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To the Editor:

Re The Anti-Legacy, by Peter Baker (news analysis, Sunday Review, June 25):

Do you know why President Trump is working so hard to tear down former President Barack Obamas legacy? Because Mr. Obama represents everything that Mr. Trump is not: an articulate orator, a deep thinker and someone who is elegant in style, words and actions.

Mr. Obama brought grace, self-deprecating humor and sensitivity to our countrys deepest concerns, and a fearless commitment to public service. He risked his presidency over his signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act.

Barack Obama is the light, and Donald Trump is the dark, and all the world now knows it.

GABRIELLA EVANS, BELMONT, CALIF.

To the Editor:

Your online headline asks, Can Trump Destroy Obamas Legacy? Its a fair question, but the more important one is what parts of Barack Obamas legacy President Trump will keep.

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How Should We View the Obama Legacy? - New York Times

While the statement wasn't one of then-President Obama's most important pronouncements during his time in office, it was one of the most questionable, from a truth perspective. Said to Ryan Seacrest during a radio interview in March of 2014, it was a response to Obama's critics, those who mocked his denimwear, which, according to years of photographic evidence, leaned toward ill-fitting, stone-washed, and extremely "Dad"-like.

He again wore jeans on Tuesday, this time while on vacation with his family in Bali, Indonesia. The look was a definite upgrade, but the jury's still out as to whether jeans are, or should be, his thing.

"There was one episode like four years ago, in which I was wearing some loose jeans, mainly because I was out on the pitcher's mound and I didn't want to feel confined while I was pitching," Obama told Seacrest during that same conversation. The sartorial moment, which occurred in 2009, stuck with him. "I've paid my penance for that [look.] I got whacked pretty good. Since that time, my jeans fit very well." But, do they? Here's a look back; decide for yourself:

Here's the pitch in July 2009 that earned him the title of Dad jeans king:

In May of that year, cheering on the sidelines of one of his daughter's soccer games, things weren't much better. The super-wide leg, the monotone wash, the awkward length...hi, Dad.

The following year, vacationing in Martha's Vineyard, the jeans were better in the wash department -- more of a gray denim -- but the pairing of them with mandals brought the overall score down. Way down.

But sometime around 2013, he turned a corner. With Malia in Hawaii in July of that year, here's the then-president stepping up his demin game. The fit is tighter, the wash darker, the shoe far more acceptable.

He finished his presidency with no more headline-grabbing jeans debacles, and reemerged in March of this year a new (denim) man. Here he is in DC in March, after a visit to a museum with Michelle Obama. Leather jacket, T-shirt, button-down, good belt, tight jeans. Who is this guy, and what have you done with Barack Obama?

Which brings us to yesterday. The collared, short-sleeved shirt, tucked neatly into the waistband, the telltale sneakers -- it all still says "Dad," but in a far more stylish way. He's embraced a dark wash and he's acknowledged that legs have shape.

See more here:
Obama's jeans game gets strong(er) - CNN

(This story corrects typo in 10th paragraph.)

By Jessica Damiana

JAKARTA From white water rafting in Bali to visiting temples on Java, former U.S. President Barack Obama's private family holiday is being closely tracked in Indonesia where he spent four years as a child.

Obama was six when he moved to Jakarta after his American mother, Ann Dunham, married an Indonesian man following the end of her marriage to Obama's Kenyan father.

"I feel proud that my friend became a president," said Sonni Gondokusumo, 56, a former classmate of Obama at the Menteng 01 state elementary school in Jakarta.

Gondokusumo showed a class photograph of himself standing behind a young Obama, who was wearing a school beret.

"He was a clever boy. Whenever a teacher asked him to solve a problem in front of the class, he could do it," Gondokusomo told Reuters, adding he hoped to meet the former president again.

Obama remains popular in the world's most populous Muslim nation and his trip has been splashed across the media during an extended public holiday to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. The Rakyat Merdeka newspaper carried a headline "Obama loves Indonesia".

Obama returned for an official visit as president in 2010 with his wife, Michelle, but this time has brought daughters Malia and Sasha as well.

Indonesians are avid social media users and snaps of the former U.S. president walking with his family in rice fields and rafting on Bali's Ayung River have gone viral.

Obama kicked off the holiday on the island of Bali, where he stayed at the luxurious Four Seasons Resort Bali near the cultural center of Ubud.

On Wednesday, Obama and his family arrived in the city of Yogyakarta on Java island, and visited the ancient temple of Borobudur.

According to CNN Indonesia, Central Java police deployed 700 officers to secure his visit to Borobudur, a Buddhist temple dating from the 8th and 9th centuries.

Obama is due to meet President Joko Widodo on Friday at the palace in Bogor, south of Jakarta, and visit the capital on Saturday.

(Additional reporting by Fransiska Nangoy; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Nick Macfie)

WASHINGTON Leaders of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee said on Wednesday they had reached an agreement that would allow them to see memos written by former FBI Director James Comey about his meetings with President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON Four of Washington's largest business lobby groups urged Congress in a letter on Wednesday to settle their differences on government spending so they can move forward on overhauling the U.S. tax code in the next year.

Go here to read the rest:
Yes he can: 'Clever boy' Obama returns to Indonesia for family vacation - Reuters

Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday reiterated a promise to repeal former President Barack Obama's health care reforms by the end of the summer despite uncertainty over whether a Republican bill has enough votes to pass the Senate.

In a speech delivered at a Cleveland manufacturing facility, Pence defended the bill, saying its measures to expand health savings accounts and create tax credits would make insurance more affordable. He said the legislation would cut costs for businesses and give states flexibility to tailor Medicaid programs to local needs.

"(President Donald Trump) believes in state-based solutions, not one-size-fits-all Washington answers," Pence said.

After Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell abandoned plans to bring the bill to a vote this week, fresh GOP critics came forward to attack the bill, with the number of Republican senators publicly complaining about it hitting double digits.

But despite strong party opposition, Pence said the Trump administration is continuing to make "great progress every single day."

Pence's speech came a day after Ohio U.S. Sen. Rob Portman declared his opposition to the bill, catching the senator in the crosshairs of a high-stakes intraparty fight.

Portman is among Republican senators facing intense pressure back home, targeted by demonstrators, advertisement campaigns and a verbal onslaught from Gov. John Kasich, who has spearheaded GOP criticism of the Senate bill.

Pence didn't criticize Portman. Instead, Pence took aim at Democrats, saying Obama's health reforms had driven up insurance premiums and deductibles and blaming them for obstructing health care reform.

"Obamacare has failed, and Obamacare must go," Pence said. "You'd have to be a politician blinded by partisanship to believe otherwise. But, sadly, Congress is full of them."

Democrats have roundly criticized the Republican plan to scrap the Obama health care law. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has said, "Surely we can do better than what the Republican health care bill promises."

In a nod to Ohio's drug overdose problems, Pence singled out opioids in his speech Wednesday, saying the bill would provide new resources to help fight mounting death tolls. Portman has expressed concerns about the impact of slashed Medicaid funding on Ohio's ability to battle the epidemic.

Pence, toward the end of his speech, urged his audience of about 200 people to contact their representatives to put pressure on them to roll back Obama's health care law.

Steven Simons, a 57-year-old paint worker at the workshop where Pence made his speech, said he had faith in the Trump administration's ability to repeal the Democratic former president's health care reforms.

"I know they ain't got it right yet, but they will get it right," Simons said.

Simons said he's covered by employer health insurance and his coverage was reduced under Obama.

Pence also spoke about cutting taxes and bringing manufacturing jobs from overseas.

Earlier in the day, Pence participated in a round-table discussion with business leaders and toured the facility, Tendon Manufacturing, and spoke with workers who demonstrated a laser metal cutter and sheet metal fabricators.

Pence was on his fourth visit to Ohio since taking office in January.

The rest is here:
Pence: Trump will repeal Obama's health law by summer's end - ABC News

Former US president Barack Obama (2nd L), his wife Michelle (3rd L) and his daughters Sasha (front C) and Malia (2nd R) go rafting at Bongkasa Village in Badung on Bali island on June 26, 2017.

Str / AFP/Getty Images

Former President Barack Obama and his family wrapped up their five-day vacation on Indonesia's resort island of Bali and headed to the historic city of Yogyakarta on Wednesday during a nostalgic trip to the country where Obama lived for several years as a child.

Obama, his wife Michele and daughters Malia and Sasha drove to a luxury hotel in downtown Yogyakarta after arriving on a private jet at the city's military airport, said Indonesian air force base commander Air Vice Marshal Novyan Samyoga.

Samyoga was among local officials who greeted the Obamas at the tarmac. He said the family looked relaxed and was smiling in response to onlookers who greeted them with cheers.

He said that Secret Service agents did not have special requests for the Obamas' activities on the main Java island, but about 650 Indonesian security forces were deployed to secure the family in Yogyakarta, an ancient city where Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, spent years on her anthropological research.

Obama moved to Indonesia in 1967 at age 6 after his divorced mother remarried an Indonesian man. She stayed on after the marriage broke up, working as an anthropologist and development aid worker, but Obama returned to Hawaii when he was 10 to live with his grandparents.

Obama and his family were seen on a river rafting as they vacationed in Bali on Monday.

Local media reported that they also visited several tourist attractions, including a museum and rice terraces in Ubud, an arts and culture center amid hills and rice paddies.

In Yogjakarta, the Obamas are planning to visit Borobudur, the 9th century Buddhist temple, as well as the Hindu temple of Prambanan during their two-day holiday, Samyoga said.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has invited the Obamas to visit the Bogor Palace in West Java during their nine-day trip in Indonesia.

Obama is also scheduled to speak at an Indonesian Diaspora Congress in Jakarta on July 1.

2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Obama family moves from Bali to Java on Indonesia vacation - CBS News