Barack Obama sometimes just can’t help himself, but every time he takes a cheap shot at President Trump he helps POTUS, not hurts him. American politics is a tough business and Obama ought to just come out and put a name to his insults.
Like a typical politician, Obama tries to hedge his bets, but the fact is you don’t see George Bush out there taking veiled shots at the duly elected President Trump.
That’s because protocol and precedent dictate that you let the next guy do his job in peace without you sniping and second-guessing his every decision.
The rules are different for a president because this is the hardest job in the world. People used to respect that but I guess that is gone forever now too.
Axios reported that on Wednesday Former President Barack Obama said at a tech conference that one key to his decision-making was relying on staff and surrounding himself with a diversity of viewpoints, before adding:
“The other thing that is helpful is not watching TV or reading social media.”
This matters because, while Obama has avoided major criticisms of President Donald Trump, he used his comments at a conference for Splunk, a company that helps businesses make sense of their data, to draw a contrast between the two administrations.
The former president admitted during his speech that he made mistakes in hiring. “I won’t say we enforced perfectly the ‘no-jerk rulem’ but its a pretty good rule. I won’t say who violated that rule.”
He then added: “I’m proud of the fact we didn’t have indictments. I’ve said that before but that is pretty rare in modern day.” Special counsel Mueller’s investigation resulted in the indictments of 6 former Trump advisers.
Obama also said that there are tough calls you have to make as president, citing the decision to go after Osama Bin Laden as a 50-50 call and bailing out Chrysler as a 60-40-type decision.
Obama said that i order to make those calls, you need the facts without spin or sugar-coating, as well as a diversity of opinion.
Obama added that it’s also important that the people who serve in the administration aren’t there for fame or money: “Are folks here because they want to serve the American people?”