Obama: 'People should take a wait and see approach' on Trump

Allahpundit wrote yesterday about Obama signaling he may be involved in political resistance to the Trump administration after he leaves office. In his last international press conference Sunday in Peru Obama publicly counseled a “wait and see” approach.

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“The President-elect now has to put together a team and put forward specifics about how he intends to govern,” Obama said. “He hasn’t had a full opportunity to do that yet and so people should take a wait and see approach in how much his policy proposals once in the white house, once he is sworn in, matches up with some of the rhetoric of this campaign,” Obama added.

“Once you’re in the oval office, once you begin interacting with world leaders, once you see the complexities of the issues—that has a way of shaping your thinking and in some cases modifying your thinking because you recognize this solemn responsibility” Obama said. He continued, “I can’t guarantee that the President-elect won’t pursue some of the positions that he has taken but what I can guarantee is that reality will force him to adjust how he approaches many of these issues.”

He’s suggesting Trump is going to be mugged by reality. This whole line of thought seems to stem from the basic framing of issues Obama has embraced for the past 8 years. There are only two groups of people in Obama’s mind, the reasonable ones who agree with him and everyone else who hasn’t come around yet. So it’s really no surprise he’s putting Trump in that last category, just as he has the entire GOP during his tenure.

Later in his remarks Obama said, “I want to be respectful of the office and give the president-elect an opportunity to put forward his platform and his arguments without somebody popping off in every instance.” He added, “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 but go to core questions about our values and our ideals, and if I think that it’s necessary or helpful for me to defend those ideals, then I’ll examine it when it comes.” Obama then added, “But what I do know is that I have to take Michelle on vacation.”

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All of this lines up with the idea that Obama is going to take a break from public life for a few months but he has left the door open to inject himself into anything which involves “core questions about our values.” Knowing Obama that’s going to be anything about Obamacare, immigration and climate change just for starters. So basically everything the incoming administration is likely to be dealing with next year. Michelle shouldn’t count on a very long vacation.

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