Today is Donald Trump's first Labor Day as president, an occasion he has chosen to celebrate with some combination of gutting the Affordable Care Act marketing budget, placing nearly a million hardworking young people in legal limbo by axing the DACA program, and resuming his on-again, off-again flirtation with goading North Korea into hitting the proverbial bright red LAUNCH button. It's a hell of a time for CNN to publish a copy of the kind, earnest letter that President Obama left to his counterpart before leaving the White House for the last time, but as luck would have it, that is exactly what they did yesterday. If the long weekend didn't already have you nostalgically yearning for the halcyon days of yore in which a functional adult still served as the nation's chief executive, this will probably do the trick.

Dear Mr. President—

Congratulations on a remarkable run.

I know that this is just the salutation and first line, but stop for a moment and consider the grace and poise and magnanimity it takes to compose a conciliatory note to a man who launched his political career by proudly championing the racist lie that the country's first black president might be a Kenyan-born Muslim usurper who is constitutionally ineligible for office. I will never understand how President Obama managed to include anything here other than, say, the outro to "Killing In The Name" and an emoji salad of of middle fingers and American flags, but this is why he was elected to two terms as President of the United States and I write on the Internet for a living. It continues:

Millions have placed their hopes in you, and all of us, regardless of party, should hope for expanded prosperity and security during your tenure.

Six weeks after receiving this heartfelt call for unity, President Trump would accuse Obama of "wiretapping" Trump Tower, an outrageous lie that forced even inveterate invertebrate Paul Ryan to stand up to his counterpart, if only for a moment.

This is a unique office, without a clear blueprint for success, so I don't know that any advice from me will be particularly helpful. Still, let me offer a few reflections from the past 8 years.

I'm not already crying, you're already crying.