In one such interview, a thought-provoking piece from The Atlantic's Ta-Nehisi Coates, Obama raised the issue of drone warfare, which has become a signature policy of his administration:

"The truth is that this technology really began to take off right at the beginning of my presidency. And it wasn't until about a year, year and a half in where I began to realize that the Pentagon and our national-security apparatus and the CIA were all getting too comfortable with the technology as a tool to fight terrorism, and not being mindful enough about how that technology is being used and the dangers of a form of warfare that is so detached from what is actually happening on the ground."

"And so," Obama added, "we initiated this big process to try to get it in a box, and checks and balances, and much higher standards about when they're used."

That this is the drone narrative Obama wishes to promulgate as he leaves the Oval Office is telling. It is also false.