Obama Ditches PROMISE of 'Smooth and Efficient' Transition
Dave Boyer
President Obama is dishing out a much rockier transfer of power to Donald Trump than he received from his predecessor eight years ago, from accusing the president-elect of being aided by Russian hackers to first lady Michelle Obama's complaint that the nation has lost hope.
Despite pledging a "smooth and efficient" transition on the day after Mr. Trump's victory, Mr. Obama has presided over an increasingly acrimonious war of words between the White House and the president-elect's team.
The awkward transfer of power stands in stark contrast to the cooperative atmosphere fostered by Republican George W. Bush's White House in 2008, when Mr. Obama was preparing to take office. Obama advisers still talk about the example of unity.
The Obama administration's bitterness and disappointment over Hillary Clinton's loss erupted into the open last week as the president's spokesman, Josh Earnest, accused Mr. Trump for four consecutive days of encouraging Russia's suspected meddling in the election and ignoring the ramifications.
"Earnest seems to want to delegitimize the election," said Republican strategist John Feehery. "It's very dangerous and seemingly counter to the wishes of the president."
Former Obama adviser David Axelrod went further, saying it was "highly unlikely" that the White House press secretary would take a week's worth of verbal shots at Mr. Trump without the president's approval.
Mr. Feehery said the transition is "more like the Clinton-Bush" transfer in 2001, when some Clinton officials, angry at the election outcome and the U.S. Supreme Court decision ending a recount in Florida, were accused of mischief, including removing the "W" keys from computer keyboards in the White House.
Jim McGrath, a close associate of the Bush family, tweeted that Mr. Bush's last White House press secretary didn't dish out such harsh treatment of President-elect Obama.
"Remember when @DanaPerino trashed Barack Obama from WH podium after George W. Bush pledged full cooperation w the transition? Me neither," he tweeted.
At his year-end press conference on Friday, Mr. Obama said Mr. Trump should accept the findings of the CIA and FBI that Russia had aided the Republican's campaign by hacking and publicizing Democratic officials' emails.
"My hope is that the president-elect is going to similarly be concerned with making sure we don't have potential foreign influence in our election process," Mr. Obama said.
Compounding the rising tensions, Mrs. Obama said of Mr. Trump's victory, "We're feeling what not having hope feels like."
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired Friday, Mrs. Obama said of her husband's departure that Americans "will come to appreciate having a grown-up in the White House."
"What do you give your kids if you can't give them hope?" she said. "What do we do if we don't have hope, Oprah?"
Her comments prompted conservative Los Angeles radio host Larry Elder to respond on Twitter, "Imagine the outcry had [first lady] Laura Bush said, as Michelle Obama did, about the new president, 'Now we're feeling what not having hope feels like.'"
'It feels good to have him here'
The first lady's remarks may have touched a nerve with Mr. Trump, who mentioned it to thousands of supporters Saturday at a "thank you" rally in Mobile, Alabama.
"Michelle Obama said yesterday that there's no hope," Mr. Trump said as the crowd booed loudly. "But I assume she was talking about the past, not the future, because I'm telling you, we have tremendous hope. We are going to be so successful as a country again."
Then the president-elect offered an olive branch of sorts.
"I actually think she made that statement not meaning it the way it came out," he said of Mrs. Obama. "I really do. Because I met with President Obama and Michelle Obama in the White House, my wife was there. She could not have been nicer. I honestly believe she meant that statement in a different way than it came out because I believe there is tremendous hope, and beyond hope we have such potential."
Mr. Trump's team has contributed to rising tensions with some of its actions since the election, including eager vows to unravel a broad range of Obama policies, including Obamacare, a global climate change agreement and the Iran nuclear accord.
While all elections have consequences, the promised reversal of much of Mr. Obama's agenda is causing deep disappointment and frustration among loyalists in the departing administration.
Mr. Obama encountered huge challenges as he took over for Mr. Bush in 2009, including a cratering economy and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But those hurdles involved questions of policy, not what some view now as a deliberate effort to undermine the incoming administration.
Mr. Obama professed Friday that the transition to the Trump administration is proceeding nicely while acknowledging "there's still feelings that are raw out there."
"I think they would be the first to acknowledge that we have done everything we can to make sure that they are successful as I promised," the president said of the Trump team. "It's just been a few days since I last talked to the president-elect about a whole range of transition issues. That cooperation is going to continue."
He insisted that "there hasn't been a lot of squabbling" over Russia's suspected hacking.
"What we've simply said is the facts, which are that, based on uniform intelligence assessments, the Russians were responsible for hacking the DNC, and that, as a consequence, it is important for us to review all elements of that and make sure that we are preventing that kind of interference through cyberattacks in the future," Mr. Obama said. "That should be a bipartisan issue; that shouldn't be a partisan issue."
But Mr. Obama seems to be taking a willfully rosy view of the transition, judging from some of the frustration expressed by Trump advisers such as former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway. She said Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton should call a truce with the incoming administration if they "actually love the country enough."
"If you want to shut this down and you actually love the country enough to have the peaceful transition in our great democracy between the Obama administration and the Trump administration, there are a couple people in pretty prominent positions. One is named Obama, one is named Hillary Clinton, since his people are trying to fight over her election still, they could shut this down," Ms. Conway told Fox News.
As if recognizing that the rocky transition needed a happier face, Mr. Obama's chief of staff hosted Mr. Trump's incoming chief of staff, Reince Priebus, at the White House on Friday in a public show of cooperation.
Mr. Priebus smiled for cameras and told Obama Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, "Thanks for having me. It's great."
When journalists asked Mr. Priebus how it felt to be in the White House, Mr. McDonough cut in and replied, "It feels good to have him here."
A White House official speaking on background said the lunch meeting was "part of the president's directive for a smooth transition to the next administration."
Also attending the meeting were Andy Card, former chief of staff to President George W. Bush; Rahm Emanuel, Bill Daley and Pete Rouse, who served as Mr. Obama's top advisers; Treasury Secretary Jack Lew; former Clinton White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, whose emails were allegedly hacked by the Russians; and top aides to former Presidents George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter.
The transition tensions could diminish for the next couple of weeks. Mr. Obama and his family departed Washington late Friday for their annual Christmas vacation in Hawaii and won't return to the White House until after New Year's Day.
Source>http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/dec/18/obama-ditching-promise-of-smooth-transition-to-tru/
william hallett ( BILL ) 2:15 PM EST
What can you expect from this muslam idiot!!!
2017-Year of the Trump
Democrats Act to SAVE ObamaCare from GOP REPEAL
Krauthammer: 'Obama SEES HIMSELF As the GOD Hoveri...
DHS Catches FEWER ILLEGALS From INSIDE U.S.
Mexican Man Charged with RAPE DEPORTED 10 Times
Central Americans CONTINUE to SURGE Across U.S. Bo...
Trump: Putin 'VERY SMART' for NOT Retaliating Agai...
OpEd: Obama. The MAN/CHILD President
OpEd: Obama. MAN/CHILD President
Obama's GRACELESS Exit
Obama UNLEASHES 3,853 REGS, 18 for EVERY LAW, RECO...
Obama's LATE HIT on Israel
Putin: "We Will Not EXPEL Anyone; We Refuse To SIN...
DAWDLING Obama Charts Last-Minute RUSH of MISCHIEF...
Obama's UGLY BID to Snub Voters and Tie Trump's Ha...
HOW George Soros DESTROYED The Democrat Party
Why 2016 Was a MAJOR TURNONG POINT For The World
OBAMA KICKS OUT Dozens of RUSSIAN DIPLOMATS Over E...
Trump Team Causes TIZZY with Personnel INQUIRIES t...
Mysterious ILLNESS Tied to Marijuana Use
The END of LIBERAL Internationalism
Federal Agents TOOK BRIBES to Let Drugs, ILLEGAL I...
Haaretz: Leaked Docs Show U.S/Palestinian COLLUSIO...
How Donald Trump Can SHAPE His Foreign Policy
Kerry to Israel: Jewish OR Democratic, NOT BOTH!
The Democrats' DESTRUCTIVE politics of RIGHTEOUSNE...
Obama is Doing EVERYTHING HE CAN to Make Things HA...
Despicable ACT AGAINST Israel. Obama PRETENDS His ...
Remembering the 'CHINESE SPRING'
The Entertainment Elite's INAUGURAL BOYCOTT Will B...
ABC News Pundit ALLEGES Mary and Joseph Were 'IMMI...
The Desperate REVISIONISM of the Left
Kremlin DISINFORMATION and Practiced INTIMIDATION
Islamic State ARREST Reveal Jihadi Threat Near SEA...
Obama CIRCUMVENTS Constitution with 'Signing State...
Whom the Gods Would DESTROY, They First Make MAD
OpEd: Obama, The Intellectual TERRORIST
ISRAEL Says Obama was Behind UN 'Gang-Up'
Obama's ANTI-ISRAEL Tantrum
MUCKING OUT the Justice Department
Obama SIGNS "Countering Disinformation and Propaga...
Reforming the BLOATED Federal Bureaucracy
Obama CRIED at Send-Off, Says He Could Have Been R...
Obama's DESPERATE Act To Ram Policy Through
The Advent of CHRISTIAN Art
Arizona Waitress Receives a Christmas Gift From GO...
'And It Came to Pass': Luke on the Birth of JESUS
Activist Use of 'CONSENT DECREES' to Police Law En...
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!
BUY American HIRE American!
OBAMA BACKSTABS ISRAEL...
Words and Phrases to LOSE in 2017
Obama Being UPSTAGED By Trump
The HOLY DAY Prevails!
Putin Says RUSSIA KNEW Trump Would Win
Berlin TERRORIST Killed in Shootout with Cops
Michelle Obama DID NOT Learn HOPE and HUMILITY as ...
Police HUNT for Tunisian Man in BERLIN Christmas A...
DECODING the Donald's Approach
FBI WARRANT Released in Clinton Email Case
Obama's 11th-hr REGULATIONS Targeting Beleaguered ...
Obama Just Granted 231 PARDONS and Commutations
HOLIDAY HORROR: 9 Dead, 50 Hurt in Truck Attack i...
RUSSIAN Ambassador SHOT DEAD In TURKEY
FARRAKHAN Sees A New Opening For BLACK SEPARATIST ...
Obama Ditches PROMISE of 'Smooth and Efficient' Tr...
CHEATER Brazile Contradicts Obama on Hacks
820,000 CRIMINAL ILLEGALS, 84% with Felonies, Seri...
Time to FACE REALITY, Obama — Trump is Going to Be...
Officials Gave SOMALI MIGRANTS Tours of Airport SE...
IDENTITY Politics are ANTI-America
Trump Chooses a HARD-LINE, Pro-Settler Ambassador ...
Trump Election SAVES US From the EVIL Party
OpEd: Democrats ASSAULT Our Constitutional REPUBLI...
Soros FINANCES GROUP Helping Facebook Flag 'Disput...
TREASON: BEWARE of EXECUTIVE ORDER 13603
Obama VOWS Retaliation for Russia's Hacking
BREAKING!!! Assange: Russia NOT the SOURCE of Emai...
'11th Hr. POWER GRAB': Obama MANDATES State Fundin...
WH: Trump 'OBVIOUSLY KNEW' About Russian HACKING, ...
Muslim Woman Called 'TERRORIST' Arrested for Filin...
Did DHS HACK Georgia's Secretary of State Office?
Pelosi Push for Russia Briefing Heats Up After Pod...
Records: TOO MANY VOTES in 37% of Detroit's Precin...
Obama SHRUGS OFF Russian Hacking, Until Donald Tru...
Media Types Hit PANIC BUTTON Over CIA Russia Asses...
Democrats Stick to DENIAL Even if Means BURNING DO...
AMERICA Great Again: IBM To HIRE 25,000!
Obama: Racism in U.S. Surfaces in 'VIOLENT OPPOSIT...
OBAMA Farewell: AMERICA Hasn't OVERCOME SLAVERY
Putting the JUSTICE Department Back on Track
Pelosi's DAUGHTER Leads Effort to BLOCK Trump Thro...
Trump CONFIRMS Exxon Chief as Secretary of State
Liberals' FAKE NEWS PANIC Proves They Can't Handle...
Whole Lot of Shakin' Goin' On About EDUCATION
Trump Names Gen. John Kelly to LEAD Homeland Secur...
Bolton: Russian HACKS Could Have Been by OBAMA Adm...
Watchdog: ICE SPENDS $100M Ferrying ILLEGAL Childr...
VA Left DECEASED VET in Shower for 9 Hours