“This is just a little pit stop”
Barack Obama was only a few minutes removed from stepping down as president when he gave his first public critique of President Trump as former President Obama.
First, we understand if you need to pause and let your brain process that sentence.
Anyway, after leaving the U.S. Capitol in their helicopter, Barack and Michelle landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland as they prepared to transfer to a plane that will take them to Palm Springs, California.
As they made their way along, a reporter shouted out, “Are you feeling nostalgic?”
To which Obama replied, “Of course.”
Perhaps sensing the mood in the room (and the world, frankly) Obama then paused to deliver his first official statement as an ex-president:
“This is just a little pit stop. This is not a period, this is a comma in the continuing story of building America,” he said. “It wasn't blind optimism that drove you to do all this work. It wasn't naivety. It wasn't willful ignorance to all the challenges that America faces. It was hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. You proved the power of hope.”
The brief statement flew in stark contrast to the dire and vindictive inauguration speech that President Trump had delivered just minutes earlier in which he referenced, “carnage,” “forgotten people,” and other phrases loaded with negative imagery meant to tarnish the legacy of Obama and his administration.
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