Calling Donald Trump "very" engaging and gregarious, US President Barack Obama today said frequent conversations with him have been cordial and the president-elect has been open to suggestions.
"He is somebody who I think is very engaging and gregarious. I've enjoyed the conversations that we've had. He is somebody who I think is not lacking in confidence," Obama said.
After the November 8 general elections, Obama and Trump have had several talks over phone after their first meeting at the Oval Office days after the elections.
"The conversations have been cordial. He has been open to suggestions. 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 organisation on earth," Obama was quoted as saying by ABC News.
"You can't manage it the way you would manage a family business. You can't manage it the way you would manage a Senate office -- as I was a senator before I became president," he said.
"And so you have to have a strong team around you. You have to have respect for institutions and the process to make good decisions because you are inherently reliant on other folks," Obama said.
"So 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," he added.
"But there are going to be times where the only way you can make a good decision is if you have confidence that the process is working and the people that you put in charge are giving you their very best assessments," Obama said.
Not lacking in confidence, he said, is probably a prerequisite for the job.
"Or at least you have to have enough craziness to think that you can do the job. I think that he has not spent a lot of time sweating the details of, all the policies that I think that can be both a strength and a weakness. I think it depends on how he approaches it," he said.
"If it gives him fresh eyes, then that can be valuable. But it also requires you knowing what you don't know and putting in place people who do have the kinds of experience and background and knowledge that can inform good decision-making. I think it's fair to say that he and I are sort of opposites in some ways," he added.
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