After an extended break from the public and what looked like an extremely relaxing vacation, former president Barack Obama is set to appear at public events for the first time since Inauguration Day next week.
Obama’s first event will be a town hall with students at the University of Chicago where subjects in Obama’s bailiwick like voting rights are likely to come up. After the Chicago stop, Obama will attend an awards ceremony thrown by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation in Boston, make speeches in the U.S. and Europe, and visit the Brandenburg Gate with German chancellor Angela Merkel.
However, the Times reports, audiences shouldn’t expect Obama to challenge President Donald Trump on matters like foreign policy, immigration, and health care. “Even as he witnesses President Trump’s relentless and chaotic assault on his legacy, Mr. Obama remains stubbornly committed to the idea that there is only one president at a time,” the paper said. Further, Obama and his staff “know that anything he says in public, no matter how veiled, will be interpreted as criticism of Mr. Trump.” Aides say that with a surge in activism aimed at challenging Trump and Trump’s own failures on big swings at Obama-era policies all happening with Obama on the sidelines, he’s not particularly needed as an anti-Trump voice.
Though Obama appears to be taking the high-road against a man who accused him of illegal activities like wiretapping, a major Obama donor told the Times that it made sense to keep a low-profile now and then lend a hand to Democrats during the 2018 mid-terms. “If you come out 100 days after the election throwing haymakers, I think your credibility wanes,” John Morgan said. “He’s better to save himself for the fall of 2018 and speak from a higher perch.”
(Via New York Times)