WASHINGTON — In a hearing that at times felt less like routine oversight and more like a symbolic reckoning between two political eras, former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump faced one another across a long wooden table in a packed chamber on Capitol Hill.

The setting was formal — bright lights, rows of lawmakers, cameras lining the back wall — but the atmosphere carried an unmistakable charge. The encounter brought into sharp relief two contrasting approaches to power: one grounded in measured argument and appeals to shared ideals, the other animated by forceful assertions of achievement and national strength.

Mr. Obama, invited to deliver opening remarks, spoke first. His tone was calm and deliberate. “America is strong,” he began, “but we are not unbreakable.” Over the next several minutes, he described a country grappling with persistent economic inequality, rising health care costs and the accelerating effects of climate change.

He pointed to rural hospitals that have closed in recent years, families strained by medical debt and communities confronting more frequent extreme weather. “No nation can call itself strong if its people can’t afford to stay alive,” he said, pausing to let the words settle.

Mr. Obama’s argument was less a direct critique of his successor than a broader meditation on leadership. Strength, he suggested, was not measured solely by market performance or military spending, but by the everyday security of citizens — their ability to afford housing, medicine and education. Leadership, he said, required acknowledging problems rather than dismissing them.

Across the table, Mr. Trump listened with a fixed expression. When his turn came, he leaned toward the microphone and countered with a sweeping defense of his record.

“America has never been stronger than it is right now,” he said. He cited low unemployment rates during parts of his presidency, stock market gains and increased military funding. “You talk about problems,” he said, directing his remarks toward Mr. Obama. “I talk about results.”

The president framed his tenure as a corrective to what he described as years of weakness. He argued that renewed confidence at home and a more assertive posture abroad had restored American pride. “People are winning,” he said. “Finally winning.”

For a moment, the exchange appeared to follow a familiar script: two leaders interpreting the same national landscape through opposing lenses. But as the hearing progressed, the tone sharpened.

Mr. Obama returned to the theme of accountability. “Fixing things begins with admitting what’s broken,” he said, responding to Mr. Trump’s claim that critics focused too heavily on shortcomings.

Mr. Trump bristled. He accused his predecessor of leaving behind division and unresolved crises. The back-and-forth grew more pointed, though neither man raised his voice.

The most striking moment came when Mr. Obama, after listening to a series of broad claims about national success, posed a pointed question. Rather than challenge specific statistics, he asked whether leaders had an obligation to answer even uncomfortable inquiries directly and transparently.

Though the question referenced a personal matter, Mr. Obama framed it as a test of principle. “Strength isn’t about avoiding hard truths,” he said. “It’s about facing them.”

Mr. Trump declined to engage, calling the line of questioning inappropriate and a distraction from substantive issues. He reiterated that the hearing should focus on policy, not personal matters, and characterized the exchange as an attempt to score rhetorical points.

The room grew notably quiet as the exchange unfolded. Lawmakers who had earlier shuffled papers or whispered to aides sat still. Whatever the political allegiances in the chamber, the contrast in styles was unmistakable: Mr. Obama’s restrained cadence against Mr. Trump’s emphatic declarations.

Eventually, Mr. Trump signaled he had said all he intended to say. “People care about results, not speeches,” he concluded.

Mr. Obama offered a brief closing reflection. “Leadership isn’t about the loudest voice,” he said. “It’s about the clearest truth.”

The hearing ended without resolution or formal agreement. Outside the building, reporters pressed both camps for reaction. Mr. Obama, departing without fanfare, told journalists only that “America deserves honesty.” Representatives for Mr. Trump emphasized what they described as his record of economic and national security achievements.

In many ways, the encounter served less as a policy debate than as a vivid tableau of the country’s enduring divide. For supporters of each man, the exchange likely reinforced long-held convictions. For others, it underscored the extent to which American political discourse has become a contest not only over facts and outcomes, but over the very definition of truth and strength.

What lingers from the hearing is not a single remark but the image of two former occupants of the same office articulating fundamentally different visions of what that office demands. One argued that acknowledging pain is a prerequisite to progress. The other insisted that projecting success is itself a form of leadership.

In a chamber built for deliberation, the silence between them at times spoke as loudly as their words.