including organizers, journalists and politicians -- who could galvanize voters behind a progressive agenda. He won't hesitate to weigh in on important political debates after he leaves office, he told Axelrod.

Following a period of introspection after he departs the White House, Obama said he would feel a responsibility as a citizen to voice his opinions on major issues gripping the country during Trump's administration though he would not necessarily weigh in on day-to-day activities.

"At a certain point, you make room for new voices and fresh legs," Obama said.

"That doesn't mean that if a year from now, or a year-and-a-half from now, or two years from now, there is an issue of such moment, such import, that isn't just a debate about a particular tax bill or, you know, a particular policy, but goes to some foundational issues about our democracy that I might not weigh in," Obama went on. "You know, I'm still a citizen and that carries with it duties and obligations."

Obama's first acts out of office, however, will be lower-profile. He said he'll focus on writing a book and self-analyzing his time in office. Obama and his family plan to live in Washington while his younger daughter finishes high school.

"I have to be quiet for a while. And I don't mean politically, I mean internally. I have to still myself," he said. "You have to get back in tune with your center and process what's happened before you make a bunch of good decisions."

As he concludes his term, Obama is growing sentimental about his time at the White House. He said he grew misty in a meeting of senior aides recently thinking about the end of the Obama era.

"I got through about four minutes of the thing and then started, you know, getting the hanky out," Obama said. "It feels like the band is breaking up a little bit."

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Obama's exit interview: I could've won again - CNNPolitics.com