Whatever view is taken about Barack Obama’s politics, or the overall record of his presidency, it must be admitted that in terms of “family values”, Barack and Michelle Obama have been quite remarkable exemplars of domestic virtue.
Over a span of eight years, with two daughters growing through their teenage years – which can often be tempestuous – there have been no personal scandals whatsoever. No mistresses, no divorces, no misbehaviour, no wild parties, no drugs, no excessive drinking, no shady friends or companions, no dodgy financial deals: nothing. The conduct of the Obamas has been, on all personal and familial levels, impeccable.
Any Christian foundation wishing to uphold the template of the nuclear family of faithful spouses and responsibly raised children could take the Obamas as paragons of the type. In their personal dealings, moreover, they have shown what Americans call “class” – that is, social grace. Barack Obama’s thank-you letters to those who wrote to him were models of thoughtfulness and courtesy.
Black Americans claim that race relations can still be tense in the US, but they cannot deny that the Obamas have been a model family for African-Americans.
Some of us regret that Barack Obama has shown such unstinting support for Planned Parenthood, which has been in trouble for selling off foetal parts of aborted infants. But PP did remit $38 million to the Democratic Party for Hillary Clinton’s campaign, so certain alliances always figure in politics.
In the light of history, Barack Obama may not emerge as an unqualified success as president. His foreign policy did little to advance peace and stability in the Middle East. Indeed, the toll of human misery, suffering and desperate refugees is at least partly due to American, and Western, misjudgments.
And the critics who say that Barack Obama’s most evident legacy is the election of Donald Trump have a point. If America had been more at ease with itself, it would surely not have elected Mr Trump. All the same, on a personal and familial level, Mr and Mrs Obama can hardly be faulted.
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When I was a young reporter, anyone who was designated to visit Moscow or the Soviet Union was warned, by official sources and by experienced colleagues, never to misbehave in Russia.
Don’t get drunk and go wild, don’t do anything amiss, because the Russians, ever since Ivan the Terrible, are past masters at tracking everything their visitors do. They take photographs of any misdemeanour, and they can use it against any individual and their interests. Sometimes they will even lure visitors into bad behaviour – the famed “honey trap”.
If a humble rookie journalist is warned of the dangers of misbehaving in Russia, why would a businessman such as Donald Trump put himself in peril by indulging in “perverted” conduct in a Russian hotel?
Human beings are always liable to temptation, but I find the allegation that Donald Trump allowed himself to be compromised by Russian espionage pretty implausible.
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Neuroscientists now say that the human brain continues to develop until the age of 25, and is, in effect, immature until around that age. Now that we have such knowledge, is it wise to allow – even to encourage, in some cases – young people to have surgery and hormonal treatment to change their sex (now called “transgendering”) at the age of 18? That’s the legal age in this country for the transgender surgical procedure. “Hormone-blocking” drugs may be administered from the age of 12.
And whether young people claiming to be transgender are instead suffering from a developmental disorder, such as autism, should surely also be explored.
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Anyone who suffers from a winter cough or cold these days will be heard saying that they have “the Queen’s cold”. This is no joking matter – it being an unpleasant, lingering cold with a vexatious cough, which kept the Queen away from church services over Christmas; an unusual occurrence for Her Majesty. Thankfully, she has now recovered, as will most people with these winter coughs and colds. But it is perhaps a consolation for some of her subjects to think that they are sharing a mild seasonal malady with the Queen.
Anyway, it’s now a fashionable way of explaining winter snuffles – “I’ve got the Queen’s cold.”
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