President Barack Obama shakes hands with President-elect Donald Trump in
the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 10,
2016. | AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
President Barack
Obama welcomed President-elect Donald Trump to the White House
Thursday, November 10, 2016 as both men put past antagonisms aside in a
time honored ritual epitomizing the peaceful transfer of political
power.
Three days after mocking Trump as not
fit to control the codes needed to launch nuclear weapons, Obama told
his successor that he wanted him to succeed and would do everything he
could to ensure a smooth transition.
Trump, who spent years pursuing Obama
over false claims he is not a natural-born American and accused him of
being the founder of ISIS on the campaign trail, called Obama a “very
good man” and said he would seek his counsel in future.
The extraordinary meeting was a
reflection of the swift and sudden change in the political mood between
the frenzied last days of an election campaign and the reality of
government and the transition of power between to administrations that
follows.
“My No. 1 priority in the next two
months is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our
President-elect is successful,” Obama said.
Obama told Trump: “If you succeed, the
country succeeds,” as the two men sat in high-backed chairs in front of
the fireplace in the Oval Office.
Trump thanked Obama for the meeting which he said had originally been scheduled for 10 minutes and went on for 90.
“Mr President, it was a great honor
being with you and I look forward to being with you many, many more
times,” Trump said, adding that he and Obama had spoken about some
wonderful and difficult things and “some high-flying assets.”
It was not immediately clear about what he meant.
The President-elect also said he would seek “counsel” from Obama.
As the pool of reporters were led out, Trump told them several times that Obama was “a very good man.”
It comes with many Americans, especially
Democrats and liberals, still in disbelief and shock at Trump’s victory
over Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, after the most vicious and
unconventional campaign in modern history.
The meeting, and Trump’s stern demeanor,
also underscored how the heavy burden of the presidency begins to
settle on the shoulders of a president-elect. In Trump’s case, that
process will be especially challenging giving that he will be the first
president elected with not political, diplomatic or military executive
experience.
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