Watch: MSNBC's Chris Matthews mourns Obama’s imminent departure from the White House

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews mourned the imminent departure of President Barack Obama during remarks on his program Thursday.

The “Hardball” host — who famously said that a 2008 Obama speech gave him a “thrill” up his leg — seemed to be taking Obama’s retirement pretty hard.

“Let me finish tonight with the American president we're about to lose,” Matthews said. “Barack Obama is, above all, a fine man.”

“Just look at him,” Matthews continued. “Is there a husband, a father that we would wish more as a model for our sons, for our sons-in-law to have and raise our grandchildren? Is there anyone who carries himself better in word, in sentiment, in temperament, in optimism?”

Matthews said “hope” wasn’t just “the word on that poster” but a feeling the president “exemplified” during his last press briefing.

“He talked about being proud of raising patriotic daughters, about people being more good than bad, that at his core, he believes we can be OK,” Matthews said.

The president managed to offer a message of hope, Matthews said, “knowing full well who won this election who’s going to sit next to him in that car ride up to Capitol Hill on Friday, who’s going to take his place at noon.”

“The only thing that’s the end of the world, he said, is the end of the world,” he added:

He spoke not just as a political leader but as a man looking to the problems that still divide us, he said we need to imagine being the other person, growing up in the inner city without a job within 20 miles, being the guy stuck out in the country who, too, doesn't have the prospect of a job in some different 20 miles.

Matthews touted Obama’s efforts to salvage American health care, prevent wars and his work toward rights for the LGBT community all because of "his own fine good will.”

“To say that no person can make a difference, I give you the fine case of that fine man, Barack Obama,” Matthews concluded.

Video: This Obama farewell by @HardballChris is as gushy and thrill-seeking as you think it would be #TTT #Hardball pic.twitter.com/s16mNwBsqA

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 19, 2017

(H/T: Newsbusters)