Good evening. I’m Steve Kroft. Welcome to “60 Minutes Presents.” Tonight, President Barack Obama looks back at eight years in the White House. His successes. His failures and what he learned from his two terms as the nation’s chief executive and commander-in-chief.

We first met him 10 years ago, when he was in his first term as a U.S. senator from Illinois and launching an unlikely campaign for president.

As we said at the time, there had never been another presidential candidate quite like him. His last name rhymed with “Osama.”  And his middle name was Hussein.

He was half black, half white, and in terms of political experience, very green.

President Barack Obama: Steve Kroft.

Steve Kroft: Hey!

We sat down with President Obama Monday afternoon in the State Dining Room at the White House. It marked our 12th and final interview with him since he was elected president. We began by showing him a picture.

Steve Kroft: I got something I want to show you.

President Barack Obama: What do we got here? Look at that. I got to say that I feel as if I couldn’t take this kind of Chicago winter right now.

It was taken Super Bowl Sunday 2007 on a frigid day on the South Side of Chicago -- one of the last times he could walk a street without attracting a big crowd, unencumbered by Secret Service or an entourage.  It was a week before he declared his formal candidacy for president.

Steve Kroft: That was 10 years ago.

President Barack Obama: I think that’s right. That’s my mother-in-law’s house, that block, I think.

Steve Kroft: Nobody around, nobody. Nobody cared.

President Barack Obama: They didn’t. How about that?

He was an audaciously hopeful junior senator from Illinois, splitting his time between his tiny apartment in Washington and the Chicago home where he had two young daughters.

Steve Kroft: What else does he make besides tuna fish?

Malia Obama: Chili, and that’s it.

His wife was a working mom, a hospital executive and major breadwinner in the family. She wasn’t crazy about her husband being in politics.

Steve Kroft: Has it put strains on the marriage from time to time?

Michelle Obama: Oh, no.

Sen. Obama: Absolutely, it has.

Steve Kroft: But you’d let him go ahead and do this?

Michelle Obama: I think if I weren’t married to him, I’d want him to be in there. So I don’t want to stand in the way of that because we have to work out a few things. We’ve had those arguments and…

Sen. Obama: And I’ve lost them all.

It all seems like a long time ago.

Steve Kroft: So what’s the difference between this guy and the guy you are now? How much smarter are you than this guy standing on the street corner?

President Barack Obama: Well, let’s see. Obviously I’m grayer, a few more wrinkles. You know I’ll be honest with you, Steve. One of the things I’m proud about is that I think my basic character and outlook actually have not changed much. And people who are closest to me will tell you that the guy who came here is the same guy who’s leaving. And the reason I take pride for that is one of the things you worry about when you’re in the bubble, and there’s all this pomp and circumstance and hail to the chief is, do you lose touch with what you thought was important and what brought you here? And I’m proud that I don’t think I have lost touch.

Steve Kroft: If you had to write a brief description of this job beginning with wanted-- how would you describe the position? And what are the tasks? And what skills do you think you need?

President Barack Obama: Thick skin helps.

Steve Kroft: Thick skin, stamina.