Obama's parting message: 'We're going to be okay'

Barack Obama has ended his last news conference as President with an optimistic message: "I think we're going to be okay".

"This is not just a matter of no-drama Obama," he said.

"It is true that behind closed doors I curse more than I do publicly.

"And sometimes I get mad and frustrated like everybody else does. But at my core, I think we're going to be okay."

Mr Obama was speaking just days before the inauguration of his successor Donald Trump and, despite the stark differences between him and the brash billionaire, he voiced a belief that the world could get better.

He said: "I believe in this country and I believe in the American people.

"I believe that people are more good than bad.

"I believe tragic things happen, I think there's evil in the world but I think at the end of the day, if we work hard, and if we're true to those things in us that feel true and feel alright, that the world gets a little better each time."

He also shared a few thoughts on his future plans, saying: "It's important for me to take some time to process this amazing experience that we've gone through, to make sure that my wife with whom I will be celebrating a 25th anniversary this year, is willing to re-up and put up with me for a little bit longer.

"I want to do some writing.

"I want to be quiet a little bit and not hear myself talk so darn much.

"I want to spend precious time with my girls."

Mr Obama cast his daughters as the source of his hope and as America's future, saying that, although they were disappointed by Mr Trump's victory over Democratic Party rival Hillary Clinton, they did not "mope".

He said: "We've tried to teach them hope.

"The only thing that is the end of the world is the end of the world.

"You get knocked down, you get up, you brush yourself off and you get back to work. That tended to be their attitude."

But he did say that his daughters Malia, 18, and Sasha, 15, who "surprise and enchant and impress me more and more every single day as they grow up", had decided against following their father into politics.

"I think their mother's influence shows," he said on the subject.