Obama Says US to Remain Committed to Defending NATO Allies

U.S. President Barack Obama (L) reviews a presidential honor guard during the official welcoming ceremony at the presidential palace in Athens, Greece, Nov. 15, 2016.

In the end, what might have been Obama’s triumphant tour for his sophisticated idea of democracy instead became a reminder of the basics of the ancient Greeks. He says “that’s how democracy has to work”. “That’s when economies truly flourish”.

Though Obama’s trip to Greece was planned before the election results were known, the White House hoped the setting would form a powerful reminder of the basic tenets of democracy: fair elections, a free press and tolerance for ethnic, religious and sexual minorities.

Previously, it was a person representing the fringe who called in and said Obama isn’t his or her president, because the machines were probably rigged and he or she isn’t even sure that the 44th president of the United States is an American.

But in an extraordinary break with tradition for Germany, which long saw the U.S. as its protector and closest ally, Merkel pointedly said cooperation must be based on shared democratic principles and respect for human dignity.

Voters should know by now that promises made during a campaign can’t all be fulfilled.

Trump has threatened to pull out of NAFTA and kill the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which was negotiated by Obama. “If people feel they’re losing control of their future they’ll push back”. But, he added, “We can’t look backward for answers”. “The jobs of tomorrow will be different from the jobs of the past”. “What an irony it is that at a time when we can reach out to people in the most remote corners of the government so many people feel disconnected from their own government”. And under his guidance, Obama noted, the US joined almost 200 other nations in an ambitious global agreement to save our planet from climate change.

He urged against severing the connections “that have enabled so much progress and so much wealth” and for finding ways to spread prosperity more equally.

“He expressed a great interest in maintaining our core strategic relationships”, Obama said, recalling his conversation with Trump in the Oval Office last week.

However, Obama was at pains to stress that Europe – and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation – would remain the cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy. “And I am confident that if you stay the course, as hard as it has been, Greece will see brighter days”, Obama said in his message to Greek people.

“Today more than ever, the world needs a Europe that is strong and prosperous and democratic”, Obama said.

In his speech Tuesday, Obama also lauded Greece for its role in housing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees who are fleeing the civil war. They’re protesting against a man who was caught on tape boasting about sexual assault, which prompted more than a dozen women to then come forward. That’s why with diplomacy we were able to shutdown Iran’s nuclear weapons program without firing a shot. He praised the Bush Administration, which he had criticized so sharply throughout the 2008 campaign, for the generosity and efficiency with which its people had assisted in the transition, and he told his people to do the same, to be “gracious hosts” of the most well-known address in the United States.

Mrs Clinton led in nearly every poll before America voted Donald Trump as president.

Obama’s next stop on his final foreign tour is Germany, followed by Peru.