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FORMER US PRESIDENT Barack Obama has sent out a series of good news tweets to close off 2017, saying that there was much there to remind people of “what’s best about America”.
In a series of tweets, the former US president referenced a number of different news stories from 2017.
“As we count down to the new year, we get to reflect and prepare for what’s ahead,” Obama began.
“For all the bad news that seemed to dominate our collective consciousness, there are countless stories from this year that remind us what’s best about America.”
The first story concerned a wedding planner using a postponed wedding to start a volunteer effort to assist Hurricane Harvey victims in Houston, Texas in September.
He then referenced NFL player Chris Long , who decided to pledge all of his 2017 salary towards promoting educational equity in the US cities of Philadelphia, Boston and St Louis.
Finally, Obama mentioned a Chicago 10-year-old who went on a mission to help the homeless people of Chicago.
The former president ended the Twitter thread by encouraging people to “go keep changing the world in 2018″.
“All across America people chose to get involved, get engaged and stand up. Each of us can make a difference, and all of us ought to try,” he said.
Since Obama stepped down as president at the beginning of the year he has used his platform to discuss a range of social and political issues of the day.
He has also been present on the paid speech circuit, and appearing in interviews (most recently with Prince Harry on Wednesday)
Current US president Donald Trump broke with established communication tradition to use Twitter as a direct line to the public throughout his first year in office.
He has been criticised by many but lauded by his base for a number of aggressive tweets aimed at opposing nations, the media and political opponents throughout the year.
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Remember when Obama was the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009?
And he decided to finish off his final year in office by dropping 26,000+ bombs on farmers, weddings, and 16 year old American kids in Yemen?
Damn, I miss the good old days of that nice black man being president.
He never hurt people with his words, just his vast military-industrial complex!
@methodical2020: “Tim Osmond aka Bin Ladin”
Is this the bit where the studio audience laughs?
@Franklin Roosevelt: They have been killing innocent people for their countries resources for the last 240 years!
@Franklin Roosevelt: so you’d expect Trump to have stopped that immediately, or scaled back in it right? No, he increased the number of bombs being dripped.
The great Nobel Peace Price winner who removed Gahdaffi in Lybia initiated two proxy wars one in Syria against Russia and one in Yemen against Iran a coup in Honduras abandoned the people of Allepo restarted the cold war allowed Assad to use chemical weapons and ran a stagnant economy. The worst president since Fillmore.
@Joe Caulfield: “allowed Assad to use chemical weapons”
If he’d enforced the red line and intervened when chemical weapons were used then you’d have criticised him for that too.
If you’re going to criticise the man at least be consistent.
@Joe Caulfield: At least he donated that money to 10 different countries :-)
And a stagnant economy ? The man inherited a basket case of an economy from Bush..Do you not remember that ? WOW!
*charities :)
@Joe Caulfield: that’s insane, even for you.
Obama??????
Greatest piece of two faced ~§©¤ so far in white house…..
All smiles for cameras but bombs and bullets to Iraq and Syria… A war monger lapping at the good old crony days…
How he’d get a Nobel prize is beyond me!!
@DAVID DOH: Obama and Hillary destroyed Libya their entire society has become impoverished and exposed to IS Terrorism. This was his biggest mistake. The Russians cut him off at the pass in Syria.
Seems like a lifetime ago.
@Honeybadger197:
@Undie: Amen brother.
@Honeybadger197: it was for the couple of hundred thousand people he killed
Trump will be bitterly disappointed not to have his bigly greatness and golden magnificence acknowledged.
@Fiona deFreyne: Trump tweets, it’s frowned on, Obama tweets, media applauds, what a crowd of flakey media we have ended up with.
Always a nice way to end the year by reflecting on all the good that has happened amidst the bad.
Shame on Obama/US and the EU (France/UK)-Libya:
https://www.google.ie/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/oct/26/libya-war-saving-lives-catastrophic-failure
A great man for the platitudes
The specific examples given do show human behaviour at its better and at its more ennobling.
@Fiona deFreyne: you’re not half full of it. Fiona.
Trump’s tax cuts should leave more Americans better off in the pocket, so they’ll have more money to donate than an NFL players salary. Now that’s what I call really good news.
@Undie: great, I got a tax break for 5k and took on a 1.5 trillion increase in the national debt.
@Michael Nyland: will you actually benefit from your tax cut or has it been taken away in cute to tax credits etc?
Has he any good news tweets for the people of Syria….Obama certainly supported with weapons the Sunni Jahadis than destroyed Syria and killed thousands of innocent people….
@John003: eh didn’t both sides do that?
Obama the destruction of America. He has destroy the future of america. (wherethenewsis com)
@countypa@gmail.com: it’s been going on since way before Obama.
Everyone thinks the next prez of the USA is the next messiah. Regan was not, Bush Sr. was not, Bill was not, Bush Jr. was not, Obama was not and trump will only save himself and/or his golf clubs. America has too many fingers in pies since the time Kissinger was in government and you don’t upset the dollar/oil relationship cos that would implode the US economy. Jesus lads look at the big picture long game not short gains…
I still remember his speech in Dublin. Amazing man.
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