In a news conference
at the APEC summit in the Peruvian capital, US president Barack Obama
says he wants to be respectful of the office and give US
president-elect Donald Trump the opportunity to put forward his
platform and his arguments ‘without somebody popping off ‘ at
every instance. But Obama added that he would consider whether or not
he needed to defend the ‘values or ideals’ that he cared about as
an American citizen.
Barack
Obama says reality will force Donald Trump to adjust his approach
Outgoing
president says he doesn’t intend to become his successor’s
constant critic but reserved right to speak out if his policies
breach certain values
Staff and agencies
Monday 21 November
2016 01.57 GMT
In a news conference
at the APEC summit in the Peruvian capital, US president Barack Obama
says he wants to be respectful of the office and give US
president-elect Donald Trump the opportunity to put forward his
platform and his arguments ‘without somebody popping off ‘ at
every instance. But Obama added that he would consider whether or not
he needed to defend the ‘values or ideals’ that he cared about as
an American citizen.
President Barack
Obama has warned Donald Trump he won’t be able to pursue many of
his more controversial policies once he is in office.
In his final
international speech before he leaves the White House in January,
Obama said he could not guarantee Trump would not try to implement
controversial positions he took during campaign but he could
guarantee “reality will force him to adjust” how he approaches
the issues.
Speaking at the Apec
meeting in Peru, Obama also said he did not intend to become his
successor’s constant critic – but reserved the right to speak out
if Trump or his policies breached certain “values or ideals”.
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The speech offered a
rare glimpse into his thoughts on his post-presidency.
Obama suggested once
he was out of office he would uphold the tradition of ex-presidents
stepping aside quietly to allow their successors space to govern. He
heaped praise on former president George W. Bush, saying he “could
not have been more gracious to me when I came in” and said he
wanted to give Trump the same chance to pursue his agenda “without
somebody popping off” at every turn.
But Obama suggested
there might be limits to his silence.
“As an American
citizen who cares deeply about our country, if there are issues that
have less to do with the specifics of some legislative proposal or
battle or go to core questions about our values and ideals, and if I
think that it’s necessary or helpful for me to defend those ideals,
I’ll examine it when it comes,” he said.
Obama, who has
consistently praised Bush for the way he has handled his
ex-presidency, faces a conundrum about how to handle his own. Though
he has vowed to ensure a smooth handover of power, Obama is keenly
aware he is being replaced by someone whose views on many issues are
antithetical to his own.
The president spoke
out vigorously throughout the campaign against Trump’s calls for
banning Muslim immigrants, deporting millions of people living in the
US illegally, reinstating waterboarding, repealing “Obamacare”
and canceling the Paris climate deal, to name a few. Those policy
proposals and others like them have stoked fear for many Americans
who oppose Trump and are hoping that vehement opposition from Obama
and other Democrats might prevent Trump implementing them.
Yet Obama suggested
that while he might not always hold his tongue, his goal wasn’t to
spend his time publicly disparaging the next president.
“My intention is
to, certainly for the next two months, just finish my job,” Obama
said. “And then after that, to take Michelle on vacation, get some
rest, spend time with my girls, and do some writing, do some
thinking.”
Obama’s remarks at
the news conference in Lima offered some of his most specific
indications to date of how he feels Democrats and Trump opponents
should handle the next four years. Asked whether Democrats in the
Senate should follow Republicans’ example of refusing to even
consider a supreme court nominee, Obama said they should not.
“You give them a
hearing,” said Obama, whose own supreme court nominee, Merrick
Garland, has lingered for more than half a year due to the GOP’s
insistence that no Obama nominee be considered. Obama said he
certainly didn’t want Democrats to adopt that tactic spearheaded
this year by the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell.
“That’s not why
the American people send us to Washington, to play those games,”
Obama said.
He declined to weigh
in explicitly on whether House Democrats should stick with Nancy
Pelosi as minority leader, arguing it was improper to meddle in the
vote. But he said of the California Democrat, who faces a challenge
for the leadership post: “I cannot speak highly enough of Nancy
Pelosi.”
Obama’s remarks
came as he concluded his final world tour as president. For Obama, it
was the last time he would take questions on foreign soil, a staple
of his overseas trips that his administration has seen as an
important symbol of America’s commitment to a rigorous free press.
Associated Press
contributed to this report
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