Why Barack Obama’s tweet became the most-liked in history

It showed true presidential behavior, at the time it was needed most. Since last weekend's violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, US that left one person dead, US President Donald Trump has delivered three different statements, most of them divisive and each with varying levels of condemnation for neo-Nazis and white supremacists, and an apparently mixed message about whether Nazis are, in fact, wrong. 

The incident also brought a incisive tweet from former President Barack Obama who quoted Nelson Mandela, in a post on Saturday and by Wednesday morning, Obama's tweet had received the highest number of likes ever, according to Twitter:

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion..." pic.twitter.com/InZ58zkoAm

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 13, 2017

Affection for Obama among his supporters has only grown since he left office; such that every post on social media, or public appearance by Michelle Obama, has been typically met with cries of “Come back!” But Obama’s viral tweet, in all its calming guidance, followed by two more that completed the Mandela passage, arrived at a time when Trump appeared at his least presidential.

As it is the easiest thing in the world, as multiple late-night comedians have pointed out, to condemn Nazis; Trump, in three separate speeches, couldn't manage to pull it off. But Obama showed exactly how easy it could be.

It wasn't just an 140-character lesson in how to act presidential; it was also Obama besting Trump at his favorite medium, Twitter. Obama, with the most-liked tweet of all time, has beaten Trump here, a fact the numbers-obsessed president is not likely to miss. 

also condemning the attack are former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush who both released a joint statement on Wednesday condemning white supremacy.

In the meantime, there’s this powerful tweet, which like so many posts of the Obama presidency comes with a stirring photo (of Obama casually greeting young children at a window) that says at least as much as his words. (Trump has photos, too, but they convey something vastly different.) 

Obama’s record-breaking tweet is still the first thing visitors see on his Twitter page.