Wednesday, November 09, 2016

Today President Obama made perhaps the most difficult phone call of his presidency.

Courtesy of USA Today: 

President Obama called President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday morning to congratulate him on his election victory and invite him to the White House on Thursday to discuss "the smooth transition of power," the White House said. 

Obama will discuss the election results in a statement to the press Wednesday from the White House, including "what steps we can take as a country to come together after this hard-fought election season," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said. 

Earnest provided few details of Obama's phone call with the president-elect, other than to say he called from the White House residence in the early morning hours.

I CANNOT imagine how the President felt making that phone call.

It must have been excruciating.

Nor can I imagine what he is going to feel like handing over the presidency to him in January.

It must be similar to an artist handing over a glass sculpture to a three year old for safe keeping.

He probably fears he will never see it in one piece ever again.

71 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:37 AM

    this just brings me to tears.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11:38 AM

    Make America great again
    Undo everything the Mulatto Muslim did
    Starting with Obamacare

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:11 PM

      What happens when Trump supporters (and millions of others) find themselves without health insurance because they were too stupid to realize they'd signed up for "Obamacare"? People will go bankrupt, people will die.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:18 PM

      Yea, you idiot, and I hope you are one of the many that would lose their medical insurance if Obamacare is done away with...

      Learn the facts before you spew your idiocy!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:41 PM

      Yay, poor white trash will be clogging up our emergency rooms again, I just can't wait for my tax dollars to pay for their bad choices.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:53 PM

      First thing those that voted for Trump are going to be pissed off about... is when he acknowledges that Hillary has broken no laws, and so can't be "locked up"... they will be really pissed. I told someone yesterday that if Trump wins, that is six months to a year I would stand with them to fight to remove him from office. Her response, well the man is an idiot... and there you have it, many of his voters hated Hillary more than they loved their country.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous1:16 PM

      You just knew a racist Drumpf supporter would show up.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous1:18 PM

      Yep, news say Coal got a big win. That means miners with health problems will have even more tough times getting their claims. Maybe no claims will ever be processed.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous1:31 PM

      Anon at 11:38 am. You are a perfect image of all that is and will be wrong with the next four years.
      Beaglemom

      Delete
    8. Anonymous1:41 PM

      Well, I hope you or someone in your family never gets cancer or some other disease while you/they don't have medical insurance. 3 years ago I got cancer, my first year of cancer treatment, chemo and radiation, operations cost a little over $400,000 - that's one year. $73,000 operation; 7 Nulasta shots @$11,009 each; 7 chemo at $16,000 each, 22 radiation @2,000, CAT scans, PET scans, MRIs, Dr. appointment, etc, etc. My cancer returned this year in June and I am already at $121,000. So, that's over a half million dollars. As with other fortunate people to have Obama Care, if I didn't have it I wouldn't be living in my home today. I would have a cap on my insurance, and "prior conditions" would apply. Try putting yourself in other peoples shoes before opening your mouth and letting your brain fall out - you might not have medical insurance to cover it.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous3:11 PM

      Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you.

      Delete
    10. Make America HATE Again.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous2:54 PM

      Hate to tell you but the insurance lobby is not going to let that goal mine disappear.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous11:40 AM

    I'm sure Obama is very disappointed at the outcome of the election. However, he is very good at separating political from personal along with a strong respect for the wishes of the electorate. Life will go on and the ability to compromise going forward will be more difficult. However, since the GOP feels they now have a mandate, they better use it wisely or they will be the minority party in 2018.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous2:57 PM

      The republicans do not have a mandate, Hillary won the popular vote.

      The republicans blocked the Democrats every step of the way in the last eight years, now lets see if they will manage to do a days work. They are going to be too busy campaigning for midterm elections.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous12:01 PM

    Can you imagine, the first black President in our history, having to hand over the keys to the next, who is openly supported by the KKK?!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Feel the Bern12:05 PM

    He had nothing to say when the party conspired to give the nomination to Hillary. Bernie was preferred by the voters. Now, things are tough. Too bad, so sad.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:17 PM

      If Sanders was preferred by the voters, how come Clinton received 5 million more votes than Sanders?

      Logic's not your strong suit, is it?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous3:11 PM

      Fuck you.

      Delete
    3. 1:17

      Because the primary system disenfranchises Independents.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:15 AM

      Obviously he wasn't preferred--not even by the Democrats. He never would have gotten anywhere close to Trump in a general election. Go whine and cry to someone else, you speshul snowwwflake.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous12:16 PM

    And, an incoming POTUS that is racist and questioned President Obama's birth and whether he was a citizen of the United States - where President Obama provided his birth certificate to be seen nationally! Yep, that is the guy that is going to be our next POTUS. A fucking racist!

    I'm sure President Obama will want to kick Trump in the balls. Cannot imagine what he and Michelle are going to go through when they 'have to' welcome Trump to the White House.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:28 PM

      When Trump meets with the President tomorrow does anyone think the orange man will apologize to him for
      perpetuating the birther myth?

      Delete
  7. Anonymous12:18 PM

    I feel sad. But you know us humans. We are resilient. Whatever comes our way we will manage. Don't be afraid America. We are on a path. Whether it's to test our mettle as citizens, or divide us forever, we will survive. I hope that Trump having been a democrat once in his life, and having a very liberal lifestyle, some of his politically incorrect rhetoric was just show. If not, the earth survives Putin and that Korean fellow and Hitler too. They and we will be a blip on history's chart one day. Whether we make something good now, or never is a big question. Let the Republicans have their day. In January we shall see where we go from there. Even if it's bad. At least now we know where everyone stands. Trump bought out all the racists, misogynist, and hate and fear mongers, and we can see them. Before it was just rumored they were there in the dimness, now they stand out. Let's see where we go from here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:40 PM

      Well, we get to watch all of the stupid people that voted for Trump starve, so that's gonna be fun, for us, not so much for them.

      Delete
    2. Well said Anon 12:18. We should show the courage to be serene and hopeful. Trump is just another politician and like all of them, he will not accomplish half of what he said. So it goes.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous2:05 PM

      "Some of his
      unpolitically correct rhetoric was just for show"
      Are you kidding me? I am more annoyed today the more I read and hear people dismissing to even telling themselves Trump won't do what he has clearly stated he will do for the past year!

      Now people want to make their fear to horror go away pretending Trump will not try to do what he vowed to do and his platform. Now we are like Nazi Germany with people planning to ignore and look away because it is not happening to them yet.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous4:46 AM

      I don't think that Trump has ever had a truly liberal thought in his life. He has always been about himself. And that will not change now. As President Obama said during the campaign, the person who presents himself to you before the election is the person you will get after the election. There is no miraculous personality change that occurs when a new president moves into the Oval Office. We were so lucky to have a man with a perfect temperament as president for the past eight years; we would have had a president with a similarly-suited temperament for the office had Hillary Clinton been elected. But, no, we'll have Donald Trump with all of his rotten baggage.
      Beaglemom

      Delete
  8. Anonymous12:19 PM

    I am sure President Obama has a heavy heart to realize that being educated, thoughtful and a good role model is still not enough when you are black. The one thing he could not do was battle against stupidity and racism. I hope he and his family enjoy their freedom the next few years while we sit and stew in what we elected to replace him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why should Obama realise that? He was very successful. But they would not vote for Hillary. Districts which came out for Obama failed to support her. There are all sorts of reasons for this, including the terrible results of her spectacular policy of attacking Libya, killing Gaddafi, and leaving the country open to extremists.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:17 AM

      @orange; try; misogyny, 30 years of rightwing smear tactics, drummed up "investigation" after "investigation" that were completely invalid, and BernieBros sabotaging the Democratic party from the inside.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous12:23 PM

    Help!!! Make it stop!!!!
    Politico reports Palin one of several under discussion for Interior secretary, overseeing the National Park Service

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:40 PM

      We have to let the Idiocracy happen. It will cull so many more of them, those who voted for him, and the rest of us will just laugh our fucking asses off at their buyer's remorse. I for one can't wait.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous1:15 PM

      Hahaha someone else will do the work ...hahaha

      Delete
    3. She won't get it. I understand either Eric or Jr. wants Interior.

      You know, money to be made selling our old growth forests to Gyna.

      Delete
  10. Sad.. Hurts. Terrible end to Obama legacy.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:39 PM

      The poor, uneducated females (usually overbreeders) and racist, poor and uneducated males(who help the uneducated females to overbreed) ,they will all suffer greatly under this regime, and guess what, they won't have us upper middle class bleeding heart liberals stocking their food banks any longer; rely on your churches poor, uneducated over breeders. I can't wait to see you cold, starving and hungry on the streets so I can shit in your coin cup, with pleasure.

      I can't wait to throw into your dirty, starving faces what you have done to yourselves. Looking forward with much glee :-)

      Delete
    2. Anonymous2:35 PM

      12:39 You don't sound too much like a bleeding heart liberal to me. You sound exactly like a Trump supporter.

      Oh, and how can you tell the "racist overbreeders" from other starving families on the street?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous3:14 PM

      Anonymous2:35 PM

      I agree with Anonymous12:39 PM. My heart is doen bleeding for these stupid cretins

      Delete
  11. Anonymous12:28 PM

    And the press is reporting President Obama is now going to try and fast-track TPP.

    Again, to explain this behavior, read _Listen, Liberal_ and, if you really want some truth, _Death of the Liberal Class_. Eye-opening reads for self-identified US liberals emerging from their internet echo chambers.

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  12. Anonymous12:35 PM

    He and Michelle and their children have the freedom to move elsewhere, and I think they probably will go outside the country for the next 4-8 years, but so many are going to suffer so badly here but at least these good people have the freedom to leave it all behind.

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  13. Anonymous12:43 PM

    I would like to see a groundswell movement (started here?) to make an effort to publicly thank the greatest President of our lifetimes. A man free of scandal, brimming with intelligence, integrity and common decency. A man who took on some of the greatest challenges of any modern President, who endured partisan politics and blatant racism on a daily basis. Any thoughts?

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  14. Anonymous12:45 PM

    I cried last night and cried today. This is so sad. Trump will just become a part of the lobbying entity and basically destroy the good that has been done.

    10 cats

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  15. I just made 45 minutes of errands last two hours, driving around aimlessly because I didn't know what else to do with myself. It's a mostly cloudy day in northern neck Virginia, not even 60, quite windy and leaves blowing down all over. Under any other circumstances, it would be a "10" of an autumn day. Plenty of remaining Clinton/Kaine lawn signs to rub salt in the wound.

    The TV is on the Weather Channel with the sound off. I don't want to eat, I don't want to talk to anybody, don't want to look at porn or masturbate, don't want to spend money. I'll need plenty of Advil, though. If I had a black wreath, I'd hang it on the front door.

    For a few years now I've been telling myself that it was Cheney and Bush that gave me the final nudge I needed to embrace atheism. The fact that those two pieces of dirt walk upright and breathe free air, was proof enough that no all-just God exists. Needed or not, I've sure got more profound proof now.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous2:16 PM

      Hugs to you, dvlaries. Hugs to us all.

      Mildred

      Delete
    2. Anonymous4:37 AM

      It's amazing how much time a person can spend with the Weather Channel on in stressful times. I wonder how effective TWC can continue to be when NOAA and other federal agencies are gutted. We need it all the more because of the encroachment of climate change damage. Well, just another victim of Trump and his vile GOP.
      Beaglemom

      Delete
  16. Anonymous12:50 PM

    Obama is pure class. Can you imagine how the republicans would be today if Hillary had won? I am terribly disappointed in the outcome but our party is utterly civil, unlike the repubs.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I went from thinking, "Oh, well, we survived W. Bush" to realizing that THIS time, its not only the Executive Branch that is in the hands of the insane, but EVERY OTHER FEDERAL BRANCH.

    There is NO ONE to put the brakes on even the most batshit ideas they fart out!

    Trump will install one or more domestic terrorists as Supreme Court "justices" and will be able to push through legislation such as declaring its illegal to be gay...and there is nothing that will prevent him from putting it into an actual law!

    The parallels to the Nazi Party coming to power in Germany are many...and we have a perfect right to be scared.

    Weak, lazy and stupid people really do not like making their own decisions, and would prefer if some forceful dictator does that for them.

    That's what they voted for, and that is exactly what they will GET.

    I'm warning my friends and relatives to show much caution about being critical of this new regime, headed by a man who is mentally unstable about allowing ANYONE to disagree with him.

    Keep a very low profile. You can still fight for democracy and justice, but do so on the "down low."

    I dredged up a scene from a movie wherein a little girl knocks on the door of a neighbor man, and is all snoopy about looking through his legs at what was inside.

    Shortly thereafter, Stormtrooper types bash in his door and take him away as a "spy."

    I'm afraid we've allowed ourselves to reach such an obscene point.

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  18. 66gardeners12:58 PM

    It is completely plausible that the election was rigged.

    11/9 could be worse than 9/11.

    ReplyDelete
  19. The folks who voted Trump did so on the strength of lots of promises. The thing about promises, you have to follow through. Because if you don't do what you said you'd do to win votes, well, you're nothing but one of those lazy do nothing politicians you ran against.

    My guess is we'll see plenty of social issue legislation and nothing regarding economic issues that improve the lives of ordinary wage earners.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous3:51 PM

      Drumpf better build that goddam wall so it will be there between me and him when i move to Mexico for a little while.

      Delete
    2. 3:51

      Check out Panama. They use the U.S. dollar so no conversion fees.

      Delete
  20. 66gardeners1:00 PM

    Will we have a banana republic? I

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  21. EVERYTHING of value that he's done over the past 8 years will be taken back in the next 2 by the repubs.

    The right will have control of the Supreme Court for perhaps the next 40 years, and Rowe V Wade will be overturned before the next election.

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    Replies
    1. We can use that in 4 years to really anger the base.

      "You had this and Trump took it away!"

      "You had this and this and this and the Republicans took it away!"

      "What have the Republicans done for you? They took your healthcare, minimum wage, yadda yadda and what did they give you? Higher prices for everything, longer hours, less pay. And that's for those of you lucky enough to have a job. Did they bring jobs back? NO! Our deficit is the highest it's been. Our national debt is the highest it's been. The rich have gotten even richer. What has trickled down to you? The Republicans have pissed all over you and they expect you to roll over and vote for them again."

      Yeah, this stuff just writes itself.

      The problem is that no Democrat has the balls to be rude and say it. You don't hear the Democrats say fuck him or that's a piece of shit. No, they're too nice and polite. And that's why they lose.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous1:15 PM

    I think Obama is fine, just dissappointed in results. He is resilient, use someone's word above, due to bouncing back everyday with his pus$$y grabbers actions. I still love the Obamas and Clintons, nothing could stop that love and good prayers to them. Sending loving thoughts to Bill and Hillary and all aroud them, Kaine, Biden and his wife, campaign manager,....love

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous1:31 PM

    When I feel more composed I want to write to President Obama to tell him how sorry I am that this election season resulted in such chaos through no fault of his or of the Democratic nominees.
    Beaglemom.


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  24. They are going to take away my partner's health insurance. He will die.

    Right now, I hate this country.
    I hate every single person who voted for Trump out of racism, spite, anger, hypocrisy, jealousy, misogyny, and sheer stupidity and ignorance.

    I hate every alleged progressive who didn't vote or voted for someone who was not going to win or who parroted all the bullshit about Clinton's alleged scandals or who decided that my loved one's life wasn't worth saving because we had to burn it all down so that somehow a beautiful progressive paradise where everyone's lives matter will arise. Of course it will be too late for my family but hey, gotta break some eggs to make an omelet, right? Later on, when the time is right, we can care about individual lives, right? Incremental improvements in ordinary little people's lives taking place over decades just doesn't sound impressive.

    But it will be a cold day in hell before I will stand for the national anthem for this country.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous3:38 PM

      Again, I have to recommend going to wonkette.com and reading all the "f*uck you" pieces. Read the comments, too.

      They really capture the rage and despair and offer some catharsis...or at least some company in our abject misery.

      (I feel as you do. I think many do.)

      Delete
    2. Can you move?

      Try Panama or Costa Rica. You can afford the healthcare there.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous4:32 AM

      Never, I also worry about the effects of this triumph of the ignorant on healthcare. I'm over 70 years old and I do not remember any Republicans ever proposing or supporting any legislation that made lives better for ordinary people. There is something so profoundly wrong with a political party that cannot think of the welfare of all the people, only the welfare of one segment of the population - the wealthy.

      How can American voters be so blindly stupid. These fools who voted for Trump and the GOP say they did it because they want to see their lives improved but it has never been Republican administrations that have worked to improve people's lives. When will they learn?

      These voters who have so many concerns in their own lives that they voted for Trump and the GOP have handed the country's leadership to the political party that wants to eliminate Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the ACA, to gut the Clean Air Act, the EPA, the FDA, and every other federal agencies that work to make our lives safer and better, to wage wars that will starve our economy, to disenfranchise whole groups of citizens, to reject immigration which is what created this country in the first place, and on and on. All of this is negative. None of it will make the lives of those Trump voters any better.
      Beaglemom

      Delete
  25. Anonymous1:39 PM

    I agree with you 100% 1:15 PM! All you mentioned have my eternal thanks and admiration.

    Especially President Obama who can come to my home any time for a cup of coffee or beer! The door is always open.

    Would so enjoy sitting across the table from him and just talking - I've visualized it many times.

    He's a keeper! Wish he could serve another four years, but I'm sure he's tired and ready to move on. He and Michelle are going to be fun to follow as time progresses.

    ReplyDelete
  26. "The children of immigrants all across the United States woke this morning in a country soon to be led by an unapologetic xenophobe threatening mass deportation, and American Muslims woke to an era of intensified Islamophobia that may take paths we haven't yet conceived of.

    "Every woman in the country now wears a target, because the President of the United States considers them to be little more than sex toys. Boys will see this, boys will learn it, and some of them will likely act on it when they become men. My daughter now lives under this threat, as does yours." - William Rivers Pitt

    http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/38315-the-fascist-in-november

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A girl in a hijab has already been beaten by two white men wearing Trump caps.

      Delete
  27. Anonymous1:52 PM

    That POS Trump never thinks he owes anyone an apology. He will strut right into that meeting with the president and act like he never did anything wrong or, if he does acknowledge his birther crap at all, just do his stupid smirky shrug.

    I hate Trump so much. I won't mind at all if he dies. Then again, the only way for him to ever feel pain would be if one of his children died. That family has gotten away with too much and have never suffered. Call me horrible. I don't care. Maybe a Trump will die.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous3:09 PM

      I think similar. Ick rump is not America meaning at all. He is kkk meaning.

      Delete
    2. A slow, inoperable, excruciatingly painful cancer would be really nice. I'd like him to suffer and be powerless.

      Delete
  28. Anonymous1:54 PM

    I think that tunnel under the white house that Pres Kennedy used for all his "dates" will be busier than Chris Christie's bridge during a traffic study. A leopard doesn't change his spots and this is an ego fest for trump.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous2:23 PM

    This piece in The New Yorker is worth a read. Though, it isn't going to make anybody feel better.
    http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/an-american-tragedy-2

    ReplyDelete
  30. No. We will NOT come together. We will NOT heal the divide.

    We will take back our Party.

    "Morning After To-Do List:

    1. Take over the Democratic Party and return it to the people. They [the party elite] have failed us miserably. [and it's not the first time.]

    2. Fire all pundits, predictors, pollsters and anyone else in the media who had a narrative they wouldn’t let go of and refused to listen to or acknowledge what was really going on. Those same bloviators will now tell us we must “heal the divide” and “come together.” They will pull more hooey like that out of their ass in the days to come. Turn them off.

    3. Any Democratic member of Congress who didn’t wake up this morning ready to fight, resist and obstruct in the way Republicans did against President Obama every day for eight full years must step out of the way and let those of us who know the score lead the way in stopping the meanness and the madness that’s about to begin. [no compromising. no bipartisanship. just fuck them and bring the administration to a standstill. sauce for the gander.]

    4. Everyone must stop saying they are “stunned” and “shocked.” What you mean to say is that you were in a bubble and weren’t paying attention to your fellow Americans and their despair. YEARS of being neglected by both parties, the anger and the need for revenge against the system only grew. Along came a TV star they liked whose plan was to destroy both parties and tell them all “You’re fired!” Trump’s victory is no surprise. He was never a joke. Treating him as one only strengthened him. He is both a creature and a creation of the media and the media will never own that.

    5. You must say this sentence to everyone you meet today: “HILLARY CLINTON WON THE POPULAR VOTE!” The MAJORITY of our fellow Americans preferred Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. Period. Fact. If you woke up this morning thinking you live in an effed-up country, you don’t. The majority of your fellow Americans wanted Hillary, not Trump. The only reason he’s president is because of an arcane, insane 18th-century idea called the Electoral College. Until we change that, we’ll continue to have presidents we didn’t elect and didn’t want. [like Bush and Trump, the two worst presidents this country as ever seen] You live in a country where a majority of its citizens have said they believe there’s climate change, they believe women should be paid the same as men, they want a debt-free college education, they don’t want us invading countries, they want a raise in the minimum wage and they want a single-payer true universal health care system. None of that has changed. We live in a country where the majority agree with the “liberal” position. We just lack the liberal leadership to make that happen (see: #1 above)."

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-moore-morning-after-to-do-list_us_5823ab47e4b0aac62489134f

    ReplyDelete
  31. I heard recently that sometimes things have to be completely broken before they can be fixed. Unfortunately, this may be a case of that.

    ReplyDelete

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