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"I also think that he is coming to this office with fewer set, hard-and-fast policy prescriptions than a lot of other presidents might be arriving with. I don't think he is ideological,” Obama told reporters at a news conference at the White House. “I think ultimately he’s pragmatic in that way, and that can serve him well as long as he’s got good people around him and he has a good sense of direction.”

The president’s glass-half-full view of Trump is a stark departure from the rhetoric he used on the campaign trail, when he described him as an erratic figure who’s unfit to serve as commander in chief.

In his first extended comments since meeting with Trump for roughly 90 minutes in the Oval Office last week, Obama said that Trump might realize the difficulties of taking a hatchet to his core policies, such as ObamaCare, the Iran deal and the Paris climate accord.

"Do I have concerns? Absolutely,” Obama said. “But the federal government and our democracy is not a speed boat. It’s an ocean liner.”