Internet imagines Obama, Biden chats amid Trump transition

He congratulated both the President-elect Trump and Clinton on their well-fought campaigns after the results had been finalized earlier that morning. “He plans to spend more time with his successor than presidents typically do, people familiar with the matter said”.

The sight of “the rich and the powerful” seemingly living by a different set of rules – “avoiding taxes, manipulating loopholes” – “feeds a profound sense of injustice and a feeling that our economies are increasingly unfair”, he warned.

Fifty-one percent said they are “more confident” in Mr. Trump, compared to 40 percent who said less confident and 9 percent who said there was no difference or they didn’t have an opinion, according to the Gallup survey released Wednesday.

Obama, making his last foreign trip as president, said the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation alliance was “absolutely vital” to U.S. interests and stressed a strong, unified Europe was good for America, after Trump, on the campaign trail, appeared to play down the importance of transatlantic ties.

Greece is now grappling with recession along with the escalating migrant crisis and Obama offered financial support to the country.

Before Trump’s victory, Obama’s speech to the Greeks had been envisioned to be a capstone moment for his presidency, harking back to the origins of democracy as he expected to hand off to fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump’s team said Wednesday night that it would be rolling out teams to interact with federal agencies during the transition, starting with national security advisers who would work with officials at the State, Justice, Defense and other national security departments.

Speaking in Athens, Obama on Tuesday said he recognised an “anger and fear in the American population” over threats of mechanisation and globalisation, but that Republican officials did not use facts when making their case about the U.S. economy, CNN reported.

“Today, NATO, the world’s greatest alliance, is as strong and as ready as it has ever been”.

“We can not sever the connections that have enabled so much progress”, Obama said in a speech to the Greek people as he wrapped up the first leg of his final foreign tour as president.

However, we must not forget that Trump is not president just yet.

Every country ” travels its own path, every country has its own traditions”, Obama said.

While each of these elections presented spirited campaigns – sometimes caught up in a bit of mud-slinging – it is a far cry from a situation where a candidate and party nominee for President of the United States has used the bully-pulpit in such an abhorrent manner.

Greece’s government has hailed Obama’s visit – the first official visit of a sitting USA president since a 1999 trip here by Bill Clinton – as being of massive importance.

Greece is a member of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. I, however, see a man who is honored to have been elected into such a position of responsibility and who wants to serve as everyone’s president – regardless of race, sexual orientation, religion or gender.

Obama is delivering what is likely his last major address overseas as president.

WE CAN rise up in protest against those who would oppress our freedoms and people.

He says, “these yearnings are universal”.

He lent symbolism to his commitment to democratic ideals Wednesday when he climbed the Acropolis in central Athens and toured the Parthenon, the 2,500-year-old temple built by ancient Greeks dedicated to the goddess Athena. He strolled through the Propylaea, the complex’s monumental gateway, and gazed up at the famed Parthenon temple dating to the 5th century B.C.