CNN’s Christiane Amanpour recently interviewed former President Barack Obama for an hour-long special that aired Thursday night that carried the pretentious subtitle Will Democracy Win? CNN was not subtle in trying to portray Republicans as a threat to democracy, beyond the subtitle, the opening narrator hyped the location of the interview, “An in depth conversation on the state of American democracy from the birthplace of democracy, Athens, Greece.”
Early on in the interview, Obama described U.S. institutions as “creaky” from the strain of allegedly anti-democratic sentiment. Amanpour took that idea and ran with it, “So, let's ask about the creaky or not institutions in the United States. The spectacle of a former president being federally indicted, how is the rest of the world, the democratic world, maybe even the non-democratic world, meant to interpret that indictment and, indeed, the fact that a indictee is running, is able to run for the highest office in the land, maybe even the world?”
For his part, Obama declared it “less than ideal, but the fact that we have a former president who is having to answer to charges brought by prosecutors, does uphold the basic notion that nobody is above the law. And the allegations will now be sorted out through a court process.”
More concerning for Obama was “gerrymandering” and “trying to silence critics through changes in legislative process, whether it's attempts to intimidate the press,” whatever that means.
Later in the program, Amanpour continued with the theme that Republicans are horrible:
You said recently in a speech that if we keep having these terrible differences that we have, we will destroy each other, we have to find a way, how to live together…
I spoke to one of the Republican candidates, former Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas who said to me ‘give the candidates a chance to talk to the issues the Americans are concerned about, let’s use appropriate language, let's be clear that we have differences of policy but doesn't always make the person on the other side an evil person or somebody that doesn't love our country.’…
Do you think the Republicans will coalesce around that kind of message?
Cracking himself up, Obama replied, “No. There’s no evidence that's where their head is at right now.”
There’s also no evidence that his former vice president, who accused Republicans of wanting to black people back in chains, is the right man for that job either, but nobody brought that up as Obama continued to ramble about the GOP and “the siloing of information” and how people who watch Fox News live in a different world than people who read the New York Times.
Amanpour then cited her colleague and former Obama official Van Jones, “you’re the first black president, when Trump was elected, somebody who you used to work for you, and who and is now an analyst, Van Jones, said it 'white lash' it was the white lash against a black presidency, do you think it the white lash receding?”
At the same time, she wondered “how do you interpret two candidates of color, Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina, Tim Scott, senator of South Carolina, who is saying that Obama wants to keep, essentially, race as part of the equation, a part of the, you know, the conversation and you don't believe that everybody has an equal chance in the United States no matter what their color?”
Despite Obama starting the feud with Scott, Obama tried to act as if he was above politics, “Well, look, I won't comment on what Republican candidates say, I'm not running, so they can find other ways to occupy their time. I think race has always been the default line in America, life in American politics.”
Most of the interview was full of softballs. The one exception was when Amanpour asked was whether Obama’s reaction to the Russian annexation of Crimea on his watch was too weak. Obama defended himself by saying 2014 was a different time and he did the best he could under the circumstances.
This show was sponsored by ClearChoice.
Here is a transcript for the June 22 show:
CNN Obama & Amanpour: Will Democracy Win?
6/22/2023
10:00 PM ET
NARRATOR: Tonight former President Obama one on one with Christiane Amanpour welcome.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Mr. President, welcome.
NARRATOR: An in depth conversation on the state of American democracy from the birthplace of democracy, Athens, Greece.
…
10:05
AMANPOUR: So, let's ask about the creaky or not institutions in the United States.
BARACK OBAMA: Yeah.
AMANPOUR: The spectacle of a former president being federally indicted, how is the rest of the world, the democratic world, maybe even the non-democratic world, meant to interpret that indictment and, indeed, the fact that a indictee is running, is able to run for the highest office in the land, maybe even the world?
OBAMA: It’s less than ideal, but the fact that we have a former president who is having to answer to charges brought by prosecutors, does uphold the basic notion that nobody is above the law. And the allegations will now be sorted out through a court process.
I think I'm more concerned when it comes to United States when it comes to the fact that, not just one particular individual is being accused of undermining existing laws, but that more broadly, we've seen whether it is through the gerrymandering of districts, whether it’s, you know, trying to silence critics through changes in legislative process, whether it's attempts to intimidate the press, a strand of anti-democratic sentiment, that, you know, we've seen in the United States, it’s something that is right now most prominent in the Republican Party but I don't think it is something that is unique to one party.
I think there is a less tolerance for ideas that don't suit us, and, sort of, the habits of a free and open exchange of ideas and the idea that, you know, we all agree to the rules of the game, and even if the outcomes aren't always the ones that we like, we still abide by those rules, I think that’s weakened since I left office and we’re going to need to strengthen them again.
…
10:30
AMANPOUR: You said recently in a speech that if we keep having these terrible differences that we have, we will destroy each other, we have to find a way, how to live together.
OBAMA: Yeah.
AMANPOUR: I spoke to one of the Republican candidates, former Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas who said to me “give the candidates a chance to talk to the issues the Americans are concerned about, let’s use appropriate language, let's be clear that we have differences of policy but doesn't always make the person on the other side an evil person or somebody that doesn't love our country.”
Obama: Right.
AMANPOUR: Do you think the Republicans will coalesce around that kind of message?
OBAMA: No. There’s no evidence that's where their head is at right now. Now, that doesn't mean that’s not attainable over time. You know I, look, it wasn't that long ago that I got a lot of Republican votes, it wasn't that long ago were John McCain was the Republican nominee, and actively shutdown a speaker at a town hall who was saying that I was illegal alien and bent on imposing Sharia Law on the United States and there are still a bunch of folks that are more politically conservative than I am on social issues on economic issues, but who I consider good people and thoughtful people, who I learn from and who and who I enjoy conversations with and so the polarizations that we have seen in our national politics is not identical to what is happening on the ground.
But what is true is that partly because of where people are getting information these days, the siloing of information, if you are watching Fox News, I’ve said this before, if you’re watching Fox News or following some right-wing, you know, radio host, or getting Facebook feeds within that bubble, the reality is different than if you read the New York Times or watch your program.
And when people are getting such fundamentally different facts or what they think to be facts and their worldviews are so skewed in one direction or another then it's very hard for democracy to work, so this is the reason I’ve been spending a lot of time both in the Foundation and in other work, talking about these problems of misinformation, not just the kind of misinformation we see Putin engaging in the Ukraine situation, not just during election time, but just this constant demonization of the other side and making people fearful of each other and unfortunately, I think that's going to be a problem that gets even more pronounced with the advent of A.I and deep fakes, and all of these challenges.
AMANPOUR: And we want to talk about that a lot with the leaders in the second part of this program and I just wanted to ask you before I got to them finally, race, you’re the first black president, when Trump was elected, somebody who you used to work for you, and who and is now an analyst, Van Jones, said it “white lash” it was the white lash against a black presidency, do you think it the white lash receding, and I guess combined with that, how do you interpret two candidates of color, Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina, Tim Scott, senator of South Carolina, who is saying that Obama wants to keep, essentially, race as part of the equation, a part of the, you know, the conversation and you don't believe that everybody has an equal chance in the United States no matter what their color?
OBAMA: Well, look, I won't comment on what Republican candidates say, I'm not running, so they can find other ways to occupy their time. I think race has always been the default line in America, life in American politics. That’s not original to me, I think any observer of America would say that. And by the way, that historically has not, sort of, been a one-sided partisan issue, my favorite president, Abraham Lincoln, did an awful lot to advance the cause of freedom and conversely, the Democratic Party was where the Dixiecrats resisted civil rights and progress for years and imposed Jim Crow. So, it is something that America has had to grapple with for centuries.
