As we approach America’s peaceful transfer of power, let’s take a look back at the Obama years with a nine-part oral history. It starts with the president reflecting on his own election: “My favorite memory of that day is actually driving with our daughters down Lakeshore Drive. This was the first time we had full Secret Service and Malia, who was 10, and Sasha, who was 7, were in the backseat. And Malia says, ‘Daddy, you won right?’ And I said, ‘Well, we don’t know yet. We’re still counting the votes.’ And she says, ‘There’s supposed to be a big party downtown where everybody’s going to celebrate if you win?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, that’s right.’ So she says, ‘Daddy, I’m not sure people are coming because the roads are empty.’ It was the first time they’d cleared the roads for us, and it was true, it was a little spooky, but it gave you some indication that this was now different. So that by the time you walk on stage the enormity of it hits you. You understand that it’s game time and you have to meet the moment as best you can.” From History: The Obama Years.

+ “This also gives the Internet one last chance to talk about our bromance.” In a surprise ceremony, Obama awarded Joe Biden the Presidential Medal of Freedom. (Instead of writing memoirs, these guys should do a buddy film.)

+ “We saw both the light and wariness in your eyes as you gazed at your new home.” The Bush sisters wrote a letter to Malia and Sasha Obama, eight years after welcoming them to the White House.

+ The LA Times looks at Obama’s track record as Commander in Chief, from his very aggressive drone, airstrike, and special forces campaigns (“U.S. military forces have been at war for all eight years of Obama’s tenure, the first two-term president with that distinction.”) to his decision to keep America away from the front lines as Syria descended towards tragedy. And from BBC: “Despite the pressing moral imperative, Obama remained convinced a military intervention would be a costly failure.”