Calling the office of the presidency “bigger than any one person,” President Obama on Monday said the influence America has on a global scale will not be erased by the outcome of one election and added that Donald Trump told him the U.S. would reaffirm its commitment to the NATO alliance.
As a candidate for president, Trump said other members of the treaty organization did not contribute enough for the protections it gets in return. Trump’s position seemed to change on the topic in recent days.
Obama called the president-elect’s new support of NATO “one of the most important functions” he will be able to relay during his upcoming three-country tour.
“There is no weakening of resolve,” Obama said.
Domestically, Obama admitted last week’s major losses for the Democratic Party across the country were a political blow but encouraged his party “not to waver on our core beliefs and principles.”
“When your team loses, everybody gets deflated,” Obama said. He added, “It’s important for me not to be bigfooting that conversation.”
Obama's trip, planned when it seemed certain Hillary Clinton would win, had been designed to reassure the world that the U.S. had regained its footing after a toxic campaign that unnerved foreign capitals, noted Heather Conley, a Europe scholar at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"Now the president has the unenviable task of telling his counterparts and explaining what Europeans are now coining 'the Trump effect,'" Conley said.
For months, Obama lent credence to those concerns as he urged Americans to reject Trump. Standing alongside Singapore's prime minister in August, Obama said Trump was "woefully unprepared" because he lacked "basic knowledge" about critical issues in Europe, Asia and the Mideast. And during a visit to Japan, Obama said world leaders were rightfully "rattled" by Trump.
Now, Obama must reassure the U.S. and other countries that somehow, it will all be OK.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...nce-dems-should-reflect-on-election-loss.html
As a candidate for president, Trump said other members of the treaty organization did not contribute enough for the protections it gets in return. Trump’s position seemed to change on the topic in recent days.
Obama called the president-elect’s new support of NATO “one of the most important functions” he will be able to relay during his upcoming three-country tour.
“There is no weakening of resolve,” Obama said.
Domestically, Obama admitted last week’s major losses for the Democratic Party across the country were a political blow but encouraged his party “not to waver on our core beliefs and principles.”
“When your team loses, everybody gets deflated,” Obama said. He added, “It’s important for me not to be bigfooting that conversation.”
Obama's trip, planned when it seemed certain Hillary Clinton would win, had been designed to reassure the world that the U.S. had regained its footing after a toxic campaign that unnerved foreign capitals, noted Heather Conley, a Europe scholar at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"Now the president has the unenviable task of telling his counterparts and explaining what Europeans are now coining 'the Trump effect,'" Conley said.
For months, Obama lent credence to those concerns as he urged Americans to reject Trump. Standing alongside Singapore's prime minister in August, Obama said Trump was "woefully unprepared" because he lacked "basic knowledge" about critical issues in Europe, Asia and the Mideast. And during a visit to Japan, Obama said world leaders were rightfully "rattled" by Trump.
Now, Obama must reassure the U.S. and other countries that somehow, it will all be OK.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...nce-dems-should-reflect-on-election-loss.html
