Washington: Outgoing US President Barack Obama vowed to speak up if his successor Donald Trump threatens core US values and reassured Americans “we’ll be okay”, in a political swansong after eight years as president. During his final press conference, the 55-year-old said he was stepping back but would return to the political breach in extremis. “I want to do some writing, I want to be quiet a little bit and not hear myself talk so darn much. I want to spend precious time with my girls,” he said.
But, he said, any effort to enforce systematic discrimination, erode voting rights, muzzle the press or round up young immigrants, would cause him to speak out. “There’s a difference between that normal functioning of politics and certain issues or certain moments where I think our core values may be at stake.” During the campaign Mr Trump vowed to ban Muslims from entering the US and deport millions of illegal immigrants, many of them Latin Americans long-settled in the country.
Mr Obama opened the news conference rebuffing Mr Trump, issuing a vocal defense of the White House press corps, insisting the reporters who covered his administration were an essential facet of a functioning democracy. “We are accountable to the people who send us here. And you have done it,” Obama said.
“You’re not supposed to be sycophants. You’re supposed to be skeptics.” “I have offered my best advice,” he said, describing his conversations with the President-elect. “I can tell you that — - this is something I have told him — that this is a job of such magnitude that you ca’'t do it by yourself. You are enormously reliant on a team.” He said once Mr Trump gets into office and is hit with the intricate details of governing, his thinking might shift on issues such as Obamacare and jobs.
