Trump rips page from Obama playbook, says he 'inherited a mess' from former president

President Donald Trump said Thursday that his administration "inherited a mess" from the previous administration, echoing claims former President Barack Obama frequently made after his election in 2008 that he "inherited" a lot of problems from his predecessor, former President George W. Bush.

Indeed, the Washington Post reported in March 2009: "Over the past month, Obama has reminded the public at every turn that he is facing problems 'inherited' from the Bush administration, using increasingly bracing language to describe the challenges his administration is up against."

Trump, during a White House news conference Thursday, ripped a page from the former president's playbook, using similar language while blasting the media for "distorting" his message.

"The press, honestly, is out of control. The level of dishonesty is out of control. I ran for president to represent the citizens of our country. I am here to change the broken system so it serves their families and communities well," Trump said.

The president then vowed to "not let it happen," because I'm going to take my message straight to the people."

"As you know our administration inherited many problems across government and across the economy. To be honest, I inherited a mess. It's a mess," Trump said, citing "jobs [that] are pouring out of the country ... low pay, low wages, mass instability overseas no matter where you look."

"The Middle East? A disaster. North Korea," Trump added.

Despite all the problems he listed, however, Trump made a promise to the American people he will "take care of it."

"We'll take care of it, folks. We're going to take care of it all. I just want to let you know. I inherited a mess," Trump said.

President @realDonaldTrump: “I inherited a mess. It’s a mess.” https://t.co/g2wgwDXuPf pic.twitter.com/fNrOPdAH8a

— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 16, 2017