WASHINGTON -- In the early days, most Americans never saw their presidents or even their likeliness. In the modern era we cannot avoid them. Their images are everywhere. They are part of our lives. 

For me, the enduring images of Barack Obama came in those first minutes as president, when millions of people -- probably the largest group ever to descend on Washington -- saw America’s first black president sworn in to office.

Whether you were Democrat or Republican, whether you voted for him or not, when you saw the joy in those faces, it was hard not to feel the country had done a good thing.

As modern presidents do, he went on to share our best of times, victory small and large.

And he was there to share our worst days, pictures forever etched in our hearts and mind.

He had accomplishments to be proud of -- getting people back to work, for one thing.

But many times, few things went his way.

He showed so little zest for the give-and-take in deal-making that legislating requires, I once asked him if he even liked his job. He was ready for the question.

“Let me tell you, Bob, I love this job,” he said.

Saddled with an oversized, unrealistic list of expectations and promises, President Obama was assigned superhero status before even settling in.

He won the Nobel Peace Prize before actually doing anything of note. Maybe not surprising, since he was the one who said “yes we can.”

Beyond what he did or didn’t do, I keep thinking back to those first minutes of his presidency. Maybe that is when we saw his real legacy. 

After that, African-American grandmothers could finally say to their grandsons and granddaughters what my granny said to me; “See one day you could be president too.”

Until Barack Obama, there was no proof of that.