Gallup finds that Barack Obama finished his tenure as president with a 47.9% average job approval rating.

He ranks below eight presidents and ahead of only three — Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Harry Truman — in Gallup’s polling history.

The New Republic: “Instead of mobilizing his unprecedented grassroots machine to pressure obstructionist lawmakers, support state and local candidates who shared his vision, and counter the Tea Party, Obama mothballed his campaign operation, bottling it up inside the Democratic National Committee. It was the seminal mistake of his presidency—one that set the tone for the next eight years of dashed hopes, and helped pave the way for Donald Trump to harness the pent-up demand for change Obama had unleashed.”

“The question of why—why the president and his team failed to activate the most powerful political weapon in their arsenal—has long been one of the great mysteries of the Obama era. Now, thanks to previously unpublished emails and memos obtained by the New Republic—some from the John Podesta archive released by WikiLeaks, and others made available by Obama insiders—it’s possible for the first time to see the full contours of why Movement 2.0 failed, and what could have been.”

Politico: “Obama’s enduring legacy will be as a cultural symbol, the first African-American president who represented a current of social change in the country and reflected the values and attitudes of the progressive elite. He will be remembered—and revered—by his admirers as his generation’s JFK. Lasting substantive achievements are besides the point when ascending to this iconic status.”

“The standards here are largely stylistic. And Obama checks nearly every box: He was a young president; a photogenic man with a good-looking family; a symbol of generational change; an orator given to flights of inspiring rhetoric; if not a wit exactly, a facile talker with a taste for mocking the other side.”

A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds a combined 55% of Americans believe Barack Obama – compared with the past several U.S. presidents – will either go down as one of the very best or be better than most.

Todd Purdum: “It is not too much to say that Obama did for decency in the presidency what only the best of his predecessors have ever done: He and his wife and daughters set an example for good behavior that even many of his political adversaries were forced to concede. He is leaving office seemingly confident that the country that elected him against the historical odds can’t really go wrong, for long.”

“If that promise seems a little less plausible—maybe even a good deal less—than it did when he took the oath of office eight years ago, that’s a short term setback he seems willing to risk. From the moment he first set out on his improbable odyssey, Barack Obama has always played the long game.”

David Leonhardt: “Obama leaves office as the most successful Democrat since Franklin Roosevelt. His effect on the ‘trajectory of America,’ to use his benchmark, was certainly smaller than Roosevelt’s, but is in the same league as Reagan’s. Obama did more while in office, while Reagan better protected his policy changes, thanks to Republican gains in state and congressional elections — and the victory of his chosen successor.”

“When future historians look back on today, they’re likely to come to a similar conclusion. They are also likely to believe that Obama’s vision of America was far superior to Trump’s. After all, a vast majority of Americans born in the last few decades share Obama’s vision. And history is ultimately written by the young.”

“Not since Lincoln has there been a president fundamentally shaped — in his life, convictions and outlook on the world — by reading and writing as Barack Obama,” the New York Times reports.

“Last Friday, seven days before his departure from the White House, Mr. Obama sat down in the Oval Office and talked about the indispensable role that books have played during his presidency and throughout his life — from his peripatetic and sometimes lonely boyhood, when ‘these worlds that were portable’ provided companionship, to his youth when they helped him to figure out who he was, what he thought and what was important.”

“During his eight years in the White House — in a noisy era of information overload, extreme partisanship and knee-jerk reactions — books were a sustaining source of ideas and inspiration, and gave him a renewed appreciation for the complexities and ambiguities of the human condition.”

Associated Press: “It’s unclear whether Obama will sign with Ari Emanuel. But the discussions suggest Obama has been looking to Hollywood for inspiration about ways to engage creatively and on multiple fronts, such as digital media and television. Emanuel didn’t respond to a request for comment.”

“Whatever direction he goes, Obama will not be pressed financially. Obama can expect to fetch an advance of more than $20 million for his book, said Keith Urbahn, a literary agent at Javelin DC who’s handled best-sellers for top political figures.”

President Obama is giving his final speech to the nation at 9 p.m. ET from Chicago.

It will be carried live on C-SPAN.

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