Though officially on a private visit to Europe, the former US president risks upstaging Donald Trump, who made an awkward first impression with Nato leaders in Brussels on Thursday and had a visibly chilly first meeting with the pope in Rome.
By contrast, Obama was warmly received by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, during an earlier visit to Berlin on Thursday and then landed in Scotland on Friday amid the sort of excitement normally reserved for current world leaders.
The truncated four-car motorcade that picked up a casually-dressed former president from a private airport outside Edinburgh served as a rare reminder that, despite the tight security, this is no longer a serving head of state.
Obama’s office insist the long-scheduled trip is a strictly private affair whose timing is coincidental to Trump’s first overseas visit and will not be open to the media. Nonetheless, many camera phones were present to witness the famously golf-obsessed president complete his homage to St Andrews and tee off to a round of applause.
www.theguardian.com/…
Of course, he could have gone to Trump’s course, maybe extol the virtues of wind power. Or maybe talked about rising sea levels.
The former president heads next to Ireland before flying home but will not be meeting Theresa May, who is at the G7 in Sicily before resuming campaigning for next month’s general election.
Post-referendum relations with the British government have been strained since Obama openly campaigned alongside David Cameron against leaving the EU.
www.theguardian.com/...