Barack obama

HIROSHIMA: Barack Obama on Friday paid tribute to the 140,000 people killed by the world's first atomic bomb attack and sought to bring global attention to his unfulfilled vision of a world without nuclear weapons, as he became the first sitting US president to visit Hiroshima. "Death fell from the sky and the world was changed," Obama said, after laying a wreath, closing his eyes and briefly bowing his head before an arched monument in Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park that honors those killed on Aug. 6, 1945, when US forces dropped the bomb that ushered in the nuclear age. The bombing, Obama said, "demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself." Obama did not apologize, instead offering, in a carefully choreographed display, a simple reflection on the horrors of war and his hope the horror of Hiroshima could spark a "moral awakening." As he and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stood near an iconic bombed-out domed building, Obama acknowledged the devastating toll … [Read more...] about Barack Obama at Hiroshima: ‘Death fell from the sky’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Deval Patrick was in need of a pep talk. He was staring down reelection as Massachusetts governor in 2010, in the midst of a sluggish economic recovery that would ultimately contribute to sweeping Democratic defeats across the country. In stepped President Barack Obama, a close friend and political ally, who was in town for an event. The two men met for a “get in the game” conversation that helped put Patrick on the path to a second term. “I think it was very meaningful to Deval,” said David Axelrod, a political adviser to both Obama and Patrick. “That’s the kind of relationship they have. There’s a level of trust and mutual caring between them.” That relationship will test whether Obama can maintain his vigorously neutral approach to the 2020 Democratic primary now that Patrick has launched a late bid for the presidential nomination. Although Obama has ties to several candidates — most notably Joe Biden, who … [Read more...] about Will Barack Obama Stay Neutral Now That Deval Patrick Is In 2020 Race?

Does Barack Obama have more fake followers on Twitter than Mitt Romney? A new app from London-based social management company StatusPeople suggests POTUS might have a higher percentage of faux followers than his opponent in this year’s presidential election. But before you send The Commander in Chief an angry tweet, be aware that the app’s creators don’t claim their tool is totally accurate yet. advertisement advertisement (You can learn more about the Fakers app in Amber Mac’s Fast Company post). The StatusPeople Fakers app runs a scan on a user’s most recent followers (up to 10,000) and attempts to determine how many of those followers might be fake. “On a very basic level spam accounts tend to have few or no followers and few or no tweets. But in contrast they tend to follow a lot of other accounts,” the app’s creators wrote in their FAQ. According to the app, Barack Obama‘s Twitter audience is 41% fake, and 29% of the … [Read more...] about Barack Obama’s Most Recent Twitter Followers Are More Fake Than Mitt Romney’s: StatusPeople

When we last checked in with cool-dad-on-vacation Barack Obama, he was wearing a backwards hat. The exact timeline of when he doffed the backwards hat remains unclear, but the nearest anyone can tell is that, while he was hanging out with Richard Branson and enjoying the fact that the entire world was no longer resting on his shoulders, he tossed back a frosty beer or two and thought, “Shit yeah,” and then tipped his hat backward to let onlookers know that there was a new Barack Obama in town. The straitlaced, suit-wearing president of yore had been replaced by a chill guy who stays very lax and takes life one chill moment at a time. Pundits were left to wonder what was next: Dirt bikes? Home brewing? Making electronic music? It turns out the answer is kitesurfing. In a video (and accompanying blog post!) Richard Branson describes the way that the Hawaii-born president had been forced to swear off his most gnarly aquatic hobbies when he became the leader of the free world, … [Read more...] about Cool dad Barack Obama is out here kitesurfing and shit now

Barack Obama’s purported coolness is the stuff of legend—the easy jumpshots and tasteful Spotify playlists, that moment when he sang Al Green, and so on. It is hard to imagine that a sitting president would have time to keep up on NCAA basketball and Chance The Rapper mixtapes, which is probably because he did not have that time. These were coordinated productions with Obama at the center and with coolness as the aim, no less scripted than the Between Two Ferns appearance. We can still enjoy them even knowing this, because they showed us a president who cared about caring about culture, which is a marked contrast from our current president, who cares about TV ratings and it is hard to envision anything else. Thus, while Obama takes his well-earned vacation but hopefully returns soon to join in with the massive nation-wide rebellion against the Trump administration, and also maybe to dunk on Steve Bannon, let us enjoy this one glimpse into his respite, because he is very … [Read more...] about Cool dad Barack Obama is wearing a backwards hat on vacation

Barack Obama formally brought an end to US combat operations in Iraq last night, seven years and 165 days after the invasion began, and declared it was time for America "to turn the page". In a televised address to the nation from the Oval Office, the president said America had paid a huge price for the war begun by George W Bush to topple Saddam Hussein. "Tonight, I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country," he said. Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki hailed the restoration of sovereignty to Iraq: "Iraq today is sovereign and independent. With the execution of the troop pullout, our relations with the United States have entered a new stage between two equal, sovereign countries." A ceremony is to be held in Baghdad today, attended by the US vice-president, Joe Biden, and Maliki, to mark the handover of responsibility for military operations … [Read more...] about Barack Obama ends the war in Iraq. ‘Now it’s time to turn the page’