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| Obama to make a return trip. Does anyone think Trump would have something significant to say there? |
I’m sure the ideological nitwits amongst us want to lambast the former president for being frivolous – what with his post-presidential vacation trips to Palm Springs, Calif.; a resort in French Polynesia and to the Caribbean with English billionaire Richard Branson.
BUT
THEN, THEY’D have to acknowledge the constant weekend trips that President
Donald Trump makes (at public expense) to the Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida that
he owns.
As
though Trump can’t stand the thought of traveling anywhere where he can’t stay
in a place with his business brand on the marquee, or have somebody fired for serving him chicken salad rather than tuna.
And
while Obama is spending time with people such as Branson, we’re getting the
current White House occupant spending his time there with former Alaska Gov.
Sarah Palin and her rock ‘n’ roll buddies.
Just
a thought; how sad is it that we still refer to Palin for the political post
she held for two years and gave up nearly a decade ago? Because she hasn’t done
anything of significance since then that we could use to identify her.
BUT
BACK TO Obama and Trump – with the former president expected to make his first
post-presidential appearance in public in Chicago come Monday. He’ll be
partaking in a forum of high school and college students – hoping to inspire
our society’s future.
Rather
than Trump, whose idea of our “future” is to turn back to elements of our
society’s past that, frankly, we should be ashamed we ever tolerated to begin
with.
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| How many pretending this image still relevant ... |
Although
not directly affiliated with the Obama Foundation, the program next week will
be held in the Jackson Park neighborhood, and will create a sense of what we
can expect to get from having that Obama presidential library and museum in our
city.
These
thoughts bop about my brain because of the constant efforts by the Trump
administration to erase elements of our government that can be traced back to
the Obama years. As though they want us to forget we were ever deluded enough
to reject the idea of either John McCain or Mitt Romney as U.S. president.
OBAMA
SEEMS TO exist in a separate realm – not getting dragged into the current
president’s world. Which is probably a good thing, on account of the fact that
Trump truly seems to live in his own world – and thinks the rest of us need to
suffer there with him for his amusement.
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| ... rather than the current occupant? |
Such
as when Trump talks of how successful his “first 100 days” (which have just
over a week to go) have been, and thinks it is a media conspiracy that prevents
the masses from realizing this fact!
Perhaps
we’re just seeing how separate segments of our society have become; and why I’m
not surprised that various polls show evidence that the people who DID vote for
Trump aren’t showing any regrets – no matter how little is accomplished.
The
rest of us may be following the lead of Simon and Garfunkel when they sang, “Where
have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.” Obama
probably will carry on a symbolism far greater than his actual accomplishments.
Just as DiMaggio was called the “Greatest Living Player” even though others had
more home runs or a better batting average!
HOPING
THAT SOMEHOW, we can get something in the way of leadership from a man who at
age 55 is retired from political life – unless he can somehow create a second
segment of life for himself that could rival the post-presidency of Jimmy
Carter. We’re probably going to spend the next few decades comparing the lives
of Obama vs. Trump – and seeing which one matches up to our ideological
sensibilities.
Such
as when Obama appears May 25 in Germany at the Brandenburg Gate – recalling his
2008 speech that gave him international recognition and which the McCain
campaign tried to use to mock him as an insubstantial “rock star” rather than a
serious politician.
That
didn’t work, and German Chancellor Angela Markel will be at Obama’s side. The
same Markel whom Trump managed to offend when he wouldn’t publicly shake her
hand during a visit to the White House.
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| KENNEDY: Fired? Or honored! |
Or
perhaps when Obama later this year receives the John F. Kennedy Profile in
Courage Award, with Kennedy daughter, Caroline, whom Obama made his U.S.
ambassador to Japan. And whom Trump insisted had to be fired from the post and leave that country the instant he
became president back on Jan. 20.
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