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Former U.S. President Barack Obamas connections to Kenya are well known.

So it was perhaps not entirely surprising that Obama, whose father was a Kenyan student in the United States, spoke out ahead of the East African countrys election Tuesday, appealing for a peaceful and credible vote and urging Kenyans to reject tribal and ethnic hatred.

Obamas message stood in stark contrast to that of the current administration of President Donald Trump. The president himself, busyissuing threats to North Korea and tweeting about the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, has not personally commented on the elections in Kenya, a key U.S. partner in fighting Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabab in Somalia and a major recipient of U.S. aid.

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A supporter of the Jubilee Party of Kenya wearing a mask of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta poses with others attending a campaign rally in Nairobi, Kenya, on July 21. SIMON MAINA/AFP/Getty

The State Department and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have also been noticeably quiet. The Kenya elections did not come up once in an on-the-record press briefing held by Tillersons deputy, John Sullivan, on Tuesday, the day when Kenyans went to the polls. The department as a whole does not appear to have spoken on the issue since April 6, when it issued a travel alert warningof the potential danger of traveling to Kenya during the election period.

Related: A brutal murder in Kenya highlights why its election matters to the U.S.

In the case of other elections, such as the presidential race in Rwanda, the State Department has waited until after the polls to comment, and so a statement may be forthcoming. However, observers see the election as crucial in cementing Kenyas democracy and avoiding the kind of ethnic violence that followedthe 2007 vote and led to the deaths ofmore than 1,000 people, and Obamas comments have highlighted the Trump administration's silence.

In his Monday statement, Obama reflected on his presidential visit to Kenya in 2015. I said then that Kenya was at a crossroadsa moment of extraordinary promise but also potential peril, said Obama. As Kenyans vote in your election, the choice is once again in your hands.

The former U.S. President Barack Obama waves alongside Uhuru Kenyatta before boarding Air Force One prior to his departure from Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, on July 26, 2015. SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty

Obama called upon incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta, opposition challenger Raila Odinga and other political leaders to reject violence and incitement; respect the will of the people; urge security forces to act professionally and neutrally; and work together no matter what the outcome.

The former president also said any disputes around the result should be resolved peacefully, through Kenyas institutions and the rule of law. By Wednesday morning, it was not clear if that call had been heeded: Odinga claimed that the electronic systems of the electoral commission had been hacked using the identity of a murdered official and that preliminary results showing Kenyatta as the victor were fake.

Obama said in his statement that the run-up to the election had already seen too much incitement and appeals based on fear from all sides. But he added that the Kenyan people could make clear that you will reject those that want to deal in tribal and ethnic hatred.

Obama concluded his remarks by describing himself as a friend of the Kenyan people and asking Kenyatta, Odinga and all Kenyans to work for a future defined not by fear and division, but by unity and hope.

Obamas father, Barack Obama Sr., was a student in Kenya who studied at the University of Hawaii, where he met Obamas mother, Stanley Ann Dunham. The pair married in 1961 and had their son, Barack, in the same year. The couple divorced in 1964 and Obama Sr. returned to Kenya, where he died in 1982.

Since coming to office, Trumphas spoken to Kenyatta in a March phone call that mentioned the economic partnership and mutual dedication to overcoming security challenges shared by the two countries. Kenyatta is one of a small handful of African leaders to hear from Trump as president, while the State Department's top Africa position remains vacant since his January inauguration.

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Obama and Trump: Former President Calls for Peace in Kenya ... - Newsweek

Enter a true global leader: Barack Obama.

Obama, whose father was from Kenya and who remains a beloved adoptive native son, spoke out about the elections, imploring leaders and law enforcement to behave responsibly.

"I urge all Kenyans to work for an election -- and aftermath -- that is peaceful and credible, reinforcing confidence in your new Constitution and the future of your country," he said in a statement. "Any disputes around the election should be resolved peacefully, through Kenya's institutions and the rule of law."

President Donald Trump has had nothing to say about the election. He's spent this week on vacation, tweeting about a senator who criticized him and complaining, yet again, about the "fake news" of every reputable news source in the country.

His presidency has become an international embarrassment, partly because of the cloud of Russian collusion, but largely because of Trump himself and the choices he makes: the trigger-finger tweeting that makes him seem more pubescent than presidential, the colossal ego he puts before the good of the country, the rambling and incoherent verbiage that makes some suspect something's not quite right.

Obama has been largely silent during this calamity of a presidency. His absence from the public eye has allowed too many of us to forget what it means to be a true statesman. His message to the Kenyan government and its citizens to respect the election results and avoid violence, is a timely and necessary reminder: a public servant's role is to serve the public. It is to motivate and inspire, not to rage and whine.

It's a sad and telling state of affairs when a former president has more influence on an important American ally than a sitting one. It's not just that Trump hasn't said anything about the Kenyan elections, it's that any statement he made would likely be met with a collective shrug. He's not just widely reviled and disliked here -- he's mocked.

Obama remains respected at home and abroad, his name met with smiles and nods from many Kenyans and Americans alike. Say the name "Trump" and you'll get snickering and eye rolls.

Leadership is about policy, but it's also about professionalism, competence and character. Whether you agree with Obama's politics or not, it's hard to deny that he commands a room, that his statements about global affairs, even months after his presidency ended, command attention and respect. We may disagree over his strategy and his decisions, but it's clear that Obama took his service to the country seriously, and that he continues to be thoughtful about how best to occupy his new role.

While Trump wastes his time and ours on social media, Obama uses his position for diplomacy and human rights, turning the eyes of the world toward Kenya, whose people want peaceful and fair elections. Obama's statement helps them move toward their wish, by letting the Kenyan power players, the army and law enforcement know that more of the world is watching. This is what it means to be presidential, not petulant.

We never knew how good we had it.

Link:
Obama shows Trump how to be presidential - CNN

In fiscal year 2016, Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed 240,255 people from the country, a rate of more than 20,000 people per month. | Charles Reed/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via AP

The U.S. is deporting people more slowly than during the Obama administration despite President Donald Trumps vast immigration crackdown, according to new data from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

From Feb. 1 to June 30, ICE officials removed 84,473 people a rate of roughly 16,900 people per month. If deportations continue at the same clip until the fiscal year ends Sept. 30, federal immigration officials will have removed fewer people than they did during even the slowest years of Barack Obama's presidency.

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In fiscal year 2016, ICE removed 240,255 people from the country, a rate of more than 20,000 people per month.

In fiscal year 2012 the peak year for deportations under Obama the agency removed an average of roughly 34,000 people per month.

The lower rate of deportations doesnt mean Trump has embraced a hands-off approach to immigration enforcement. But it may mean that deportations are lagging behind arrest rates or removal orders, which by all accounts have soared since Trump took office.

Soon after being sworn in, Trump signed an order greatly broadening the universe of people who could be targeted for deportation. In the next 100 days, immigration arrests rose by nearly 38 percent compared with the same period a year earlier.

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However, an arrest doesnt always translate into a speedy deportation, and several factors have suppressed the removal rate.

First, the number of people caught trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border has dropped precipitously under Trump, an indication that his hard-line enforcement has scared people away.

Another factor is the immigration courts, which face a backlog of more than 610,000 cases, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

The case backlog grew exponentially during the Obama administration partly the result of Central Americans seeking asylum in the U.S. but the pileup has worsened under Trump. It has expanded by nearly 100,000 cases so far in the current fiscal year, an 18 percent increase.

The courts are more paralyzed than ever before, said John Sandweg, who was acting director of ICE from 2013 to 2014.

Sandweg partly blames Trumps decision to scrap policies that required federal immigration officers to place a priority on apprehending serious criminals instead of non-criminals and lower-level offenders.

When you go out and you arrest a whole bunch of people willy-nilly, [the judge] has got to fill his docket time hearing those arguments, Sandweg said.

Still, the immigration courts, which fall under the purview of the Justice Department, could get additional help in coming months.

The DOJ announced Tuesday that it had hired dozens of immigration judges since Trump took office, to meet levels funded by Congress. On top of that, the president's fiscal year 2018 budget requests 75 additional judges to help clear the backlog.

The department said it is also reviewing internal practices, procedures, and technology in order to identify ways in which it can further enhance immigration judges productivity without compromising due process.

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Trump deportations lag behind Obama levels - Politico

Vanity Fair

Michelle Obama's Post-White House Style Is Consistently on Point Vanity Fair It's been nearly 200 days since the Obamas moved out of the White House. In that time, Barack Obama may have become a style star, but Michelle Obama has simply remained one. The former First Lady is as supportive of a wide range of up-and-coming ...

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Michelle Obama's Post-White House Style Is Consistently on Point - Vanity Fair

WASHINGTON President Trump appears to have found himself a new national security adviser.

His name is Barack Obama.

Recent days have brought evidence of two foreign policy successes for the Trump administration:

Then,on Saturday, China and Russia joined in a unanimous U.N. Security Council vote to approve a U.S.-sponsored resolution with tough new sanctions on North Korea, a forceful world response to that countrys missile tests.

These two developments, in addition to being successes, had another thing in common: In both cases, the Trump administration essentially embraced Obama administration policies policies Trump previously derided as a total failure.

On North Korea, Trump has long been making threats and ultimatums, promising severe things and raising the possibility that South Korea and Japan could build nuclear arsenals. He was harshly (if vaguely) critical of the Obama administrations handling of North Korea, saying Obama and Hillary Clinton who were pushing for tougher sanctions werent being strong enough.

And now? Last week, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered soothing words about North Korea: We do not seek a regime change, we do not seek a collapse of the regime, we do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula, we do not seek an excuse to send our military north of the 38th Parallel, he said. We are trying to convey to the North Koreans: We are not your enemy, we are not your threat.

Those words cleared the way for China and Russia to support the sanctions resolution at the United Nationson Saturday, as The Washington Posts Karen DeYoung reported. Representatives of both countries mentioned Tillersons statement in casting their votes.

Under the headline Trumps North Korea policy resembles Obamas, Politicoon Mondayreported that administration officials were privately sending signals that a pre-emptive attack on North Korea is not on the table and that the Trump administration is pursuing a five-part strategy similar to the strategy undertaken by the Obama administration.

On the Islamic State, likewise, Brett McGurk, a top State Department official under both Obama and Trump, announced that steps taken by Trump notably his delegation of decision-making authority from the White House to commanders in the field contributed to the reclaiming of 8,000 square miles of Islamic State territory.

Trumps decision to give more authority to field commanders makes the military more nimble. The Obama White House was justifiably criticized for its plodding micromanagement of military strategy.But this change is a massage not a reversal of an Obama strategy Trump repeatedly derided as weak and a disaster. By the time Trump took over, the territory controlled by the Islamic State had already fallen substantially from its peak in early 2015.

Trump promised to replace the Obama strategy with a secret plan of his own. But, as DeYoung reported, Trumps Islamic State strategy looks very much like the one the Obama administration pursued: denying territory to the militants while avoiding conflict with Iran and staying out of Syrias civil war.

Its not as if Trump is about to usher in a third term for the Obama national security team. But even if these two cases turn out to be isolated and temporary, they show that within the Trump administration there is at least some instinct to tone down the wild talk and, ever so quietly, to bend to reality.

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Milbank: Meet President Trump's new foreign policy adviser Barack Obama - The Mercury News