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Now, as he departs office, those hopes have largely evaporated. Tensions between African-American communities and police departments have deteriorated following a slate of high-profile shootings of unarmed black men. The man who will replace Obama in January was a leading peddler of the racially-tinged "birther" myth. A majority of Americans now say relations between blacks and whites have worsened since Obama took office.

Obama has said he never believed his election could completely erase centuries of racial conflict in America. But the decline in racial ties is nonetheless an ironic legacy for the first African-American president, one Fareed Zakaria explores in the CNN Special Report "The Legacy of Barack Obama" airing Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET.

In interviews, Obama and those who worked closely with him identify a strain of racial bias that hardened against the President, even as his election crumbled a historic racial wall.

"I think there's a reason why attitudes about my presidency among whites in Northern states are very different from whites in Southern states," Obama told Zakaria. "Are there folks whose primary concern about me has been that I seem foreign, the other? Are those who champion the 'birther' movement feeding off of bias? Absolutely."

Obama said he didn't view racism as a major component of mainstream Republican opposition to his policies. Instead, he said it exists on the political fringe. Those who have worked for him, however, do identify race as a factor in consistent Republican efforts to stymie Obama's agenda in Washington.

"It's indisputable that there was a ferocity to the opposition and a lack of respect to him that was a function of race," said David Axelrod, Obama's former senior adviser and now a CNN senior political commentator.

He recalled a moment when a powerful Republican said to him, "you know, we don't really think you should be here, but the American people thought otherwise so we're going to have to work with you."

Republicans fiercely reject the charge that race played a role in their opposition to Obama's agenda, insisting their differences are ideological. But a racial undercurrent has charged anti-Obama sentiments, even in debates over policy, from the beginning of his first term.

In a confluence of events, the first racial controversy of his presidency -- a dust-up involving the arrest of a black Harvard professor on his own porch -- coincided with the angry backlash to Obama's proposed reforms to health care, a debate that took on racist undertones during public protests.

The episode involving Henry Louis Gates in Cambridge, Massachusetts, came in July 2009, seven months into Obama's presidency. After Gates was arrested by a white police officer who accused him of disorderly conduct, Obama alleged during a press conference the police acted "stupidly" -- an assessment that drew anger from the right.

Glenn Beck, the conservative commentator, accused Obama of hating white people, and called the President a racist. A GOP congressman introduced a resolution calling on Obama to apologize.

The President did emerge two days later to concede he "could have calibrated those words differently." He invited Gates and the police officer for beers on the White House South Lawn to smooth things over.

But the incident instilled in Obama a cautionary approach toward race in the ensuing years of his presidency -- disheartening some of his supporters.

"Black moral witness falls silent because if the President can't talk about this without being sent to the woodshed, to be on an equal basis with some random cop, it's over," said Van Jones, who worked in the Obama White House during the Gates incident and is now a CNN political commentator.

Obama largely avoided discussing race for the next three years. But the topic was unavoidable in 2012 when the killing of unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin spurred new discord between police departments and African-American communities.

Obama emerged to say if he had a son, "he would look like Trayvon," a deeply personal sentiment that thrust him into the center of a fresh debate over race in America.

The ensuing years only saw the tensions deepen as repeated violent incidents drew scrutiny across the country. In places like Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, protests erupted over the police treatment of black men.

Some wanted Obama to say more in support of the emerging Black Lives Matter movement. Others accused him of siding with protesters at the expense of law enforcement. It was a balancing act that became a near-constant presence during his second term in office.

An inflection point came in June 2015, when Obama traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, to mourn the nine victims gunned down during Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. The crime was explicitly racist in nature -- the shooter declared he was there to "kill black people" -- and the President's eulogy evolved into a meditation on race at a moment of national introspection.

Obama's speech moved beyond just grief for the victims -- the President stepped directly into a national conversation about race in which he plays a central role. He declared the Confederate flag a symbol of racial oppression, and praised the renewed urgency in removing it from the South Carolina State Capitol.

At the end of his remarks, the President paused in the silent arena hall before singing the opening strains of "Amazing Grace." It was a moment that resonated deeply as the country came to terms with a shocking crime.

It was also a continuation of Obama's long public reckoning with race in America, which began well before he entered office. He detailed his upbringing in his first book, "Dreams from my Father," writing about searching for an identity as the son of a black Kenyan father and a white American mother, raised in Hawaii and Indonesia.

Those identity questions have followed him to the White House, where his status as the first American-American president has brought with it oversized expectations for his ability to cure the nation's racial divides.

"He never ran to be the first black president. He ran to be the president of the United States and he happens to be black," said Axelrod. "He needed to become a force for healing, and finding the right way to do that was something that he wrestled with."

That explanation hasn't always sat well with some prominent black leaders, who say Obama should have spoken more forcefully about the plight of black Americans.

Obama responded by delving into law enforcement practices, creating commissions and issuing recommendations to police departments for how to treat suspects and handle volatile situations. He took steps to reverse the high rates of incarceration among African-American men, including granting clemency to hundreds of people convicted of non-violent drug crimes. And he instituted the My Brother's Keeper mentorship program for young black men, a mission he says he'll continue when he leaves office.

But those efforts haven't improved Americans' view of race relations in the final days of Obama's presidency. A CNN/ORC survey in October showed 54% of Americans believe relations between blacks and whites have gotten worse since Obama became president. Fifty-seven percent of whites, and 40% of blacks, held that view.

Trump's election isn't likely to improve matters. A Pew Research Center survey taken after November's election found nearly half of US voters believe race relations will worsen under Trump. Only 25% said they would improve.

That's hardly surprising given the racially charged presidential election that Trump won. His opponents accused him of stoking racist fears during his "birther" phase, which he falsely claimed had originated with Hillary Clinton.

Speaking in July -- as the campaign was entering a bitter stretch that included accusations of racist language -- Obama described his own views of his racial legacy.

"More than anything, what I hope is that my voice has tried to get all of us as Americans to understand the difficult legacy of race; to encourage people to listen to each other," he said during a news conference in Poland.

"The legacy of slavery and Jim Crow and discrimination didn't suddenly vanish with the passage of the Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights Act, or the election of Barack Obama," he said. "Things have gotten better -- substantially better -- but we've still got a lot more work to do."

"If my voice has been true and positive, then my hope would be that it may not fix everything right away," he continued. "That's OK. We plant seeds, and somebody else maybe sits under the shade of the tree that we planted. And I'd like to think that, as best as I could, I have been true in speaking about these issues."

CORRECTION: This story has been updated to accurately reflect the year in which Trayvon Martin was killed.

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Obama's candid reflections on race - CNNPolitics.com

Hours after Fidel Castro's death was announced, President Barack Obama didn't just offer his condolences to the family of the former Cuban leader.

He also extended "a hand of friendship" to the Cuban people a reminder of his administration's efforts to renew diplomatic ties with the country's close Caribbean neighbor, but afar cry from Castro's policies ofisolation and independence.

"We know that this moment fills Cubans in Cuba and in the United States with powerful emotions, recalling the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation," Obama said in a statement. "History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure on the people and world around him."

Castro died at the age of 90. His younger brother, Ral, who succeeded him as the countrys leader, announced the death on Cuban state TV late Friday. The cause of death was notreleased.

[Marco Rubio: Castro will be remembered as evil, murderous dictator]

Shortly after Castro's death was announced, thousands took to the streets of Little Havana in Miami to celebrate the passing of a man they saw as a tyrant leader of their home country. But as The Post's Nick Miroff reported from Havana, the streets in the Cuban capital were quiet hours after the former dictator died.

A nine-day period of mourning has been declared, heavy with revolutionary symbolism, Miroff reported.

"In the days ahead, they will recall the past and also look to the future," Obama said in his statement. "As they do, the Cuban people must know that they have a friend and partner in the United States of America."

The Washington Post's Karen DeYoung explains Fidel Castro's legacy in Cuba, and how it will affect the country politically. (Peter Stevenson,Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post)

Obama has maderepairing the country's relationship with the communist island nation a priority of his administration, ordering the restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba during his second term.

"During my presidency, we have worked hard to put the past behind us, pursuing a future in which the relationship between our two countries is defined not by our differences but by the many things that we share as neighbors and friends bonds of family, culture, commerce, and common humanity," Obama said. "This engagement includes the contributions of Cuban Americans, who have done so much for our country and who care deeply about their loved ones in Cuba."

In 2014, Obama and Ral Castro simultaneously addressed their nations and announced the end of nearly six decades of animosity marked by political disagreements. By that time, Fidel Castro had been struggling with a mysterious illness and had largely disappeared from public life.

[Fidel Castro, Cuban dictator, dies at 90]

"These 50 years have shown that isolation has not worked," Obama said in a televised address. "It's time for a new approach."

Obama's decision,Ral Castro said, "deserves the respect and acknowledgement of our people."

Last spring, Obama visited Cuba, becoming the first U.S. president to do so since Calvin Coolidge did in 1928. He has since made a series of executive actions increasing trade and travel to the communist island. The United States also reopened an embassy in Havana.

Fidel Castro, who did not meet with Obama during his visit, publicly criticized the renewed relationship. In a column published shortly after Obama's historic visit, Castro listed anecdotes from decades of tumultuous relationship between the two nations.

"We don't need the empire to give us anything," Castro wrote, touting his country's independence from foreign powers and suggesting that Obama should, instead, reflect and not develop theories about Cuban politics.

In 2009, after Obama's inauguration, Castro gave him a welcoming message, telling him that"being born of a Kenyan Muslim father and a white American Christian deserves a special merit in the context of U.S. society and I am the first to recognize that."

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a Cuban American, did not mince words when he called Castro an "evil, murderous dictator" and immediately attacked Obama's more conciliatory tone, calling the president's statement "pathetic."

President-elect Donald Trump was more brief, tweeting a four-word reaction Saturday morning:

Kevin Sullivan and J.Y. Smith contributed to this story.

READ MORE:

In wake of Castros death, Cuban exiles cheer in Miami while Havana streets stay silent

How Donald Trump responded to Fidel Castros death

Secrecy shrouded details of Fidel Castros health

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Obama: History will judge Fidel Castros enormous impact on ...

Speaking in Athens, Obama said he recognized an "anger and fear in the American population" over threats of mechanization and globalization, but that Republican officials didn't use facts when making their case about the US economy.

"You've seen some of the rhetoric among Republican elected officials and activists and media. Some of it pretty troubling and not necessarily connected to facts, but being used effectively to mobilize people," Obama said at a news conference alongside Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. "And obviously, President-elect Trump tapped into that particular strain within the Republican Party and then was able to broaden that enough and get enough votes to win the election."

Obama said countries across Europe, as well as the United States, were confronting populist movements based on a fear of intruding global forces, arguing people "are less certain of their national identities or their place in the world." He said leaders should heed lessons from results in the US and in Britain, which in June voted to exit the European Union.

"It starts looking different and disorienting. And there is no doubt that has produced populist movements, both from the left and the right," he said. "That sometimes gets wrapped up in issues of ethnic identity or religious identity or cultural identity. And that can be a volatile mix."

He said Americans must guard against those trends during Trump's presidency, and insisted he, too, would speak out against divisive language even after he leaves office.

"We are going to have to guard against a rise in a crude sort of nationalism or ethnic identity or tribalism that is built around an us and a them," he said. "And I will never apologize for saying that the future of humanity and the future of the world is going to be defined by what we have in common as opposed to those things that separate us and ultimately lead us into conflict."

Explaining Trump's win to Europeans, who themselves face rising populist movements in countries across the continent, Obama theorized Americans were simply ready for a change in Washington and were not rejecting his policies outright.

"People seem to think I did a pretty good job," he said, alluding to surveys showing his job approval rating near its highest point. "And so there is this mismatch, I think, between frustration and anger. Perhaps the view of the American people was just that need to shake things up."

Obama is on a week-long, three-stop foreign swing that has taken new urgency following Trump's election. He's expecting questions from leaders in Greece, Germany and Peru about Trump's motives and his plans going forward.

Global leaders have expressed concerns over Trump's suggestion on the campaign trail that the US might not keep its current level of international commitments, including to NATO. Obama Tuesday also called Greece a "reliable ally" in its commitment to the transatlantic alliance, even under tremendous strain from the country's debt crisis.

"We are proud to count Greece as one of our closest allies and one of our greatest friends," Obama said at the news conference, commending the country's ability to meet its financial obligations to NATO despite austerity measures.

Air Force One touched down at the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport just past 3:30 a.m. ET (10:30 a.m. local time) on Tuesday, where Obama was greeted with a red carpet and an ornate display of military pageantry.

In the morning preceding his news conference, Obama paid a courtesy call to Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

Obama also sat for formal talks with Tsipras at the neo-classical presidential mansion in central Athens.

Ahead of the meeting, Obama had said he would stress that debt reduction strategies beyond austerity must be utilized in Europe going forward.

Obama is the first US president to visit Greece in 17 years, and he focused intently on the debt situation and the influx of refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war.

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Obama: Donald Trump tapped into a 'troubling' strain ...

Standing at his last rally as a political headliner during the last day of his last campaign, Obama recalled the first time he heard the rallying cry "Fired Up, Ready to Go" from a South Carolina supporter named Edith Childs. Obama paused amid his urgent advocacy for Hillary Clinton to reflect upon his own political trajectory, which after more than a decade is coming to a close.

"When I ran for the presidency in '08, the truth is not many people gave me a chance," Obama said, resting his elbows on the podium that now bears a presidential seal. "I was a skinny guy with a funny name. When I look at pictures of me speaking, I look really young."

It wasn't the first time Obama recalled the Edith Childs story; his eyes welled up with tears in Iowa during the final stop of his 2012 reelection bid when he thought back to his earlier days, when he rolled his own bags through the airport and drove an hour and half through pouring rain to meet a handful of potential supporters.

In 12 years he's gone from a US Senate candidate, riding shotgun in an aide's sedan through small-town Illinois, to a president landing on Air Force One in three states in one day to campaign for someone else.

Unprecedented in its rigor, Obama's final week on the trail is a final act for a President whose vision of hope and change has always been best administered in front of rapt and rowdy crowds gathered in America's electoral battlegrounds.

"I'm feeling a little sentimental," Obama admitted during a rally in Michigan Monday -- the first stop on a frantic one day, three-state swing. "This will probably be my last day of campaigning for a while."

With his sleeves rolled up, his jacket removed, and his square Oliver Peoples sunglasses in place, Obama has jogged on and off Air Force One 17 times since Tuesday, usually destined for a college campus where crowds can easily be mustered.

His itinerary (Ohio, North Carolina, Florida -- then North Carolina and Florida again) has effectively become a map of states Democrats think they can win, but aren't convinced they will. He's been dispatched last-minute to areas where Clinton's edge seems to be slipping. His stop in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Monday was announced only 36 hours ahead of time. A tightening race in New Hampshire prompted the Clinton campaign to schedule an election-eve appearance there in an attempt to shore up support among white, college-educated voters. He'll close the day with Michelle Obama and the Clintons in Philadelphia.

Despite the tightening contest, aides say Obama has maintained his regular calm. He's expressed some anxiety about lagging early vote numbers for African-Americans, but has been buoyed by surging statistics for Latinos. Any worry about a fresh probe into Hillary Clinton's emails was muted, even before FBI Director James Comey said Sunday the bureau's new look yielded nothing.

Some things have remained consistent. Obama has always most effectively argued his case for a progressive agenda when the election stakes are high and the odds not entirely in his favor. In 2008, he was the underdog who drew massive crowds to hear his vision of a different kind of Washington. In 2012, he was an incumbent who stumbled in his first re-election debate, only to emerge more determined to argue for another four years. And this year, he's making the case for a candidate far less popular than himself.

On most days last week Obama woke up at the White House with his schedule virtually cleared. Leaving around midday and returning late in the evening, he spent his downtime tossing a baseball around the Rose Garden with aides and tweaking his stump speech in the Oval Office. To unwind on his one night away from home, Obama stayed up late in his hotel room watching his hometown Chicago Cubs win the World Series, tweeting his congrats at 2 a.m.

In seemingly every spare moment, he's dialed African-American radio hosts across the swing states, chatting loosely backstage at his rallies and aboard Air Force One about his favorite hip-hop artists (Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper) and his paternal dating anxieties (not high, his kids have Secret Service protection) as a prelude for urgent entreaties to vote.

"Do it for me," he told listeners to Artie Goins' drive-time show in Charlotte. "If you meet somebody who says I'm thinking about not voting, you can go ahead and say, the President asked me personally."

For Obama, the stakes in this election are uniquely personal. His own speeches have cast the vote as a referendum on his record, and a Clinton victory could cement his progressive mantra of change. A loss, however, has become a nightmare scenario. Obama's vision of the US is so at odds with Donald Trump's he told a crowd of 16,000 college students in Chapel Hill the "fate of the world is teetering."

Unless Michelle Obama decides to grant the Democratic Party its most elusive wish and run for office -- something both she and her husband say isn't happening -- President Obama won't appear again at the type of loud and loose arena rallies that fueled his rise and could help elect a Democratic successor.

In 2012, during the final days of his reelection bid, Obama grew nostalgic about running his final campaign. There was little expectation then that his activity now would so closely resemble an urgent referendum for his own vision of America. For Obama, it's not an entirely unwelcome development.

"The President is having a heck of a good time being on the campaign trail," his press secretary Josh Earnest said as Obama jetted toward Columbus on Tuesday. "The President is not just having a good time, he looks like he's having a good time."

Hopscotching from swing state to swing state, Obama has skipped the retail campaigning that he delighted in during his own contests. Instead of finding the local barbecue joint or pizza parlor to glad hand and pick up a meal for the ride home, he sped from airport tarmacs directly to packed arenas and back, stopping only briefly to address overflow rooms packed with supporters who couldn't fit into his main venue.

His only detour from the campaign trail: a stop Wednesday night at a house across the street from Gloria Estefan's sprawling waterfront mansion in Miami to plot his post-White House plans. Looking out over Biscayne Bay, discussing his presidential library and foundation amid South Florida's upper echelons, the Iowa State Fair never seemed so distant.

"He's mindful of the fact that over the course of this week, this will essentially be the last big campaign swing of his political career," said Earnest, who has worked for Obama since 2007 before the primaries.

Deeply conscious of his impending exit, Obama has sought to extend the moment. His stump speech has grown longer, expanding to include new hits on Trump and new barbs against Republicans he says fueled the billionaire's ascent. Even as his supporters begin to stream out early -- "it's too hot," said one in Fayetteville on Thursday -- Obama keeps going, riling himself and the crowd over the dire state of the political discourse.

"Anybody who is upset about a 'Saturday Night Live' skit, you don't want in charge of nuclear weapons," Obama taunted in Miami on Thursday, only to pierce the anger with yet another exasperated "C'mon man!"

He's used the sarcastic meme meant to jokingly blame the President for any minor inconvenience to sternly demand credit for what Republicans claimed he could never achieve. Gas, he said in Charlotte Friday, "is two bucks a gallon."

"Thanks, Obama," he pronounced, his face glowering as he paused to turn and accept applause and cheers from the crowd.

Statistics showing key facets of his coalition turning out in smaller early vote numbers this year have driven the President to almost fatalistic language. His pitch for Clinton has evolved into a pleading call for participation by the groups whose support for him is strongest.

He took the get-out-the-vote mandate literally, listing off the closest precinct location down its street address during a rally in Jacksonville. Even his recitation of "10599 Deerwood Park Boulevard" was accompanied by cheers, applause, and a pep band.

That type of booming adoration won't be available for Obama much longer, at least in that way. This week, he's basked in it.

Stepping away from his podium in Charlotte Friday, Obama slapped the wooden sides three times -- a new custom as he works to punctuate his political legacy.

Listening to an arena explode after his closing cries of "choose hope," the President grew still. And then he pumped his arms. "Let's go!" he mouthed to no one in particular. "Let's go!"

"Grab your ticket and your suitcase," Bruce Springsteen blared on the sound system for the thousandth time, as Obama dove into another sea of hands to shake.

CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to accurately reflect where Obama's Miami event took place.

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Obama's last campaign - CNNPolitics.com

"If and when Hillary is president, what do you think will be the female equivalent of 'you weren't born in this country?'" Samantha Bee, host of "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee" on TBS (a subsidiary of Time Warner, which also owns CNN), asked Obama.

"That's an interesting question," Obama said, later adding, "I think the equivalent will be, 'She's tired, she's moody, she's being emotional.'"

"There's just something about her?" Bee asked.

"There's something about her. When men are ambitious, it's just taken for granted. Well of course they should be ambitious," he said. "When women are ambitious, why? That theme, I think, will continue throughout her presidency and it's contributed to this notion that somehow, she is hiding something."

"What a nasty woman," Bee responded, referencing what Republican nominee Donald Trump said during the final presidential debate while Clinton was speaking.

Obama discussed the importance of young people voting, noting it was the first time his daughter, Malia, voted in an election.

"The pride that she took, I think, in casting her ballot, is a pride that I think a lot of young people feel, but, you got to talk to them about the things that they care about," he said.

The President also complied with Bee who asked him to share a "spooky story" about what happens if people don't vote.

"Donald Trump could be president," Obama said.

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Obama: Hillary Clinton's ambition might be questioned if she ...