Former and Forever President Barack Obama’s book tour for his memoir A Promised Land has begun. Media outlets are already publishing excerpts and reviews, and Obama gave his first television interviews to CBS’s Scott Pelley and Gayle King. These are interviews conducted this week, following Joe Biden’s win and the Republican Party’s refusal to admit that Biden won. And Obama has some thoughts, obviously.
In a preview clip of an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes, Barack Obama discussed President Trump’s widespread claims of election fraud with journalist Scott Pelley, noting that Republicans are going down a “dangerous path.”
Asked about the root of the claims and their impact, Obama said that they “appear to be motivated, in part, because the president doesn’t like to lose and never admits loss.” He added, “I’m more troubled by the other officials who clearly know better are going along with this, are humoring him in this fashion.”
The former president went on to say, “It is one more step in delegitimizing not just the incoming Biden administration, but democracy generally. And that’s a dangerous path.”
Yeah. He’s right. The argument of “the election was fraudulent/rigged but no one has any evidence of it” is just another way to kneecap and delegitimize the Biden presidency. Much like Trump tried to delegitimize the Obama presidency with the Birther lie, that Obama wasn’t “really” president because, as Trump and the rest of the GOP falsely claimed, Obama wasn’t born in America. Trump’s claims this time around are meant to be red meat for his die-hard MAGA supporters… who will honestly never accept the Biden presidency anyway. But that doesn’t mean that Republicans in office should continue to play around with this bullsh-t.
God, Obama just looks so sad in this video. We had an optimistic man and we just destroyed his soul.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
I can sort of see how republican politicians might be afraid of alienating Trump’s base when they are fighting for control of the senate (which is dumb – he doesn’t do rallies for other people, and has no loyalty or values), but what are the career officials afraid of exactly?
He might pull Kelly Loeffler up on stage with a “I’ll give you one minute” and a “nobody wants to hear this” like he did for McSally, but that’s about it. I just can not understand why the GOP is wasting yet another chance (first was impeachment) to be rid of him for good. He’s a total coward. He always backs down immediately when anyone pushes back, so WHYYYYYYYY will none of them still not push back?
When I watched this last night, I said something similar about how Obama just looks so weary. We didn’t deserve him, but we need to keep working and fighting for his legacy.
I say this as a soft leftist who has been critical of several of Obama’s stances…the right and large swaths of the left have unfairly attacked his legacy. I feel like so many people refuse to recognize the complexity of the political system in the US & how incredibly racist the system was towards him (McConnell vowing to make him a one term president, etc.). He was a good president, particularly in domestic matters.
While the ACA was imperfect, it gave healthcare to tens of millions of people and got rid of the pre-existing clause (the latter of which is such a huge deal). To see some leftists write it off as ‘Republican to appease his donors’ or pretend it wasn’t a huge fight just infuriates me. The man also saved the auto industry (if the auto industry had failed, god knows what state our country would have been in) and gave the largest social security net since the 1960s…plus cut the unemployment rate & the U6 rate by something like 80%.
Also, I do recall there were some prominent historians who objectively put Obama rather far up on the list of good presidents (along with Clinton & LBJ). I do think time will treat him more kindly than the current “twitter sphere”
I saw that clip last night and Obama’s demeanor alarmed me, too. This is a moment in our history where we should be screaming like our hair is on fire but he of course cannot.
I think he’s a mirror. He’s reflecting America’s temperature. I’ve looked like that for almost five years. Domestic politics have hardened my soul, my outlook and has made me heavy. It’s a shame.
You’ve just put into words what I’ve been feeling for almost 4 years. I’m sorry for it as well. How do we climb out of this hole our leadership has dug for us.
He’s right – the point of this from the Republicans (not from Trump, because I honestly don’t think he’s that smart to think of it this way) is to delegitimize Biden from the start and to cause large distrust in our voting structures.* I think Trump is hiding and tweeting and trying to sue because he doesn’t know how to lose. I think the Republicans see the bigger picture. Well some of them at any rate.
*I think this is both dangerous and stupid, because from where I’m standing, the people who distrust voting and ballots etc at this point are Republicans. This seems like a way to get Republicans to stay home, because if they don’t think their ballot matters anyway, and the Dems are going to commit fraud, why vote? So I don’t fully get that part of it.
Excellent points Becks. I would like to add a thought: Repubs are telling their base, “see, the Democrats cheated. In order to beat them, we will also have to cheat” and the deplorables will nod in agreement and be totally fine with Repubs doing whatever is necessary to ‘win’ (which is what they have been doing for decades anyway, but now they can say the quiet part out loud because the last 4 years have shown that saying the quiet part out loud is a-okay).
Sort of off topic, but this weekend we watched the documentary “the way I see it”, it’s about the guy who was the official White House photog for Barack Obama (and the Ronald Reagan, they lightly touched on that) but I just cried through most of it. Seeing such a stark contrast between Obama who is an articulate, thoughtful, and compassionate human being and the orange turd was truly heartbreaking. It made me realize I will never take having a decent person in office for granted again.
The Obamas thoroughly enjoyed the parts of the job that the Trumps hated. Obama was so fantastic when he was interacting with kids. Pete Souza’s pictures of Obama at the White House Halloween parties and Easter egg rolls still make me smile.
We have Pete Souza’s main Obama book, and my 6 year old was looking at it the other day and just kept staring at the picture of Obama being “zapped” by the boy dressed as Spider-Man. It kind of made me sad that it was such a cute moment and we got NONE of that in the past 4 years.
I’m surprised that Trump hasn’t rage tweeted about this yet. I’m sure the book is going to be a crazy best seller, which will really get Trump fired up and tweeting away. I’ve already preordered on Audible. I’m hoping the first week sales are astronomical.
Trump is too busy tweeting about Fox and retreating Hannity to think about Obama yet..
I need to preorder my copy, I’m trying to decide if I want to get it through Amazon or from my local bookstore. I know the right answer, LOL, its just going to be more expensive there.
ETA okay I preordered it from my local, I felt guilty as soon as I typed “Amazon or local” lol.
Becks1 – good on you!
I bet the WH staff is frantically trying to hide all sights or mentions of this.
It’s the Georgia races. They know if Democrats get those races, they’ll have to battle us again in 2022 for Senate control, and this time they know their suppression tactics won’t work if enough people show up. They’re scared. Malevolent, certainly, but they’re also scared. The tide is turning on them.
Good. Let’s keep them scared.
The red’s main argument is Georgia, but there comes a time when one must be ethically responsible. Humoring an man like Trump is very dangerous. And I agree with Obama. Last night someone was interviewing Trump’s niece. It was very sad to hear what we are all assuming and predicting, while deep down inside hoping it isn’t so. Shame on the republicans and same on all who add credence to a Toddler’s fantasies.
He’s correct. It’s scary how many people believe Trump’s BS, too.
In his book, Obama explained how his mother had been diagnosed with cancer at a time she was changing jobs which meant a change of health insurance. At that time, there was a “pre-existing condition” exclusion. His mother was very stressed about this on top of having to deal with the cancer. Obama did not want other Americans to go through what his mother went through with having to deal with this issue with health insurance. Hence, health insurance was an issue he wanted on his agenda.
Obama must have been gutted when the crowds attending the Trump rallies would cheer and clap with delight when Trump boasted that he would get rid of Obamacare. Yes, the Trump supporters cheered at the thought of getting rid of Obamacare when that same health care would assist in protecting them from high health care costs. It made no sense.
I am grateful to President Obama in what he tried to do to help Americans in getting health insurance. Shame on the Republicans for trying to get it dismantled.
@josiebean and now he’s trying to get rid of it in the middle of a pandemic and high unemployment. My husband was unexpectedly laid off in May and we lost his really good benefits. I had to switch over to my work and we pay 3x now what we paid before. I have a pre-existing condition, chronic migraine, and cannot imagine what our lives would be like without health insurance. I’m grateful that Obamacare is there if we ever need it and don’t understand why people, particularly those who are unhealthy, would want to take away the health care of tens of millions of people in a pandemic.
Good luck @Noodle with your healthcare. Hopefully what is left of Obamacare will remain in tact and can be improved with Trump out of the way.
I had a coworker cheer the GOP trying to get rid of Obamacare, then complain about her daughter not being able to get coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Now you have half the country cheering Trump/GOP trying to get rid of healthcare in the middle of a pandemic. You can’t make it make sense.
I told some friends years ago that Obama was not supposed to be President. He snuck in, won the hearts of the world, and as payback, we got Trump. My friends looked at me like I was crazy, but i wasn’t. A whole lotta people were mad Obama had the audacity to be President and tried to take down democracy as a result. Biden won, but there are still 70 plus million people in approval of Trump. That is so scary. My hope is that we remember what the last 4 years felt like and are always careful with who we elect to high office. Both ways. For every great President the left elects, the right will try to come back with someone sinister.
I will forever remember Joy Reid saying “we have to remember, there are other Trumps out there. He’s not the only one.”
I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I think you are absolutely right. Trump’s election was a direct response to Obama’s success, and it’s a frightening prospect.
I just watched a documentary about the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and I’m going to do a crap job of paraphrasing, but one of his main points was that every time African Americans made progress in post civil war America, white society would find a way to tear that progress down. All of the racist scourges of the last century and a half (the rise of the KKK, lynchings, segregation, economic discrimination, voter suppression, mass incarceration, etc.) can almost always be traced back to a milestone achievement in civil rights or economic progress by the African American community. A strong case can be made for the reason so many white folks that voted for Trump was because on some level they were frightened and angry a black man could occupy the highest office in the land. Whether those folks realize (let alone admit) that is the real reason they voted for Trump is another story.
We talked about Russia last time for months. Where did Russia go? Fake. The left doesn’t care about election fraud unless they lose.