Barack Obama admits that they share one necessary quality to take office: confidence

President Barack Obama says he and his successor Donald Trump differ in many ways, but they share some qualities important to taking office.

In an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that aired Sunday, the current commander-in-chief called the president-elect “very engaging and gregarious” but said the two “are sort of opposites in some ways.”

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However, Obama admits that they share one necessary quality: confidence.

“It’s probably a prerequisite for the job, or at least you have to have enough craziness to think that you can do the job,” Obama said.

Obama, 55, said his conversations with Trump have been cordial, and that the 70-year-old business mogul has been open to suggestions ahead of his inauguration on Jan. 20.

“The main thing that I’ve tried to transmit is that there’s a different between governing and campaigning, so that what he has to appreciate is, as soon as you walk into this office after you’ve been sworn in, you’re now in charge of the largest organization on Earth,” Obama said.

Image zoom AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

The president also advised Trump that he must have confidence in the U.S. intelligence community in order to make positive decisions.

“When I talked to him about our intelligence agencies, what I’ve said to him is that there are going to be times where you’ve got raw intelligence that comes in and, in my experience over eight years, the intelligence community is pretty good about saying, ‘Look, we can’t say for certain what this means,’ ” Obama said.