Ex-U.S. President calls today’s times ‘strange and uncertain’

Former U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday took aim at “strongman politics” in his highest-profile speech since leaving office, urging people around the world to respect human rights and other values now under threat in an impassioned address marking the 100th anniversary of anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela’s birth.

While not mentioning his successor President Donald Trump by name, Mr. Obama’s speech in South Africa countered many of Mr. Trump’s policies, rallying people to keep alive the ideas that Mandela worked for including democracy, diversity and tolerance.

He opened by calling today’s times “strange and uncertain,” adding that “each day’s news cycle is bringing more head-spinning and disturbing headlines.” These days “we see much of the world threatening to return to a more dangerous, more brutal, way of doing business,” he said.

Equality in all forms

“I am not being alarmist, I am simply stating the facts. Look around,” he added. He also spoke up for equality in all forms, saying that “I would have thought we had figured that out by now”.

“Just by standing on the stage honoring Nelson Mandela, Obama is delivering an eloquent rebuke to Trump,” said John Stremlau, professor of international relations at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg.

Instead of commenting on politics, Mr. Obama’s speech drew on broader themes and his admiration for Mandela, whom America’s first black President saw as a mentor.