By Kristine Phillips, The Fix, August 15, 2017<\/p>\n
Unlike\u00a0some former presidents,\u00a0Barack Obama is showing no signs of completely abandoning\u00a0public life.<\/p>\n
Since leaving office, Obama has commented on\u00a0major events or controversies, including the terrorist attack<\/a>\u00a0in Manchester, England, and Sen. John McCain’s brain cancer diagnosis<\/a>. He did so again on Saturday, after the\u00a0deadly violence in Charlottesville.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion \u2026 People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love \u2026 For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite,\u201d Obama said, quoting former South African president Nelson Mandela in tweets.<\/p>\n The first tweet, which shows a picture of Obama smiling at four children, has been retweeted more than 1.1 million times and\u00a0liked 2.723\u00a0million times as of Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n The message became the most liked tweet of all time, surpassing Ariana Grande’s response to the deadly terrorist attack after her concert in Manchester. It also ranks No. 7<\/a> among the most retweeted tweets according to Favstar, a tweet tracking site.<\/p>\n Obama has used Twitter only sporadically since January, tweeting a handful of times every month to weigh in on national conversations. It’s unclear if Obama himself or a social media team is handling his Twitter handle.<\/p>\n President Trump’s response to the violence in Charlottesville has become the subject of widespread criticisms. In a statement Saturday, he condemned hatred and bigotry from \u201cmany sides,\u201d not saying which \u201csides\u201d he was referring to, or whose hatred and bigotry he was condemning. Many Democrats and some Republicans took issue with Trump\u00a0for not\u00a0calling out\u00a0white nationalists or white supremacists, even after a car, allegedly driven by a neo-Nazi sympathizer, plowed into\u00a0a crowd of counterprotesters,\u00a0killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring 19 others.<\/a><\/p>\n On Monday, after two days of criticisms, Trump finally explicitly condemned hate groups, \u201cincluding the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists.\u201d<\/p>\n [Timeline: How the growing anger finally pushed Trump to denounce white supremacists<\/a>] <\/i><\/p>\n But on Tuesday, Trump defended his earlier statement in a highly combative news conference.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore I make a statement, I like to know the facts,\u201d Trump told reporters, also reiterating his belief that both sides are to blame for the violence.<\/p>\n Obama did not comment\u00a0on the White House’s statements on Charlottesville and has\u00a0largely avoided criticizing his successor.<\/p>\n In June, however, he weighed in on two of the current administration’s major policy items: climate change and health care.<\/p>\n He criticized the Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States<\/a> from the Paris climate agreement.\u00a0Trump, who has labeled climate change a \u201choax,\u201d had promised to \u201ccancel\u201d the climate deal and Obama-era regulations that he said were killing jobs and industries. Obama issued a\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0in early June that not-so-subtlety called the administration’s policies on climate change antiquated.<\/p>\n [Trump didn\u2019t call out white supremacists. He was rebuked by members of his own party.<\/a>] <\/i><\/p>\n \u201cThe nations that remain in the Paris Agreement will be the nations that reap the benefits in jobs and industries created. I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack,\u201d\u00a0Obama said.\u00a0\u201cBut even in the absence of American leadership; even as this Administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future; I’m confident that our states, cities, and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way, and help protect future generations the one planet we’ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n Later that month, on June 22, the Senate released a draft of a health-care bill that would roll back much of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. Obama wrote a lengthy Facebook post<\/a> in response.<\/p>\n \u201cI recognize that repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act has become a core tenet of the Republican Party. Still, I hope that our Senators, many of whom I know well, step back and measure what’s really at stake, and consider that the rationale for action, on health care or any other issue, must be something more than simply undoing something that Democrats did,\u201d Obama wrote.<\/p>\n He said that the Senate bill, called the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, is \u201cnot a health-care bill\u201d \u2014 but a \u201cmassive transfer of wealth\u201d from the poor and middle class to the wealthy.<\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong><\/p>\n Obama\u2019s harsh words for Trump after Paris withdrawal<\/a><\/p>\n Obama warned Trump on North Korea. But Trump\u2019s \u2018fire and fury\u2019 strategy wasn\u2019t what Obama aides expected.<\/a><\/p>\n Trump to reverse Obama-era order aimed at planning for climate change<\/a><\/p>\n