The phrase “not be easy” has appeared 66 times in Obama’s public remarks since the campaign of 2008, according to the American Presidency Project database. The same phrase appeared only 19 times in the public remarks of his predecessor, President George W. Bush, so Obama has managed expectations about his performance by reminding people about the difficulty of his job three times as often as Bush.

Obama wants the public to know he is shouldering his burden just as best he can. Now if only his press team would do a better job.