Obama, Trump
President Barack Obama cautioned against
dire predictions for Donald Trump’s presidency Monday, saying his
Republican successor faces a reality check if he tries to enact his most
controversial campaign promises.
The outgoing Democratic leader made his
comments at a wide-ranging news conference before he embarked on a
farewell visit to Europe to reassure worried allies about a man he once
warned was “unfit” to lead the United States.
Trump’s election win last week over
Hillary Clinton has been met with euphoria among his supporters, but
also with a wave of protests across the nation that are unusual for the
world’s leading democracy.
The 70-year-old Republican billionaire —
who takes office in just nine weeks — was holed up in his home office
in Manhattan with his inner circle, working to shape his new
administration.
While admitting that he had “concerns”
about his successor, the message Obama delivered on Monday was designed
to comfort those still ill at ease with Trump — and a lesson for the
billionaire populist in the art of the presidency.
Trump, a real estate developer and
reality TV star who has never held political office, has threatened to
shake up America’s most important international relationships.
But Obama said that deporting millions
of immigrants, tearing up mutual defense treaties with NATO and Japan,
and unraveling global deals on Iran’s nuclear program and the
environment were not as simple as delivering tub-thumping rhetoric.
“Regardless of what experience or assumptions he brought to the office, this office has a way of waking you up,” Obama said.
“Reality has a way of asserting itself,” he added, offering his view that Trump is pragmatic rather than ideological.
Obama said that during a meeting with
Trump at the White House last week, he had told the president-elect that
his actions can move markets, tanks and public sentiment.
“I emphasized to him that, look, in an
election like this that was so hotly contested and so divided, gestures
matter,” Obama said.
“It’s really important to try to send
some signals of unity, and to reach out to minority groups or women or
others that were concerned about the tenor of the campaign.”
“Do I have concerns? Absolutely. Of
course, I have concerns. He and I differ on a whole bunch of issues. But
the federal government and our democracy is not a speedboat — it’s an
ocean liner.”
– ‘Pragmatic’ –
Amid dire predictions about the end of
the republic and the global order, Obama said that Trump’s inexperience
in politics and lack of intellectual baggage could be an asset.
“I don’t think he is ideological. I
think ultimately he is pragmatic in that way,” he told reporters at his
first news conference since the Republican mogul defeated his Democratic
rival Clinton in last week’s presidential election.
“And that can serve him well as long as he’s got good people around him and he has a clear sense of direction,” he continued.
Trump made his first two key
appointments on Sunday — onetime Republican National Committee chair
Reince Priebus will be his White House chief of staff, and
anti-establishment media firebrand Steve Bannon his chief strategist.
The appointment of Bannon — the head of
ultra-conservative Breitbart News who has championed the so-called
“alt-right” perspective — has raised hackles, with Jewish and Muslim
leaders expressing concerns.
Asked about Trump’s choice of Bannon,
Obama gave a pass. “It would not be appropriate for me to comment on
every appointment that the president-elect starts making if I want to be
consistent with the notion that we’re going to try to facilitate a
smooth transition,” he said.
More cabinet-level appointments will be
rolled out this week, Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told
reporters in New York.
Making the vital choices for Trump’s
cabinet has sparked intense infighting, CNN reported, with one source
calling it a “knife fight.”
The New York mogul has also spent time
calling world leaders as he begins to develop ties with America’s allies
— and adversaries.
“Getting his arms around foreign policy”
is one of Trump’s four top priorities, along with health care,
immigration and taxes, as he prepares for his first 100 days as
president, Priebus said.
“I see President-elect Trump being very
calm and cool and collected. And prepared to lead the American people,”
Priebus — seen as an establishment counter-weight to Bannon — told ABC’s
“Good Morning America.”
Obama said that Trump had already conveyed a “commitment to NATO” that seemed to run against his campaign promises.
“In my conversation with the
president-elect, he expressed a great interest in maintaining our core
strategic relationships,” Obama said.
During a visit this week to Europe, and
then Peru for a summit with Asia-Pacific leaders, Obama said he would be
able to tell allies “there is no weakening of resolve when it comes to
America’s commitment to maintaining a strong and robust NATO
relationship.”
“This is a time of great change in the
world, but America’s always been a pillar of strength and a beacon of
hope to peoples around the globe. And that’s what it must continue to
be,” he said.
AFP
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