Partnership With a Higher Power

Barack Obama dressed as Santa Claus delivers gifts to patients and their parents at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., United States. Photo: Chuck Kennedy/AFP/Getty Images.

Sunny

• Mark Moore, Obama gets rock-star welcome in Berlin, New York Post, May 25, 2017

Former U.S. President Barack Obama, who received a rock-star welcome in Germany during an appearance with Chancellor Angela Merkel, urged world leaders not to give into isolationism, saying “we can’t hide behind a wall”. Photo: AFP/Getty Images.

Would You Believe

Former U.S. President Barack Obama arrived today (Monday, May 8) in Milan, Italy for a two-day visit to coincide with the third edition of Seeds&Chips Global Food Innovation Summit at Fiera Milano, Rho, Lombardy. On the occasion Obama had a two-hour meeting with Italian Democratic Party (PD) leader and former Premier Matteo Renzi at Milan’s Park Hyatt Hotel where the former U.S. President is staying. It’s reported that they phoned Emmanuel Macron to congratulate him on his election, and we feel, even though without knowing for certain, that Mr. Renzi was who offered the evening coffee.

44th U.S. President Barack Obama in Milan, Italy
Photo: la Repubblica.it

Back To The Blanket

Washington, D.C., United States: President Barack Obama receives a traditional blanket and hat during the 8th White House Tribal Nations Conference. Photo: ddp USA/Shutterstock.

70th General Assembly of the United Nations

Margaret Besheer (‏@mbesheer)

The Aesthetics of Wine

• Tom Phillips, Fiona Harvey and Alan Yuhas, Breakthrough as U.S. and China agree to ratify Paris climate deal, The Guardian, September 3, 2016

U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President 习近平 (Xí Jìnpíng) can raise a glass to their surprise announcement on climate change. Photo credit: Greg Baker/Pool/Reuters.

The Importance of Dispensable Things Indispensable

Barack Obama shows his best dad moves backstage at a Sasha’s dance recitals into the Strathmore Music Center in Bethesda, Maryland, United States, on June 16, 2013. Photo: Pete Souza.

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

President lays flowers at memorial in Japanese city where U.S. killed 140,000 people in world’s first atomic bombing Barack Obama has become the first sitting U.S. President to visit Hiroshima, 71 years after the Japanese city became the target of the world’s first atomic bombing and ushered in a nuclear age he has vowed to bring to an end. In a scene many survivors of the U.S. bombing believed they would never live to see, Obama laid flowers at a memorial to the dead before paying tribute to the people of Hiroshima and calling on humanity to learn the lessons of the past to make war less likely. [Read more].

• Justin McCurry, Barack Obama says memory of Hiroshima “must never fade”, The Guardian, May 27, 2016

Barack Obama lays a wreath in Hiroshima
Photo: Shuji Kajiyama/AP

Diorama

Specs appeal: the U.S. President, Barack Obama, tests virtual reality goggles during a tour of the Hannover Messe industrial technology trade fair in Hannover, Germany. Photo: Christian Charisius/AP.

La lección de tango

• Jeff Mason, Soft shoe diplomacy: Obama dances the tango at Argentine state dinner, Reuters, March 24, 2016

U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle dance tango during a state dinner hosted by Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri at the Centro Cultural Kirchner as part of President Obama’s two-day visit to Argentina, in Buenos Aires, March 23, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Carlos Barria.

Obama takes to the floor to tango
Photo: Reuters/Carlos Barria

House by the side of the road

In the most relaxed event of the U.S. president’s historic visit, it really was the taking part that mattered as Cuba’s national team took on the Tampa Bay Rays After an awkward three days of politics, it was baseball that finally brought Cuba and the United States out from half a century of cold war deep freeze on Tuesday, as Barack Obama’s historic visit concluded with a frenzied, but friendly, sporting clash. They have been playing baseball in Cuba since 1864, but there can have been few more eagerly anticipated games than that between the Cuban national team and the U.S. Major League Baseball side the Tampa Bay Rays. [Read more].

• Dan Roberts, Obama embraces Cuba’s pastime with a spot of baseball diplomacy, The Guardian, March 22, 2016

Barack Obama and his family react to the baseball game alongside the Cuban president, Raúl Castro. Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters.

Las ideas no se matan

Raúl Castro tries to lifts up Barack Obama’s arm in a solidarity gesture at the Palace of the Revolution in Havana, Cuba. Photo: Ramon Espinosa/AP.

Once in a Lifetime

Havana, Cuba: President Obama’s daughters, Malia and Sasha, join him for a three-day visit to Cuba. Photo: Carlos Barria/Reuters.

Podrán cortar todas las flores, pero nunca terminarán con la primavera

U.S. President Barack Obama in front of a memorial to Che Guevara in Havana, Cuba. Photo: Dennis Rivera/AP.

¡Hasta la victoria siempre!

Barack Obama descended on Cuba with a pomp unmatched by the Pope on Sunday, becoming the first American president to visit Cuba in nearly a century, and the first since a revolution led by Fidel Castro toppled a U.S.-backed strongman in 1959. [Read more].

• Dan Roberts, Obama lands in Cuba as first U.S. president to visit in nearly a century, The Guardian, March 21, 2016

44th President of the United States of America Barack Obama and his family – first lady Michelle and his two daughters Malia and Sasha – walk down the stairs as they arrive in Havana, Cuba. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

Barack Hussein Obama II (@POTUS)

Rose Garden announcement

Rose Garden announcement
Photo: AFP/Saul Loeb

Progressive house

Nomination of 63-year-old progressive federal appeals court judge a surprise as his long record arms intransigent Senate Republicans with ammunition. [Read more].

• Ed Pilkington and Dan Roberts, Obama nominates Merrick Garland, DC appeals court judge, to supreme court, The Guardian, March 16, 2016

Vice-President Joe Biden shakes hands with supreme court justice nominee Judge Merrick Garland as Barack Obama waves to crowds at White House on 16 March. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

Dance of the Knights

U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama II dances with his wife and First Lady Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama during the Western Inaugural Ball on January 20, 2009 in Washington, D.C. It was the day when the President Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, becoming the first African-American to be elected President of the U.S. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

Universal grammar

Say it with flowers: Barack Hussein Obama II at the Hague in March 2014. Photo: Unimedia/Barcroft Media.

Cheers

In a photo provided by the United Nations, U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama II and Russia’s President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin toast each other during a luncheon at the 70th annual United Nations General Assembly Monday afternoon in New York. Photo: Amanda Voisard/AP.