He was the 44th president of The United States, a role that he occupied with wisdom and dignity.
When you compare President Obama with the 45th/47th president, the contrast is quite remarkable. The current president usually emphasises Mr Obama's middle name whenever he mentions him. Thus it is rarely simply "Barack Obama", it's "Barack Hussein Obama" as though to imply that second name is loaded with evidence of foreignness or otherness. It is an incredibly rude thing to do - the sort of thing you expect adolescent bully boys to say.
The name "Hussein" was given to baby Barack by his father who had converted to Islam some years before the birth. By the way, there are around 4.5 million Muslims in the USA and their numbers once included the great Muhammad Ali. Although Barack Obama is not and never has been a Muslim, shouldn't the President of the USA be respectful of other people's faiths and differences anyway? I think so.
As day by day the world reads or listens to the ignorant, often cruel, fallacious and egotistical words of the current president, it's nice to be reminded that presidents don't have to be like that or talk like that. Here's a character reference for Barack Obama in four quotations...
Thanks for that wonderful tribute to President Obama, and yes he still deserves that title. I miss him.
ReplyDeleteWho could have imagined what would come after him?
DeleteThe first and third are excellent quotes from a great statesman. The same will never be said about the current incumbent. What an absurd contrast.
ReplyDeleteOne day I may put up some of his bigly covfefe quotations.
DeleteThe worse Trump gets, the better former presidents look.
ReplyDeleteEven the assassinated ones look better than him.
DeleteTo go from President Obama and President Biden to that thing occupying the White House now is almost too much for decent people to bear.
ReplyDeleteToo few members of the MAGA cult have been able to admit that they have been supporting a dangerous goon.
DeleteThe USA has gone from the inspirational heights of Obama to the scum-sucking depths of Trump alright.
ReplyDeleteSo stupid that if he did have cunning designs upon Canada, he picked entirely the wrong way to go about it.
DeleteMy President. I voted for him twice and remember watching the results in 2016 when there was talk he wouldn't win. I nearly cried when the results came down.
ReplyDeleteI don't ever compare him, or actually any other president, save Nixon, to our current fascist felon because that would be a disservice to any of those other men, some great some not so much.
You have to give it to Trump that he really does stand apart from the rest - but not for any positive reasons. Quite the opposite in fact.
DeleteMy favorite president and one I can admire and respect.
ReplyDeleteEmbodied within him was the prospect of hope.
DeletePresident Obama and trump are polar opposites. trump is trash, Obama is class. It's so sad to hear the news everyday.
ReplyDeleteIt is bad enough for those of us who live outside the USA, but if we lived inside we'd be trembling with anxiety and disgust.
DeleteHow I wish this wonderful man was still President.
ReplyDeleteHe's still so young - only 63.
DeleteAs you know from the reviews on my blog, I have read Mr Obama's book as well as those his wife has written. I started in 2011 with his 2006 book "The Audacity of Hope", written before he became president for the first time. I still stand by what I wrote in that review, that I recommend this book to anyone, no matter what political orientation - even if someone is not interested in politics at all, I'd be very surprised if they did not "get" something out of the book.
ReplyDeleteYou can find my review from 2011 here, if you are interested:
https://librarianwithsecrets.blogspot.com/2011/11/read-in-2011-24-audacity-of-hope.html
Yes, he made mistakes (like every human being). Yes, he did not right all of the wrongs he inherited when he took over the Oval Office. Yes, he had to deal with circumstances and conditions (inside and outside the U.S.) beyond his control. But still, in my opinion, the White House was in much better hands when the Obamas lived there than it is now.
So true.
DeleteIt would be wonderful if Obama could come back and do a second term.
ReplyDeleteHe already did a second term.
DeleteI have never been prouder of my country until Obama was elected. Twice. Actually, it was probably the only time I've really been proud of my country. I cannot tell you what it is truly like to have come from that good, brilliant, funny, strong man to the one in the White House now.
DeleteIt's like a before and after house. Before - tastefully decorated and well-maintained. After - trashed by a bunch of vandals.
DeleteJFK enjoyed similar adulation. And yet and yet and yet, both he and Obama had their respective rugs to sweep stuff underneath. It's all in the packaging.
ReplyDeleteTo inject a bit of fairness and balance: Trump does, occasionally, come up with a pearl - whether by design or accidentally. Of course, if you use the symbol of the weighing scale, the pearls will be far outweighed by a lot of stuff that doesn't even qualify as suitable to make manure.
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America is almost like the Titanic at the moment, sailing towards a disaster, but somehow I feel Trump will be beaten by good commonsense. Obama projected a good man, he was a good man. Perhaps he might even be put forward as another president.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the rules say that he cannot have a third term.
DeleteTrump has been herad to say he wants a third term and if he is allowed to run again, so is Obama!
DeleteA lovely tribute. I will never forget watching him win in 2016 w/my kids; I cried, I was so happy. Such a decent human being; not perfect but oh my god, what a comparison from him (and Biden) vs the awful man sitting in the White House today. Each day is something else; that is the point, of course, to try and overwhelm w/horrible decisions. Well, some of us won't give up the goal of restoring decency.
ReplyDeleteIt worries me that #47 is causing so much damage that the USA may never get back what has been lost.
DeletePresident Obama was an exceptional man.
ReplyDeleteHeaven help the future President who has to clear up the mess made by the corrupt, loudmouth self-server in charge now. That's if he hasn't sold the country to Russia, China or the highest bidder and disappeared with the loot! Whatever possessed the American people to vote for him?
And still far too many who voted for him refuse to admit that they were wrong.
DeleteHe's a standing reminder that things could be better. Certainly I can't imagine Trump speaking in praise of libraries or intellect.
ReplyDeleteTime will pass and Trump will vanish from the scene. We'll have presidents in the future who are worthy of admiration.
I hope you are right Infidel753.
DeleteHe was dignified and diplomatic and presidential and articulate and SMART! If only we could have him back again. Using his middle name as an implied slur is something Trump has taken straight from the right-wingers on Internet messaging boards and probably Twitter (X). It's also a dog-whistle for implying that Obama isn't an American citizen, which is a charge Trump made for years and also borrowed from online trolls. All those people (including Trump) just can't stand the fact that a black man is smarter, better educated and more powerful than they will ever be.
ReplyDeleteI think you read the room correctly Steve.
DeleteI voted for him, and would again. I have an old T-shirt with his picture on it, and the caption "Miss me yet?" I always get compliments when I wear that one.
ReplyDeleteWhoever designed that T-shirt was a visionary.
DeleteAn erudite and intelligent man.
ReplyDeleteThank you Janice - and so was President Obama.
DeleteI think he is terrific.
ReplyDeleteYes - is not was.
DeleteAgree with you 100%. Would also add Obama could take the Mickey out of himself.
ReplyDeleteThat is one of the hallmarks of a wise leader. Trump could never understand such an idea.
DeleteGod, I miss Obama, not to mention decency, intelligence, and integrity in the White House.
ReplyDeletePeople should be careful what they wish for.
DeleteHe's the second most popular president after Ronald Reagan. He would be a good candidate for the next election.
ReplyDeleteReagan was 100% better than Trump - I will give him that.
DeleteThank you so much for this tribute to Obama. I loved him as our president. I actually got a little teary eyed reading this post and the quotes you included because now our country is being strangled by an orange bully and his minions. I will never forget when he spoke at a funeral of someone killed in a church shooting. He started singing "Amazing Grace". As our president, he had grace and class. I could not imagine the felon ever doing something like that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pbEBxQPWGc
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you feautured former the US president Mr Barrack Obama. My country, Indonesia, will never forget him forever. Kind heart, compassionate and never forget the reality that he used to spend his childhood in Indonesia.
ReplyDeleteHe lived in Jakarta from 1967 to 1971, between the ages of six and ten, attending local Indonesian-language schools such as Santo Fransiskus Asisi and SDN Menteng 01. During this time, he became fluent in Indonesian as a child
Thanks one more time. This article is so peaceful and meant to me
I know you write a mostly serious blog but is nobody willing to mention that the man is just beautiful?
ReplyDelete