Barack Obama comes to the German Rheinland. Were we there? Ya think?
My wife and I just got back (it is 11:30 PM here). This is from the thread where a few asked for a report.
Obama was his usual cool self, but the event was weird trending toward downright uncomfortable. It was not an evening of political speakers, but of motivational speakers. I'm betting Obama will be furious with whoever of his staff booked him into this. It was an evening of "motivational" speakers, and the organizers were straight out of movies and TV series about boiler room bosses who whipped their phone salesmen into a frenzy, selling worthless stock or non-existent real estate. After the first three speakers, Obama came on, and we left as soon as he was done. He didn't give a speech, but was not interrupted during his interview answers.
One of organizers WAS an experienced interviewer, a German who had interviewed Obama during his first presidential campaign 11 years ago, and had even worked on his campaign. He conducted the interview in near-flawless English. In the beginning, much of it was about the transit from POTUS to private citizen. Obama said he finally got to sleep again, and that his family life got wonderful again.
He noted that there is always WAY more compromise than one wants as President. He wanted more out of the Paris climate talks, and was of course not thrilled when Trump (never used Trump's name once--as if he didn't exist) pulled us out of that treaty.
He practically pleaded with today's young generation to get actively involved with climate change and protection. He said no one can leave this to their grandfathers, even if their grandfathers are in Congress. The grandfathers won't be here in 50 years. Today's teenagers will, and they need to demand bold steps NOW, not ten years from now. Implied, but not stated, was that Trump's administration will be of no help. He said the more young people vote, the more chance there is that government will be responsive to that vote. If Jay Inslee is by any chance our nominee next year, I'm betting Obama will get very actively involved.
He said that two separate stories are being told: the "old (implied--Republican)" story that it will always be us versus them.
Or the "new (not all change is bad)" story that the status quo is not necessarily the best for us.
All in all, it was classic Obama, cautiously upbeat, keeping a pragmatic eye on what the situation on the ground really is, and how important it is to tackle it head on as it is, and not how we wish it were.
There were over 15,000 people there, over 95% of them Germans, who obviously miss Obama more than we do. His Kenyan half sister, who had studied in Germany, introduced him in nearly-fluent German. My wife was impressed. He received a short standing ovation when he arrived, and a LOOOONG one when he was finished. The interview was conducted in English, and it was clear that the German interviewer has never worked for CNN or Fox, since after stating his question, he let Obama answer until he was done, not cutting him off once.
A team of professional translators at live-connected computers down in München was typing out simultaneous translations into German as fast as they could, and these showed up on large screens. From their instant reactions to Obama's statements, however, almost all of the audience present seemed to understand English well enough to not need it.
I did not get to say hi this time, but the guy is still MY president.
It is clear that Germany, at least, still considers Barack Obama to be the last legally elected President of the United States.
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Life is always worthwhile as long as she shares hers with me (don't tell her what a raw deal she got!) 
By the time three months in Ireland are over, you'll be so sick of nonstop Brexit news that you'll welcome a Trump story or two before you're done
To that than I would because of where I am going and thinking about borders between regular Ireland and the North. 
snake-oil salespeople. I will always think of Barack Obama as the most courageous man alive - serving as President of this nation while being constantly attacked and still wanting nothing more than to make the world better.
As Sec Def under Poppy Bush, Cheney oversaw privatization of much of the military's operational maintenance functions in the late 80's/early 90's. Brown & Root, a Halliburton subsidiary, got contracts at lots of locations.
Move forward and Halliburton taps Dick to be CEO until he leaves to be VP and KBR, Brown & Roots successor, gets a huge share of the work supporting W's wars.
