
 
 President-elect Donald Trump answers questions from the media during transition team meetings at the Mar-a-Lago Club on Dec. 28. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) 
 
 After having repeatedly praised President Obama’s efforts to ensure a smooth transition, President-elect Donald Trump reversed course on Wednesday, accusing the current occupant of the Oval Office of putting “roadblocks” in his way. 
 
 Trump took to Twitter shortly after 9 a.m., saying he was “doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks.” 
 
 Doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks.Thought it was going to be a smooth transition - NOT! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2016 
 
 “Thought it was going to be a smooth transition — NOT!” the Republican president-elect wrote. 
 
 The White House declined to comment on Trump's tweet and others that followed. 
 
 President Obama and President-elect Donald Trump had kind words for each other in the aftermath of the election. Then things seemed to change after Christmas. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post) 
 
 Trump’s assessment comes amid days of verbal sparring between the outgoing and incoming president. During a ceremony Tuesday marking the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor 75 years ago, Obama cautioned against “the urge to turn inward” and stressed a need to “resist the urge to demonize those who are different” — remarks some thought were aimed partly at Trump. 
 
 Trump also made it clear Wednesday that he is perturbed by a number of steps the Obama administration is taking in its final weeks related to Israel, including a speech that was planned Wednesday by Secretary of State John F. Kerry on Middle East policy. 
 
 We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect. They used to have a great friend in the U.S., but....... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2016 
 
 not anymore. The beginning of the end was the horrible Iran deal, and now this (U.N.)! Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2016 
 
 “We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect,” Trump wrote in another series of tweets. “They used to have a good friend in the U.S., but … not anymore.” 
 
 Trump said the “beginning of the end” was the “horrible” Iran nuclear deal reached last year that was supported by a coalition of world powers but vigorously opposed by Israel. 
 
 Trump was also highly critical this week of the Obama administration’s refusal to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. 
 
 “Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!” Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to his inauguration date. 
 
 During a conference call with reporters later Wednesday morning, transition spokesman Sean Spicer at first declined to elaborate on Trump's tweets, saying they “speak for themselves.” He later said that Obama and his administration officials have been generous with their time during the transition process and helpful with “mechanical” issues. 
 
 On Wednesday afternoon, during a brief appearance before reporters at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Trump was asked about whether he thinks the transition is going smoothly. 
 
 “Oh, I think very, very smoothly,” he replied. “Very good. You don't think so?” 
 
 Trump also sounded more conciliatory later in the afternoon, when he told reporters that Obama had called him earlier in the day. 
 
 “He called me, we had a very nice conversation,” Trump said, without offering much elaboration. 
 
 Trump’s view of his Democratic predecessor soured earlier this week when Obama said on a podcast hosted by his former adviser, David Axelrod, that he thought he could have prevailed in an election over Trump. 
 
 [President Obama says he could have beaten Trump — Trump says ‘NO WAY!’] 
 
 Those comments prompted two tweets in as many days from Trump contesting Obama’s assessment. On Tuesday, Trump chided Obama for the failure of his campaign efforts on behalf of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to bear fruit. 
 
 “President Obama campaigned hard (and personally) in the very important swing states and lost,” Trump said in a tweet. “The voters wanted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” 
 
 Juliet Eilperin contributed to this report. ||||| (European Pressphoto Agency) 
 
 John F. Kerry is nothing if not indefatigable, traveling to all corners of the world as America’s top diplomat over the last four years. But as he prepares to leave office, he confronts a mixed legacy: a handful of successes coupled with searing defeats, especially in the Middle East. 
 
 His inability to halt the carnage in Syria, or to block Russia’s growing influence, ranks as the most serious blot on his record. But he also got nowhere trying to end the Israeli-Palestinian standoff, or to stop Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, from bombing civilians in Yemen. 
 
 Kerry’s greatest success was the historic accord to curtail Iran’s nuclear development program and a landmark climate change treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions and slow global warming. ||||| Doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks.Thought it was going to be a smooth transition - NOT! ||||| President-elect Donald Trump said he had a "nice conversation" with President Barack Obama Wednesday following a string of tweets in which he went so far as to suggest that the sitting president was disrupting the smooth transition of power. 
 
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 "He phoned me, we had a very nice conversation," Trump told reporters today outside his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. "We had a general conversation." 
 
 Later this evening, Trump stepped out again, this time with Don King by his side, and emphasized that he had a "good talk" with Obama. "I actually thought we covered a lot of good territory," he said. 
 
 Trump also said he will hold a press conference in early January. The president-elect has not held a full press conference since the election. 
 
 Tweeting earlier in the day from the Mar-a-Lago, where he's spending the holidays with his family, Trump wrote, "Doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks. Thought it was going to be a smooth transition - NOT!" 
 
 Doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks.Thought it was going to be a smooth transition - NOT! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2016 
 
 Trump's tweet followed an interview in which Obama claimed that he would have won with his message of hope if he had faced off against Trump in the 2016 election. 
 
 "I am confident in this vision because I'm confident that if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could've mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it," Obama said. 
 
 Tonight, Trump addressed Obama's remark, saying, "Nobody's ever going to know because we're never going to be going against each other in that way." 
 
 Asked on a morning conference call to clarify the roadblocks to which Trump referred, his pick for White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, said he would let Trump's tweets "speak for themselves." 
 
 Trump briefly emerged from Mar-a-Lago this afternoon and fielded a question from ABC News about whether the transition of power was going smoothly. 
 
 "I think very, very smoothly, very good," Trump said. "You don't think so?" 
 
 The White House earlier this month notably defended a decision by the Energy Department not to comply with a request from the Trump transition team to provide names of employees who worked on the Obama administration's climate policy efforts. 
 
 Obama has repeatedly committed to a peaceful and smooth transition of power, keeping with centuries of American tradition, and said that he will, despite his disagreements with Trump during the campaign, escort him to the Capitol and attend his inauguration on Jan. 20.
– It looks like the honeymoon is over between Trump and Obama. "Doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks. Thought it was going to be a smooth transition—NOT!" Trump tweeted Wednesday. The Los Angeles Times notes Trump's use of "1990s-style sarcasm." Trump had previously commended Obama on his commitment to a smooth transition of power, but a number of things have changed since then, the Washington Post reports. Many saw comments made by Obama during Tuesday's Pearl Harbor anniversary as directed at Trump. The president urged the US not to "turn inward" and to "resist the urge to demonize those who are different." Trump is also upset with the Obama administration for allowing the UN to pass a resolution condemning Israeli settlements, as well as with Obama personally for saying in an interview he could have beaten Trump and won a third term. In addition, the White House is defending the Department of Energy for not complying with a request from Trump's transition team for the names of employees involved in climate policy, ABC News reports. Transition team spokesperson Sean Spicer at first said Trump's tweets "speak for themselves, very clearly," but later complimented members of the Obama administration for being "helpful and generous with their time."