Barack Obama- good, bad, lukewarm or very ordinary President of the United States

Barack Obama- good, bad, lukewarm or very ordinary President of the United States? Donald Trump is just days from taking over in the White House.

So that's it Barack Obama. Your time is up. It's time to call it a day. You've made your last speech.  This is the end of your eight years in office as the most powerful man in the free world. There have been good and bad times. Recently things have got discernibly bad and ropy. Some of your worst critics have just attacked you quite cruelly or maybe deservedly. But all things considered it could have been a whole lot worse. You could have left under a horrible dark cloud with the strong scent of controversy and infamy in your wake. It is almost impossible to tell at the moment.

And yet in the cold light of the day it hasn't really gone as well as Obama could have hoped for. Maybe he didn't need the hassle and aggravation. But sadly that more or less came with the job description Mr Obama so when it came to matters relating to foreign policy and things he did say but shouldn't have said, then perhaps he might have had it coming.

To all outward appearances Obama was smart, presentable, well mannered, civil, tactful and respectable, all the qualities you look for in an American president. But then you make statements that are not quite as pleasing to the ear as they might seem. You go off track and begin to fall into cunning political traps that should have been avoided. When you look at yourself in the mirror at night you begin to see a deeply troubled man, a man wrestling with problems that were just plain insoluble. How to solve the worries of the world Mr. President. It's not easy and never has been.

Of course there was that honeymoon period when Obama was first elected as President and all of the back slapping congratulations that accompanied that first special day in the White House. Here was the first black President of the United States and what could be better than that? It was ground breaking, a breath of fresh air and the best thing that could have happened to the United States.

All of Obama's biggest supporters and followers were just overjoyed and the world fell in love with his easy going charm, his laid back affability, that lovely air of diplomacy and the ability to say the right thing at the right time. Barack Obama would be the finest of all American presidents and the future was unquestionably positive and hopeful. Or so we thought at the time.

Admittedly everything was just fine in the land of Uncle Sam. Obama reached out across his nation and announced himself as one of the most engaging of all political leaders. The smile never really left his face and although there were the inevitable teething problems, he just shrugged them off and believed that anything was possible. America loved a frothy, sentimental Hollywood story.

But then the problems seem to come crowding in around him. The world was still a hostile and volatile place to live in and high ranking government ministers around the world began to land some nasty, wicked punches below the belt. They were verbal upper cuts and swinging hooks and they were  beginning to hurt. It was at this point that Obama started struggling and wobbling on his feet, swaying and staggering from side to side under the relentless onslaught like one of the great and late Muhammad Ali's opponents.

And then came 2016 and that more or less spelt the end of Obama's eventful Presidency. Because now there were two very frightening and grizzly bears in front of him. They snarled, snapped and ranted and raved with viciously personal insults. There were childish remarks, damaging insinuations and downright resentment. They were rather like two kids in the school playground scuffling over something trivial and then just fighting senselessly. Sadly there were no pacifying teachers to calm everybody around them so it just fizzled into a score- draw.

Obama was now faced by two more opponents. In the red corner there was Donald Trump, Now who saw that coming? At first most of us thought Trump was the most convincing April Fools joke since time immemorial. We all knew that he was one of the richest multi- billionaire businessmen of all time. We also knew that he'd been declared bankrupt and most of the world thought he was one of those ambitious opportunists. Some thought him bonkers. Excuse me America Donald wants to be President of the United States. Now what you are talking about Donald. You've had far too many bottles of Jack Daniels so please leave it to the professionals.

But oh no Donald was perfectly serious. Here was a corrupt, outspoken and in some quarters, deeply obnoxious man who hadn't a clue what he was doing. When Trump posted his credentials to the social media and the world, some of us sniggered and cackled very loudly. Suddenly America had been visited by one of Woody Allen's distant cousins. Hollywood had become a self fulfilling prophecy.

Last year Donald finally cracked America's resistance and the nation fell for it. Suddenly Donald Trump would become that very attractive poster boy, a matinee idol, a fierce and passionate speaker but perhaps foolhardy into the bargain. He began to let off steam with nonsensical frequency and there were times when Trump began to sound like somebody from Speakers Corner in London's Hyde Park. The comments were well judged and pre-meditated but whether they made any kind of sense would remain debatable.

Then in the other corner there was Hilary Clinton, wife of former President Bill. Now Hilary was a different kettle of fish. Throughout Hilary's political career there were things that happened that maybe didn't cast her in a favourable light. Of course she was dedicated, hard working and totally committed to the American heartland. She'd worked herself selflessly into the ground and tried to win over the sceptics but for the life of her it just didn't seem to be working for her. Poor Hilary. She did try but over and over again they kept hanging her out to dry.

Hilary Clinton had sold America down the Mississipi without a single paddle steamer in sight. In some circles she was devious, secretive, dishonest and  totally lacking in any stagecraft. She'd tried to buck the system, pulled wool over people's eyes and generally conducted herself in a manner that simply wasn't becoming of a woman. She'd hidden important government e-mails, gone behind their backs and, or so it seemed, got away with murder. Her hidden agendas were multiplying and there was nowhere to hide. She'd become a busted flush, yesterday's woman, apparently untrustworthy.

So there you are Barack Obama. You've now made that final speech as President of the United States and there is a chilling finality about it all, a final flourish and that signature at the end of the letter. You've lived the dream. You've shaken the hands of those in the highest corridors of world power and you may have done things you may have regretted or indeed felt good about. At times it must have felt you were losing a fighting battle but, when all is said and done, the party is now over and those dancing days are now history. Obama certainly did it his way but whether it was ever good enough only the historians will tell us.

It's time for Mr Obama to leave the White House with wife Michelle and family loyally following. He'll switch off the hall lights, close the curtains, shuffle onto the doorstep very photogenically and pose for the world's cameras. In time we may begin to think he wasn't the worst of American presidents but opinions are conflicting and the world is now beginning to turn its eye to a gentleman with blond hair, strange finger gestures, a furious turn of phrase and, in the eyes of his fiercest critics, an increasing resemblance to a used car salesman. The problem, they may believe, is that this is one very persuasive salesman. From one very admiring Brit, America, you're brilliant. These are very interesting times.