In a nationwide speech to high school graduates, former US President Barack Obama took a second apparent jab at the Trump administration’s approach to handling the COVID-19 pandemic, comparing it to the way children behave.
“Doing what feels good, what’s convenient, what’s easy, that’s how little kids think,” Obama said in a nationally broadcast and live-streamed speech.
“Unfortunately, a lot of so-called grown-ups, including some with fancy titles and important jobs, still think that way — which is why things are so screwed up,” he added.
Obama urged graduates to “ground yourselves in values that last,” including honesty, responsibility and “respect for others.”
It was the former US president’s second commencement speech of the day — and his second rare public rebuke of Trump — after he earlier addressed graduates of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.