President Obama leaves office this week with a remarkable legacy already intact. He exits with grace, eloquence and optimism, his administration unblemished by scandal. The economy is humming for much of America. The U.S. standing in the world is vastly improved. He bent the arc of history toward justice.

It is a complicated legacy. His presidency, by his admission, failed its lofty promise. The country is more hyperpartisan and certainly not post-racial. How much blame Obama bears – aloof and hampered at times by his own partisanship – is a question not easily answered in the moment. But Obama and his extraordinary wife rose above racially tinged political attacks with dignity and discipline.

Listen to Obama’s first inauguration address. He accurately described the challenges he inherited – palpable fear of economic collapse, perpetual war, a health care system that excluded one in five adults. He met them all.

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