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Obama explains why his mom’s parenting style worked …

100 moments from Obama's presidency

The Obamas share a moment on a freight elevator as they head to one of the inaugural balls on January 20, 2009. "It was quite chilly, so the President removed his tuxedo jacket and put it over the shoulders of his wife," White House photographer Pete Souza said. "Then they had a semi-private moment as staff members and Secret Service agents tried not to look."

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama wears 3-D glasses during a Super Bowl viewing at the White House on February 1, 2009.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama speaks with aides in the White House Oval Office on February 4, 2009. From left are Senior Advisor Pete Rouse, White House Director of Legislative Affairs Phil Schiliro, Senior Advisor David Axelrod, National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

A boy touches Obama's hair in the Oval Office on May 8, 2009. "A temporary White House staffer, Carlton Philadelphia, brought his family to the Oval Office for a farewell photo with President Obama," White House photographer Pete Souza said. "Carlton's son softly told the President he had just gotten a haircut like President Obama, and asked if he could feel the President's head to see if it felt the same as his."

100 moments from Obama's presidency

The President returns to the Oval Office after going on a hamburger run for West Wing staffers and aides on May 29, 2009.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama closes his eyes before taping his weekly radio address at the White House on June 2, 2009.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama places a flower at the Buchenwald Memorial as he visits the former concentration camp in Germany on June 5, 2009.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama stands on stage before delivering remarks to service members in Jacksonville, Florida, on October 26, 2009. "Of all the privileges I have as President, I have no greater honor than serving as your commander in chief," Obama said in his speech.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama salutes during the dignified transfer of Army Sgt. Dale R. Griffin on October 29, 2009. The President traveled to an Air Force base in Dover, Delaware, to meet a plane carrying the bodies of 18 Americans killed in Afghanistan.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

The President fist-bumps custodian Lawrence Lipscomb in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on December 3, 2009.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

The President talks on a cell phone as he steps off Marine One in Baltimore on January 29, 2010.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama plays with his daughters in the White House Rose Garden during a snowstorm on February 6, 2010.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama calls a member of Congress to discuss health care reform on March 19, 2010. A bill passed the Senate in December 2009, but there were intense negotiations before it could pass the House. The bill passed 219-212 after more than a year of bitter partisan debate. All 178 Republicans opposed it, along with 34 Democrats.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama takes the stage on a rainy day outside of Chicago on May 31, 2010. He was scheduled to give a Memorial Day speech. "When the lightning began, the Secret Service told the President that it was too dangerous to proceed," White House photographer Pete Souza said. "He took the stage by himself and informed the audience that his speech was canceled and that for everyone's safety, they should return to their buses. Later, he boarded a few of the buses to thank them for attending and apologized for not being able to speak."

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama takes questions at the G-20 Summit in Toronto on June 27, 2010. "We came to Toronto with three specific goals: to make sure the global (economic) recovery is strong and durable; to continue reforming the financial system; and to address the range of global issues that affect our prosperity and security. And we made progress in each of these areas," Obama said.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

The President puts his toe on a scale as White House travel director Marvin Nicholson tries to weigh himself in Austin, Texas, on August 8, 2010.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama shoots baskets before speaking at Cleveland State University on October 31, 2010.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama prays in the Oval Office with co-chairs of the National Prayer Breakfast on January 27, 2011. From left are U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, U.S. Rep. Tom Coburn, U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, Obama, former Arizona Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick and U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

The first family tours the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro on March 19, 2011. Obama visited Brazil, Chile and El Salvador during his trip to Latin America.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron play table tennis with students in London on May 24, 2011.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama talks backstage with Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett before a reception in Philadelphia on June 30, 2011.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama does pushups on the White House basketball court after a member of the Harlem Globetrotters made a shot on April 9, 2012.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

During an event on April 18, 2012, Obama looks out of the famous Rosa Parks bus that was restored by the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. "I just sat in there for a moment and pondered the courage and tenacity that is part of our very recent history but is also part of that long line of folks who sometimes are nameless, oftentimes didn't make the history books, but who constantly insisted on their dignity, their share of the American dream," the President said.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama congratulates cadets as they receive their diplomas from the U.S. Air Force Academy on May 23, 2012.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

The Obamas take in the Chicago skyline on June 15, 2012. The Obamas lived in Chicago before he was President, and they still own a home there.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama pretends to be caught in Spider-Man's web as he interacts with Nicholas Tamarin, 3, just outside the Oval Office on October 26, 2012. Nicholas, son of White House aide Nate Tamarin, had been out trick-or-treating. "The President told me that this was his favorite picture of the year when he saw it hanging in the West Wing a couple of weeks later," White House photographer Pete Souza said.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama takes the oath of office during his swearing-in ceremony on January 21, 2013. He is the 17th President to win a second term.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama kisses his wife during the inaugural parade in Washington. Sasha, left, takes a photo of her sister, Malia.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama and four former U.S. Presidents attend the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center and Museum on April 25, 2013. From left are Obama, Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama looks to see if it's still raining at a White House news conference on May 16, 2013.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama takes a photo with a sleeping boy at the White House during a Father's Day ice cream social on June 14, 2013.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Bo, one of the Obamas' dogs, hangs out in the Outer Oval Office as the President begins his day on November 6, 2013. "Each morning, the President always enters through this door rather than the direct outside door to the Oval Office," White House photographer Pete Souza said.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama tosses a football in the Oval Office on January 6, 2014.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama greets locals in Phoenix after touring a model home of a nonprofit's housing development on January 8, 2014.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama works on his computer aboard Air Force One on February 19, 2014.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Aides laugh as the President swats a fly in the Oval Office on May 6, 2014.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama slides across a counter to pose with staff members at a Shake Shack restaurant in Washington on May 16, 2014. Vice President Joe Biden, lower right, also did the same. "The President normally does a group photo with restaurant staff when he stops for lunch or dinner," White House Photographer Pete Souza said.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

Obama tries out a driving simulator July 15, 2014, as he tours the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Virginia. The simulator was meant to demonstrate the types of "smart" vehicles being developed at the center.

100 moments from Obama's presidency

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Obama explains why his mom's parenting style worked ...

December 30th, 2016

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Obama sanctions Russian officials over election hacking

The U.S. is ejecting dozens of Russian intelligence officials over suspected Russian cyberattacks. Video provided by Newsy Newslook

President-elect Donald Trump answers questions from the media after a day of meetings at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. on Dec. 28.(Photo: Don Emmert, AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON Responding to evidence that Russia hacked Democratic Party officials during this year's presidential election, the Obamaadministration Thursday sanctioned Russian intelligence officials, expelled 35 Russian diplomats suspected of being spiesand shut down two Russian facilities in the United States.

"These actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government, and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior," President Obama said in a statement, describing theefforts to interfere in the election as a threat to the democratic process.

Obama also suggested that the Russians sought to affect previous elections via cyber-espionage, and that the U.S. would engage in covert retaliation activity.

The administration will soon "be providing a report to Congress in the coming days about Russias efforts to interfere in our election, as well as malicious cyber activity related to our election cycle in previous elections," he said.

President-elect Donald Trump who on Wednesday said "I think we ought to get on with our lives when discussing possible sanctions" continued to downplay the allegations but said he would meet with intelligence officials soonto get more information about Russia.

It's time for our country to move on to bigger and better things.Nevertheless, in the interest of our country and its great people, I will meet with leaders of the intelligence community next week in order to be updated on the facts of this situation," he said in a statement issued Thursday evening.

Trump and his aides have said that Democrats are pushing the Russian hack story as part of an effort to explain away the loss by Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Obama’s candid reflections on race – CNNPolitics.com

Now, as he departs office, those hopes have largely evaporated. Tensions between African-American communities and police departments have deteriorated following a slate of high-profile shootings of unarmed black men. The man who will replace Obama in January was a leading peddler of the racially-tinged "birther" myth. A majority of Americans now say relations between blacks and whites have worsened since Obama took office.

Obama has said he never believed his election could completely erase centuries of racial conflict in America. But the decline in racial ties is nonetheless an ironic legacy for the first African-American president, one Fareed Zakaria explores in the CNN Special Report "The Legacy of Barack Obama" airing Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET.

In interviews, Obama and those who worked closely with him identify a strain of racial bias that hardened against the President, even as his election crumbled a historic racial wall.

"I think there's a reason why attitudes about my presidency among whites in Northern states are very different from whites in Southern states," Obama told Zakaria. "Are there folks whose primary concern about me has been that I seem foreign, the other? Are those who champion the 'birther' movement feeding off of bias? Absolutely."

Obama said he didn't view racism as a major component of mainstream Republican opposition to his policies. Instead, he said it exists on the political fringe. Those who have worked for him, however, do identify race as a factor in consistent Republican efforts to stymie Obama's agenda in Washington.

"It's indisputable that there was a ferocity to the opposition and a lack of respect to him that was a function of race," said David Axelrod, Obama's former senior adviser and now a CNN senior political commentator.

He recalled a moment when a powerful Republican said to him, "you know, we don't really think you should be here, but the American people thought otherwise so we're going to have to work with you."

Republicans fiercely reject the charge that race played a role in their opposition to Obama's agenda, insisting their differences are ideological. But a racial undercurrent has charged anti-Obama sentiments, even in debates over policy, from the beginning of his first term.

In a confluence of events, the first racial controversy of his presidency -- a dust-up involving the arrest of a black Harvard professor on his own porch -- coincided with the angry backlash to Obama's proposed reforms to health care, a debate that took on racist undertones during public protests.

The episode involving Henry Louis Gates in Cambridge, Massachusetts, came in July 2009, seven months into Obama's presidency. After Gates was arrested by a white police officer who accused him of disorderly conduct, Obama alleged during a press conference the police acted "stupidly" -- an assessment that drew anger from the right.

Glenn Beck, the conservative commentator, accused Obama of hating white people, and called the President a racist. A GOP congressman introduced a resolution calling on Obama to apologize.

The President did emerge two days later to concede he "could have calibrated those words differently." He invited Gates and the police officer for beers on the White House South Lawn to smooth things over.

But the incident instilled in Obama a cautionary approach toward race in the ensuing years of his presidency -- disheartening some of his supporters.

"Black moral witness falls silent because if the President can't talk about this without being sent to the woodshed, to be on an equal basis with some random cop, it's over," said Van Jones, who worked in the Obama White House during the Gates incident and is now a CNN political commentator.

Obama largely avoided discussing race for the next three years. But the topic was unavoidable in 2012 when the killing of unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin spurred new discord between police departments and African-American communities.

Obama emerged to say if he had a son, "he would look like Trayvon," a deeply personal sentiment that thrust him into the center of a fresh debate over race in America.

The ensuing years only saw the tensions deepen as repeated violent incidents drew scrutiny across the country. In places like Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, protests erupted over the police treatment of black men.

Some wanted Obama to say more in support of the emerging Black Lives Matter movement. Others accused him of siding with protesters at the expense of law enforcement. It was a balancing act that became a near-constant presence during his second term in office.

An inflection point came in June 2015, when Obama traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, to mourn the nine victims gunned down during Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. The crime was explicitly racist in nature -- the shooter declared he was there to "kill black people" -- and the President's eulogy evolved into a meditation on race at a moment of national introspection.

Obama's speech moved beyond just grief for the victims -- the President stepped directly into a national conversation about race in which he plays a central role. He declared the Confederate flag a symbol of racial oppression, and praised the renewed urgency in removing it from the South Carolina State Capitol.

At the end of his remarks, the President paused in the silent arena hall before singing the opening strains of "Amazing Grace." It was a moment that resonated deeply as the country came to terms with a shocking crime.

It was also a continuation of Obama's long public reckoning with race in America, which began well before he entered office. He detailed his upbringing in his first book, "Dreams from my Father," writing about searching for an identity as the son of a black Kenyan father and a white American mother, raised in Hawaii and Indonesia.

Those identity questions have followed him to the White House, where his status as the first American-American president has brought with it oversized expectations for his ability to cure the nation's racial divides.

"He never ran to be the first black president. He ran to be the president of the United States and he happens to be black," said Axelrod. "He needed to become a force for healing, and finding the right way to do that was something that he wrestled with."

That explanation hasn't always sat well with some prominent black leaders, who say Obama should have spoken more forcefully about the plight of black Americans.

Obama responded by delving into law enforcement practices, creating commissions and issuing recommendations to police departments for how to treat suspects and handle volatile situations. He took steps to reverse the high rates of incarceration among African-American men, including granting clemency to hundreds of people convicted of non-violent drug crimes. And he instituted the My Brother's Keeper mentorship program for young black men, a mission he says he'll continue when he leaves office.

But those efforts haven't improved Americans' view of race relations in the final days of Obama's presidency. A CNN/ORC survey in October showed 54% of Americans believe relations between blacks and whites have gotten worse since Obama became president. Fifty-seven percent of whites, and 40% of blacks, held that view.

Trump's election isn't likely to improve matters. A Pew Research Center survey taken after November's election found nearly half of US voters believe race relations will worsen under Trump. Only 25% said they would improve.

That's hardly surprising given the racially charged presidential election that Trump won. His opponents accused him of stoking racist fears during his "birther" phase, which he falsely claimed had originated with Hillary Clinton.

Speaking in July -- as the campaign was entering a bitter stretch that included accusations of racist language -- Obama described his own views of his racial legacy.

"More than anything, what I hope is that my voice has tried to get all of us as Americans to understand the difficult legacy of race; to encourage people to listen to each other," he said during a news conference in Poland.

"The legacy of slavery and Jim Crow and discrimination didn't suddenly vanish with the passage of the Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights Act, or the election of Barack Obama," he said. "Things have gotten better -- substantially better -- but we've still got a lot more work to do."

"If my voice has been true and positive, then my hope would be that it may not fix everything right away," he continued. "That's OK. We plant seeds, and somebody else maybe sits under the shade of the tree that we planted. And I'd like to think that, as best as I could, I have been true in speaking about these issues."

CORRECTION: This story has been updated to accurately reflect the year in which Trayvon Martin was killed.

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Obama's candid reflections on race - CNNPolitics.com

December 11th, 2016

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Obama: History will judge Fidel Castros enormous impact on …

Hours after Fidel Castro's death was announced, President Barack Obama didn't just offer his condolences to the family of the former Cuban leader.

He also extended "a hand of friendship" to the Cuban people a reminder of his administration's efforts to renew diplomatic ties with the country's close Caribbean neighbor, but afar cry from Castro's policies ofisolation and independence.

"We know that this moment fills Cubans in Cuba and in the United States with powerful emotions, recalling the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation," Obama said in a statement. "History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure on the people and world around him."

Castro died at the age of 90. His younger brother, Ral, who succeeded him as the countrys leader, announced the death on Cuban state TV late Friday. The cause of death was notreleased.

[Marco Rubio: Castro will be remembered as evil, murderous dictator]

Shortly after Castro's death was announced, thousands took to the streets of Little Havana in Miami to celebrate the passing of a man they saw as a tyrant leader of their home country. But as The Post's Nick Miroff reported from Havana, the streets in the Cuban capital were quiet hours after the former dictator died.

A nine-day period of mourning has been declared, heavy with revolutionary symbolism, Miroff reported.

"In the days ahead, they will recall the past and also look to the future," Obama said in his statement. "As they do, the Cuban people must know that they have a friend and partner in the United States of America."

The Washington Post's Karen DeYoung explains Fidel Castro's legacy in Cuba, and how it will affect the country politically. (Peter Stevenson,Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post)

Obama has maderepairing the country's relationship with the communist island nation a priority of his administration, ordering the restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba during his second term.

"During my presidency, we have worked hard to put the past behind us, pursuing a future in which the relationship between our two countries is defined not by our differences but by the many things that we share as neighbors and friends bonds of family, culture, commerce, and common humanity," Obama said. "This engagement includes the contributions of Cuban Americans, who have done so much for our country and who care deeply about their loved ones in Cuba."

In 2014, Obama and Ral Castro simultaneously addressed their nations and announced the end of nearly six decades of animosity marked by political disagreements. By that time, Fidel Castro had been struggling with a mysterious illness and had largely disappeared from public life.

[Fidel Castro, Cuban dictator, dies at 90]

"These 50 years have shown that isolation has not worked," Obama said in a televised address. "It's time for a new approach."

Obama's decision,Ral Castro said, "deserves the respect and acknowledgement of our people."

Last spring, Obama visited Cuba, becoming the first U.S. president to do so since Calvin Coolidge did in 1928. He has since made a series of executive actions increasing trade and travel to the communist island. The United States also reopened an embassy in Havana.

Fidel Castro, who did not meet with Obama during his visit, publicly criticized the renewed relationship. In a column published shortly after Obama's historic visit, Castro listed anecdotes from decades of tumultuous relationship between the two nations.

"We don't need the empire to give us anything," Castro wrote, touting his country's independence from foreign powers and suggesting that Obama should, instead, reflect and not develop theories about Cuban politics.

In 2009, after Obama's inauguration, Castro gave him a welcoming message, telling him that"being born of a Kenyan Muslim father and a white American Christian deserves a special merit in the context of U.S. society and I am the first to recognize that."

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a Cuban American, did not mince words when he called Castro an "evil, murderous dictator" and immediately attacked Obama's more conciliatory tone, calling the president's statement "pathetic."

President-elect Donald Trump was more brief, tweeting a four-word reaction Saturday morning:

Kevin Sullivan and J.Y. Smith contributed to this story.

Obama: Donald Trump tapped into a ‘troubling’ strain …

Speaking in Athens, Obama said he recognized an "anger and fear in the American population" over threats of mechanization and globalization, but that Republican officials didn't use facts when making their case about the US economy.

"You've seen some of the rhetoric among Republican elected officials and activists and media. Some of it pretty troubling and not necessarily connected to facts, but being used effectively to mobilize people," Obama said at a news conference alongside Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. "And obviously, President-elect Trump tapped into that particular strain within the Republican Party and then was able to broaden that enough and get enough votes to win the election."

Obama said countries across Europe, as well as the United States, were confronting populist movements based on a fear of intruding global forces, arguing people "are less certain of their national identities or their place in the world." He said leaders should heed lessons from results in the US and in Britain, which in June voted to exit the European Union.

"It starts looking different and disorienting. And there is no doubt that has produced populist movements, both from the left and the right," he said. "That sometimes gets wrapped up in issues of ethnic identity or religious identity or cultural identity. And that can be a volatile mix."

He said Americans must guard against those trends during Trump's presidency, and insisted he, too, would speak out against divisive language even after he leaves office.

"We are going to have to guard against a rise in a crude sort of nationalism or ethnic identity or tribalism that is built around an us and a them," he said. "And I will never apologize for saying that the future of humanity and the future of the world is going to be defined by what we have in common as opposed to those things that separate us and ultimately lead us into conflict."

Explaining Trump's win to Europeans, who themselves face rising populist movements in countries across the continent, Obama theorized Americans were simply ready for a change in Washington and were not rejecting his policies outright.

"People seem to think I did a pretty good job," he said, alluding to surveys showing his job approval rating near its highest point. "And so there is this mismatch, I think, between frustration and anger. Perhaps the view of the American people was just that need to shake things up."

Obama is on a week-long, three-stop foreign swing that has taken new urgency following Trump's election. He's expecting questions from leaders in Greece, Germany and Peru about Trump's motives and his plans going forward.

Global leaders have expressed concerns over Trump's suggestion on the campaign trail that the US might not keep its current level of international commitments, including to NATO. Obama Tuesday also called Greece a "reliable ally" in its commitment to the transatlantic alliance, even under tremendous strain from the country's debt crisis.

"We are proud to count Greece as one of our closest allies and one of our greatest friends," Obama said at the news conference, commending the country's ability to meet its financial obligations to NATO despite austerity measures.

Air Force One touched down at the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport just past 3:30 a.m. ET (10:30 a.m. local time) on Tuesday, where Obama was greeted with a red carpet and an ornate display of military pageantry.

In the morning preceding his news conference, Obama paid a courtesy call to Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

Obama also sat for formal talks with Tsipras at the neo-classical presidential mansion in central Athens.

Ahead of the meeting, Obama had said he would stress that debt reduction strategies beyond austerity must be utilized in Europe going forward.

Obama is the first US president to visit Greece in 17 years, and he focused intently on the debt situation and the influx of refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war.

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Obama: Donald Trump tapped into a 'troubling' strain ...

November 22nd, 2016

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Archive for the ‘Obama’ Category

Obama explains why his mom’s parenting style worked …

Obama sanctions Russian officials over election hacking

Obama’s candid reflections on race – CNNPolitics.com

Obama: History will judge Fidel Castros enormous impact on …

Obama: Donald Trump tapped into a ‘troubling’ strain …

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