Since Pres. Barack Obama is in the final four months of his presidency, I was sort of hoping that his “Bucket List” would include live-tweeting Monday night’s presidential debate with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, he did not tweet the debate or live-blog it. He did watch in real time – apparently, he watched from the White House’s Treaty Room – but he only commented about it on Tuesday, in an interview with Ryan Seacrest. Obama’s name was invoked several times in the debate, usually by Donald Trump using it as shorthand for all of the world’s evils. Trump also called Obama “your president” to Hillary Clinton, after which (in a tweet) Hillary reminded Trump that Pres. Obama is OUR president. So what did Obama think about the debate? He thought Clinton did a great job, obviously. Some assorted quotes:

Obama’s famous penchant for dry understatement: “Anybody who was watching the debate I think got a sense that you got really sharply contrasting visions about where we should take the country. I am admittedly biased. I’ve worked with Hillary, I know her, she is well prepared, she’s got the right temperament for the job, she’s well respected around the world, she’s serious, she does her homework and she’s got a vision to put people back to work and make sure the economy is working for everybody and not just a few.”

He wouldn’t even say Trump’s name: “I would say that the other guy doesn’t have the preparation, the temperament or the core values of inclusion and making everybody have opportunities that would take our country forward.”

There’s only one real choice: “Every election is a big election. This one’s especially big just because there’s such big differences between the two candidates, and people need to register to vote. There’s only one candidate in this race — Hillary Clinton — who’s actually qualified to do the job and make good decisions for us. Regardless, you should do your own homework, but don’t sit out on this thing.”

Obama does say Trump’s name here: “I get worried when I hear somebody like Donald Trump start saying, ‘Well, I don’t necessarily know whether Japan or North Korea should be protected by us, maybe they should get their own nuclear weapon.’ That shows somebody who doesn’t pay attention to these issues and you don’t necessarily want close to the nuclear button. When you hear somebody like Trump say he thinks this is a plot of the Chinese, it’s a fraud and a hoax when 99 percent of scientists are saying, ‘No we’ve got to do something about this.’ That worries me.”

[From Us Weekly & ABC News]

Throughout 2016, whenever Obama speaks, I feel the urge to rise up out of my chair and begin the “four more years” chant. Because why can’t we keep him? I don’t mind voting for Hillary Clinton – I’m actually looking forward to it! – but Obama is my guy. I love the way Obama makes the case against Trump. I love the way Obama does everything though.

Photos courtesy of WENN.