AP’s Pace: Obama’s Legacy Will Be His ‘Lack of Scandal,’ ‘Beloved’ Family

Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Associated Press White House correspondent Julie Pace said President Barack Obama’s legacy will be the “lack of scandal” and his “beloved” family.

Partial transcript as follows:

BRZEZINSKI: The fights are definitely here but again the question is what is his legacy going to be. I think, Julie Pace, there are things that will last in time. I wonder among the few might be the Lilly Ledbetter Act, the creation of the White House council on Women and Girls and the fact this is the first African-American president of the United States.

PACE: That will be the first line in his legacy going forward. You can’t take that piece of it away from him. I think that he’s going to be looked at as a consequential president in terms of actions he took and the range of issues that he’s dealt with both in the U.S. and overseas if you look at everything from the economic crisis to the civil war in Syria. I also think though that to Mike’s point, part of his legacy will just be the lack of scandal. the fact that he and his family were really beloved by many Americans and respected by many other Americans who may disagree with them on policy. So much of the presidency is not just what you do in terms of policy, but it’s also the tone that you set. It’s how you’re viewed personally by the American public. I think that’s something that Trump will grapple with when he’s in office as well. To one of the points you were making before about Obama not having a relationship with lawmakers. One of the interesting parallels potentially between Obama and Trump is that they are both in many ways singular political figures. Obama was embraced more warmly by Democrats than Trump was by Republicans as a candidate. They have operated really in their own world. They are not of the political parties. We saw the downside to that for Obama and how Trump grapples with that could define his presidency as well.

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