What Is Barack Obama Doing Now? Former U.S. President Speaks Up Against Trump in Indonesia
Former U.S. President Barack Obama recently spent a 10-day vacation in Indonesia with his family. And during his visit in the country where he grew up, the former president took the time to speak out against U.S. President Donald Trump for pulling out of the Paris Agreement regarding climate change and even suggested that the United States is currently suffering from a lack of leadership.
On Saturday, July 1, the former president gave his remarks at the opening of the Fourth Congress of Indonesian Diaspora. During his address, Obama talked about the childhood he had spent in Jakarta when he and his mother moved to the Southeast Asian country in 1967. He was only six years old at the time and spent around four years there before he eventually returned to Hawaii at age 10.
Obama also took the time to speak about the importance of the Paris Agreement, an international deal forged between nations and is also one of his well-known accomplishments while he was still in office.
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"In Paris, we came together around the most ambitious agreement in history about climate change, an agreement that even with the temporary absence of American leadership, can still give our children a fighting chance," Obama said.
While addressing the dignitaries who were present in Jakarta, Obama also reiterated the importance of cooperation among nations in order to battle the "real challenges" that plague the world as a whole.
"The challenges of our times, whether it's economic inequality, changing climate, terrorism, mass migration; these are real challenges and we're going to have to confront them together," Obama stated.
President Trump recently surprised the world when he declared that the United States would be withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement. His decision was met with negative reactions from other world leaders, U.S. politicians as well as several environmental groups. The withdrawal has been regarded by some people as an "international disgrace."
Obama's speech was one of the many activities he accomplished during his 10-day vacation in Indonesia. Along with his wife and daughters, Sasha and Malia, the former U.S. president took the time to visit the temples of Yogyakarta on the island of Java and vacationed on the resort island of Bali. He also met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo in West Java.
