“There is this process that seems to take place over the course of an election season where somehow behavior that in normal times we would consider completely unacceptable and outrageous becomes normalized”, he said. Please click the button below to manage your account.
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Obama has previously suggested Trump is not prepared or fit for the USA presidency – last month saying Trump was not qualified to succeed him as commander in chief.
One of his first events when he returns is a solo campaign stop for Hillary Clinton, the second time he’s hit the campaign trail for the Democratic candidate.
Obama’s remarks came at the end of a grueling nine-day trip that took the him to Laos and China following USA stops in Nevada, Hawaii and Midway Atoll, a US -controlled coral reef in the Pacific Ocean.
In what seemed like an effort to patch things up, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and US President Barack Obama shook hands and shared a good conversation before the gala dinner at the ASEAN Summit in Laos, a senator said Thursday.
Obama notes that he has told the region’s leaders that he is committed to advancing a free trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. That deal awaits ratification in the U.S. Congress, where there is opposition from both parties. But Mr Obama said he planned to do everything possible to persuade politicians to approve it this year.
Trump had raised eyebrows on Wednesday by saying that Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, was “far more” of a leader than Obama and criticized the USA military, saying its generals “have been reduced to rubble”.
They met briefly on Wednesday night before a leaders’ dinner, but only exchanged “pleasantries”, according to the White House.
Duterte has been in the news because of intemperate remarks he made about President Barack Obama ahead of the summit. Obama called him “wacky”, not “petty”.
Obama opened his two-country visit to Asia last Saturday by joining Chinese President Xi Jinping to formally commit their countries to a global climate change agreement.
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said, “In the passionate intervention of President Duterte, he underscored the need to take a long historical view of human rights, mindful of the atrocities against the ethnic people of Mindanao”. But he says the USA wants these disputes to be resolved peacefully and will keep working to help make that happen.
During a press conference in Laos, a reporter asked Obama whether he wanted to “defend his legacy” against the Republican presidential nominee’s claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “more of a leader” than Obama, and that Obama had “reduced American generals to rubble”. In a concluding joint statement, the leaders were expected to issue a mild rebuke to China without referencing it by name or mentioning a recent worldwide arbitration ruling against Beijing.
Obama says he realizes the ruling raised tensions.
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“I recognize this (dispute) raises tensions, but I also look forward to discussing how we can constructively move forward together to lower tensions and promote diplomacy and stability”, Hua added.
