'Obama came away with renewed confidence after Trump meeting'

Barack ObamaWashington US President Barack Obama came away with renewed confidence from his 90minute meeting with his successor Donald Trump the White House has said adding that the emphasis of the discussions was on ensuring smooth transition to the next administrationI think that President Obama came away from the meeting with renewed confidence in the commitment of the Presidentelect to engage in an effective smooth transition White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily news conferenceThe President was pleased to hear a similar commitment expressed by the presidentelect he said In the 90minute meeting Obama briefed Trump on domestic and foreign policy issues besides his upcoming foreign trips to Greece Germany and the APEC Summit in PeruThe President described to the presidentelect some of the issues that he expects to come up with some of our allies and partners and other world leaders that hell meet with on the trip Earnest saidDonald TrumpA large portion of the meeting was spent in discussions on properly staffing up and organising White House operations he said The presidentelect indicated a lot of interest and understanding the strategy of staffing and organizing the White House and obviously thats something that President Obama has thought about extensively during his eight years in office he saidEarnest said the two leaders during the meeting sought to lay the foundation for an effective transition from the Obama presidency to the Trump presidency This administration at the direction of President Obama has been preparing for this moment and this meeting for the better part of a year This obviously was an important early step having the president sit down with the presidentelect to discuss that transition he saidThe heated rhetoric witnessed between Obama and Trump during the presidential campaign did not spill over into the meeting the spokesman said They did not recreate some sort of presidential debate in the Oval Office today They were focused on doing the work of the American people fulfilling their institutional responsibilities and on President Obamas part that means laying the groundwork so that the incoming presidentelect can hit the ground runningBased on the kind of agreement that was evident about the priority that they both place on a smooth transition it sounds like the meeting mightve been at least a little less awkward than some might have expected he saidObama had campaigned vigorously across the country making a forceful case in favour of Hillary Clinton He did that right up to the night before Election Day But on Election Day the ballots were counted and the American people decided The president was never in a position to choose a successor The American people chose his successor Earnest saidObama vowed to work with whomever the American people chose he added The spokesman said the Obamas expectation is that the incoming president will set his own priorities and pursue them accordinglyOur goal is to provide them the kind of advice that would give the president elect and his team the opportunity to succeed in uniting and leading the country Thats what he has indicated that he has made his priority and we certainly are prepared to do everything we can over the next 71 days to support him in that effort he said