ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Standing in democracy's birthplace, President Barack Obama on Wednesday issued a parting plea to world leaders not to let the fear of globalization tugging at Europe and the U.S. pull them away from their core democratic values. On his last foreign trip as president, Obama has repeatedly tried to draw lessons from Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election, hoping it can serve as wake-up call in the U.S. and abroad. Obama argued nations must strengthen alliances and expressed his confidence that the U.S. would remain loyal to NATO despite Trump's suggestions to the contrary during the 2016 presidential campaign. Though Obama's trip to Greece was planned before the election results were known, the White House hoped the setting would form a powerful reminder of the basic tenets of democracy: fair elections, a free press and tolerance for ethnic, religious and sexual minorities. Demonstrations were banned in parts of Athens, and road and subway stations were shut down for the first official visit of a sitting U.S. president since Bill Clinton came in 1999. Greece's government hoped Obama would help persuade some of Greece's more reluctant creditors to grant debt relief — a message they hoped he'd stress in Berlin — and also pressure other European countries to share more of the burden of the migrant crisis.
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