Donald Trump responded to Barack Obama on Monday after the president claimed he could have won a third term in the White House if he had been the Democratic nominee instead of Hillary Clinton.
“President Obama said that he thinks he would have won against me,” the president-elect tweeted. “He should say that but I say NO WAY! – jobs leaving, ISIS, OCare, etc.”
President Obama said that he thinks he would have won against me. He should say that but I say NO WAY! – jobs leaving, ISIS, OCare, etc.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2016
A short while later, Trump tore into the United Nations, presumably with its recent resolution condemning Israel in mind.
The United Nations has such great potential but right now it is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2016
The president-elect went on to tweak President “Hope and Change” with another tweet a couple of hours later:
The world was gloomy before I won – there was no hope. Now the market is up nearly 10% and Christmas spending is over a trillion dollars!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2016
A new AP/Times Square Alliance poll does show that Americans are more optimistic about the new year than they were in 2016.
Americans weren’t thrilled with the year. Only 18 percent said things for the country got better, 33 percent said things got worse, and 47 percent said it was unchanged from 2015.
On a personal level, they were optimistic about 2017.
Fifty-five percent said they believe things will be better for them in the coming year than in the year that just concluded. That’s a 12-point improvement from last year’s poll.
Via the Daily Mail:
Disappearing jobs, the shortcomings of the Obamacare medical insurance overhaul law and the rise of the ISIS terror army were major campaign themes Trump leveraged to draw lines of distinction between himself and the Democrats.
CNN on Monday published an interview that former Obama senior adviser David Axelrod conducted with his old boss, who claimed the vision of a united America he stressed in his famous 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote speech is still powerful enough that it might have carried the day.
‘You know, I am confident in this vision because I’m confident that if I – if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could’ve mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it.’
That wasn’t even the first time Obama had boasted that he would win if he could run for a third term. In July of 2015, he said, “I actually think I’m a very good president….I think if I ran, I could win.”
Trump’s response was less muted a year and a half ago: “I think he would fail miserably if he ran again,” The Donald told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren. “I would beat him so easily. Obama would get CREAMED if he ran again.”
In the Axelrod interview, Obama also hinted that after he leaves office, he will “be quiet for awhile” in order to “process” what happened, but he doesn’t necessarily intend to stay quiet.
“I have to be quiet for a while. And I don’t mean politically, I mean internally. I have to still myself,” Obama said. “You have to get back in tune with your center and process what’s happened before you make a bunch of good decisions.”
‘At a certain point, you make room for new voices and fresh legs,’ Obama explained, talking mostly about the need to let up-and-coming Democrats find their own public voices.
But ‘that doesn’t mean that if a year from now, or a year-and-a-half from now, or two years from now, there is an issue of such moment, such import, that isn’t just a debate about a particular tax bill or, you know, a particular policy, but goes to some foundational issues about our democracy, that I might not weigh in,’ the lame duck president explained.
‘You know, I’m still a citizen and that carries with it duties and obligations.’
It’s traditional for former presidents to hold their tongues and avoid criticizing the men who take over the Oval Office after they pass the baton.
George W. Bush has repeatedly declined to comment on Obama’s choices, many of which unraveled his policies.
The Obamas are moving into a mansion only two miles away from the White House, so one hopes he stays quiet at least for a little while in order to give the new president some breathing room. But one suspects that is way too much to expect from a longtime community organizer who does not want to see all of his “accomplishments” thrown out like yesterday’s trash.
Sooner rather than later, Obama will be the leader of the Democrat “resistance.” Those future protests of every move Trump makes aren’t going to community organize themselves. There will be massive resistance to the sound fiscal policies Trump will propose — policies that will hopefully stem the nation’s decline and return it to prosperity. That is likely what Obama fears most. To be proven wrong — about everything.
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