Live Taping of "The Axe Files" with Former President Barack Obama

long before there was Rock Obama a Chinese immigrant named Jim zigzagged from Butte Montana where he worked in a laundry and Chinese restaurant to the South Pacific where he served in the US Army in World War two along his tour he met Margaret the primary caretaker of her large Chinese family in Sydney Australia they correspond did by letters and eloped to San Francisco after the war more than thirty years later and a world away Enrique a young accountant fled El Salvador's violent civil war in California he learned English and Community College by day while cooking at IHOP at night out with friends in San Francisco and evening he met Marilyn also an accountant one table over she was the daughter of Jim and Margaret and he asked her for one dance several years later I was born I tell these stories because President Obama and I share an American story of immigration of being raised by a single mother of being discounted because of the color of our skin of believing in our own power to take action and transform our communities and of knowing that our future relies on us empowering the next generation of young leaders in 2015 while serving in the Oregon governor's office I borrowed my niece for take your daughter take your child to work day just prior on her tenth birthday I asked Leila Murray what she wanted to be when she grew up president she said my ten year old self a brown girl from a low-income home never dreamed that was possible but Leila Murray at n year-old black girl from Portland knew the White House was in within reached because of President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama while in office they taught Leila Murray me and possibly many of you not to shrink ourselves for anyone it is now one of the greatest honors of my life so welcome to the stage david axelrod director of the Institute of Politics and our 44th President of the United States Barack Obama welcome home [Applause] we're using handheld mics too mr. president welcome home it is good to be back how's it going everybody and welcome back to the neighborhood what's your fondest memory of your two decades in Hyde Park well first of all I don't think I've ever been this building no I know it's very nice and things have spruced up well look my fondest memory of Hyde Park is Malia and Sasha being born for example I mean big things happened around here for me but m''d I always talk about is coming to Chicago for the very first time as I had been living in in New York and I had decided I wanted to be a community organizer I didn't know what that meant but I thought it's somehow involved doing good and this group on the south side of Chicago agreed to hire me sort of sight unseen so I drove out here and I had only been to Chicago once when I was 11 I didn't really remember it and I'm I drove from New York through Ohio and I get to Gary and I think that Chicago and I'm thinking you know it's rough out here but you know this is my job so I'm looking for the turnoff and then I hit the Skyway and I come through Jackson Park and it's Hyde Park and I said oh well this is nicer than I expected so and and and so Hyde Park was the first landing spot for me moving here and this ended up being the place where I lived it was home base was where Michelle and I first bought a home and where our children were born and where I made lasting friendships so love this place plus they're much better restaurants now you you know we I remember a discussion we had in right after New Year's in 2007 you just come back from Hawaii where you talked about whether you were gonna run or not and it was you were leaning very much in that direction and I said to you my fear for you I don't you remember this was not that you would lose but that you would win and that your lives would change forever and you can't go back it's like Damn Yankees you know you get to play centerfield for the Washington Senators but you don't get to go back to your life what do you miss most about your life before all of this before you had all these people accompanying you everywhere well let me say a couple of things first of all your reference to Damn Yankees nobody here understands that reference I I mean you have to be basically 60 or older to be familiar with that list of Americana I knew I let myself in for this kind of thing when I invited so that's point number one I I do recall the conversation we had and for those who don't know as much of the background you know acts was my partner in crime when we first started that real crime but now you know but but acts really was the person who I worked with together to shape our unlikely Senate campaign that then thrust me into the national spotlight and then continued into the presidency and and one of the things I valued most and we've talked about this was that David and and David Plouffe and Robert Gibbs and Valerie Jarrett and all the people who were close to me actually gave me a very clear sense of how unappealing running for president is and and that was important because if you were going to do it then you had to be clear-eyed and Michelle had to understand what was involved and I do recall our conversation you said the thing I worry about you is is you're not pathological enough right - I thought you were - normal yeah to do this you're right that once it happens it is somewhat unique you feel launched into space and you don't fully recover what you had before I think the thing that you miss is anonymity and you don't realize the value of anonymity until you don't have it and and the way that manifests itself is simply that you can't take a walk that's what I miss most take taking a walk the idea of on a nice day walking along the promenade and or you know we used to take our kids isn't just bike during the summer from you know long long lake shore drive all the way up to the aquarium and before it was all I don't know what happened something got regulated but there used to be these they were a little bit like food trucks that would be along the way and and there was this one in particular that they had this lemonade that was just killer on a today and and you could buy some snacks and the kids are you know trailing behind and you'd stop at a swing and that kind of unplanned pleasure yeah you don't have well the difference now is they'd set up the lemonade stand for you it's just there be nobody else around well listen Michelle just wrote a book I don't if you heard about this I heard mention it so it's a great read and I want to say that because I'm worried about her book sales lagging so I thought I should give it a plug but in it she was you know it's vintage Michelle because she was very honest about everything including you know your struggles as a family and this particular question because you guys led separate lives professional lives before you ran for president she was she worked at the University of Chicago hospital she had a very significant role there and in the community and she had her friends and she was rooted here she gave up a lot for you and for the cause there's no doubt and she reminds me of this often look the I am extraordinary for extraordinarily fortunate to have been chosen by a woman who is one-of-a-kind and and I do recommend by the way her book becoming outstanding I didn't come here to plug it she's doing quite well but it is her and speaks of her spirit and I think that the thing that you and I have always wrestled with it's not just the candidate you had to deal with it all the senior staff had to deal with it if you were married or had children or had a just a partner that you deeply loved and you're on a presidential campaign you're not seeing them and you know Susan your wife would be the first to testify but the sacrifices that all of our spouses or partners or kids made during that process which is part of the reason why once we got there my attitude was let's make this worth it and and I remember a lot of discussions that you and I used to have about do we take risks in terms of trying to get certain things done or do we play it safe because the polls don't look like they're tilting our way on this or that issue and and I think it's fair to say I think you'd confirm that my general attitude was if I am going to make the sacrifices and ask some Michelle and my children to make the sacrifices involved in this seat I'm not doing it just for a title and a plaque and of the occasional Sunday morning interview I'm doing it presumably because I'm delivering on the promises that I've made young people who voted for me and and you know let's let's try to get as much done as possible during this time yeah my point was just that in addition to you being away from home because you were away from home for 11 years in fact you probably saw your family more when you were president much more because you lived in above the office than when you were in Springfield and Washington I cheat but she had to uproot her she gave up what was a very you know promising and rewarding career and that that's hard I just wanted a nota cuz I think it was a moving part and you must have had some very during that Christmas in 2006 some some very and she wrote about it some very emotional discussions about all of it well look III think that Michelle continues to give voice to the challenge that a lot of remarkable talented gifted ambitious women wrestle with and I'm sure a lot of the young people who are here after wrestle with it we do not yet live in a society that is friendly towards family we give lip service to it but we have some of the worst family leave policies and childcare policies and support of that are provided particularly once children are in the picture of any advanced nation on earth and the brunt of that still falls on the woman and this proceeds me being president this was true when I was a state senator and and frankly it would have been true to some degree if I had been an investment banker or big-time litigator or a political consultant and and you know those young men who are in the audience who think they're woke should be mindful that there is still an imbalance that exists and and we have to as a society in addition to individually you know in our partnerships try to correct that because Michelle and I both tell Malia and Sasha look being being with somebody is easy forging a family and raising children is hard and it requires attention and when those little things show up that's your job that's your first job that's your highest priority and so you as a pair are going to have to make a decision about how does that work and I'm the first one day acknowledged that Michelle ended up making more sacrifices than I did in that process and it's one that you know as I talk to my daughters about it I say to them you've got to make sure that you're negotiating effectively not to be too transactional about it but to make sure that you have a sense of how has that burden going to be shared I I know your daughter's I'm confident they will yes you you was striking when you ran for president was that you were and you spoke about this you were literally just a few years out of being a state senator from Illinois a middle class guy living over there in East View Park a very nice but but but middle-class condo development over there and paying off your just paid off your student loans and you know all of that now you're you're ten years removed from all of that 12 years removed for 14 but you live in this rarefied world where you you know you never have to wait in a line and you fly for a good reason fly private and all of that how how do you lose your feel for four people does it worry you no actually and and and I think part of we've talked about this Michelle and I were fortunate that we didn't become famous till we were like 43 or 44 as you point out we were well into our careers adulthood raising kids parents going to target going to the carwash buying groceries paying bills going to Chuck E Cheese and so by the time we we're sort of catapulted into national prominence our characters I think were fairly set and we didn't think change significantly during that period and coming out of it on the other end as I said we'd we don't have the luxury of just hopping in our car and wandering around the way we used to that I'm sure has some impact I don't know acts you know you know me do I seem significantly different than no but I tell you you're not missing anything on this waiting on lines well yeah the fact that I don't take my shoes off before I get on a plane I'm fine with and and I don't I don't feel as if somehow I can't relate to the people as a consequence I here's what I do think though which which may get to your question about about sort of the feel of politics and and and the zeitgeist I think age does shift how you sense where the world's going I actually and we've talked about this i I I actually am glad that having had the extraordinary privilege and experience of serving as president that you don't have the option here of being a prime minister or President in perpetuity or as long as you want partly because I actually think that you you you don't get a as good of a sense of where the energy is of the society where it's pushing in the same way as you get older I think that you know I look at Malia and Sasha and how they get information and what issues they feel are settled and what issues are still in dispute and I may not have the same sense of those things as they do or as you know the the young people in the audience here do you you're right that you can't serve in perpetuity although there are some people who would like you to you hear all the times you can't he come back can you run for vice president and so on which I know you'd enjoy but and I'm curious and you may not want to answer the question but you think if you are in a ballot in 2020 that you would defeat President Trump I mean IIIi will not answer that direct question for obvious reasons I have the reason is because people say well you know we can't have another candidate of color we can't have a woman because that well that that kind of stuff I don't but I don't buy I am as you know I'm fairly confident yes that is apparent and and you know when I left office I think people felt after having gone through all kinds of ups and downs that I had taken the job seriously worked hard bent rooted my oath observed and hopefully strengthened the the norms and the rules and the the values of our democracy I think America was more respected around the world than it was when I came in and I I feel very confident that I was in a position to had it not been for both the Constitution and Michelle to continue in office but but I guess what I'm saying is is that I'm not sure it is a it is a healthy thing I see in other countries and I've known even very good people who they lose their edge and they get stale and uncomfortable in the position and and I think it's useful to have a democracy they have to have to continually evolve with respect to have going forward the idea that there's some demographic or profile of a particular candidate that is the optimal one or the ideal one that's just not how I've seen politics work I think people respond to candidates who speak to the moment in some fashion and you know you're the first one X who talked about the fact that you you sort of don't know how somebody's gonna play out until they're in the race right and and they're they're off and running I think it's fair to say that although by the time I announced I was running for president people were familiar enough with me that they thought this guy has talent they didn't necessarily think we were gonna win in fact I think the odds were well I think they wanted to see you run the whole gauntlet just to tell you they handled it exactly I think our current president nobody expected that that would happen but it did you you don't know how all these various factors are going to converge until you try and generalizations that we draw about well a woman's not gonna win this time oh this is ideal time for a woman you've had one black guy so you can't have another black guy but you know why they I mean I'm not subscribing to that theory but you know why it comes up because because I'm a minor you spoke right you spoke remember you're great you're great for those of you who are listening and not watching president enjoyed his last comment the the reason I ask is because you spoke your signature line in 2008 and it was powerful was I'm not running to be the president of of red America or blue America I'm running to be President of the United States we we are divided America is bluer and redder today than ever and races at the core of some of that yeah why well because because of history because of human nature and our deep flaws and foibles it is it has always been the the fault line of American life it is it is the original sin of America the fact that that declaration we hold these things to be self-evident that all men note right away there there's an issue are created equal that that that obviously was just some men at the time and we had to fight and struggle to to try to make that real and and that doesn't go away right away it has we've made enormous progress it remains a strong factor in our society we are not unique in this regard I think what's unique about America is our aspirations to be a large successful multi-racial multicultural multi-ethnic multi-religious pluralistic democracy you think that's president Trump's vision no obviously not you know we we have we have contrasting visions about what America is and and you know that that's self apparent but but but what I but I would say is that the majority of Americans believe in that story and there is power in that story and America at its best is a story of trying to approximate and realize those ideals that were set forth and my election did not somehow put an end to that struggle it was one more path along that process of opening up our democracy to all people and as I've said repeatedly I think over the last couple of years history doesn't just go forward it goes backwards and democracy is not a static thing you have to struggle for it and you have to nurture it and and tend to it but as divided as we appear right now and we can talk about all the factors that contribute to that many of which young people appear familiar with the truth of the matter is that the majority of Americans think that people should be judged on the basis of their character not their color or gender the majority of Americans believe that we are better off where our daughters have the same chances as our sons to succeed and and and do well and where we should consistently do our best to make sure every child has equal opportunity in this society where we fall short a lot of times a majority of American Lumina refers a majority of Americans also voted for a different candidate for president and so we know that there is a majority of you on understand look David I mean if what you're saying is that we have issues in our society around race yes we do if the issue is does that then foreclose the possibility of another african-american or woman or Latina or Latino or Indian American at some point becoming president the United States because those issues exist the answer is no now do I do I think that conversely the measure of every candidacy and our politics is judged solely by diversity No there are other factors involved too like what's their platform do they have good ideas about how we're going to create jobs in a new technological society do they have a good sense of how we're going to manage the the threat of climate change and while still maintaining our economic growth there are a whole range of factors here and I would argue by the way that and you and I have had this discussion that opposition to me and my presidency and my agenda was not solely driven by race there were a whole range of factors I think they're genuine conservatives out there who are not racist simply because they didn't agree with my position on the Affordable Care Act or they didn't agree with my position on guns or they didn't agree with my position on a woman's right to choose they sincerely held a set of beliefs that were different than mine and and and I think that it's important for those of us who disagree if others on some of these issues that we make sure to listen to to determine whether there is an honest disagreement about issues here or whether we think this is just a tribal clash that is somehow inherent and in the American life and we're never going to overcome it I I don't think we should be naive and pretend that there's never issues of race involved in the fault lines of American politics but I also don't think that we want to be reductive and say that that explains everything I want to share a question from one of the young people here a jack it les wrote looking back with the benefit of hindsight what would you have done differently to deal with an obstructionist Congress particularly Senator McConnell but we can leave him out of it if you don't want a name name there but III will say as I've been obviously reflecting on this and writing about it that the big factor the big challenge of that we faced was the filibuster and and it's it's a weird thing because it's not something that the average American spends a lot of time thinking about its interestingly enough doesn't get talked about or examined much even by the pundits it's a given that this extra constitutional thing that says you have to have 60 votes to get anything passed that arose sort of as an accident Aaron Burr who at the time was presiding over the Senate who apparently had bad judgment on a range of things sort of decided that you could get rid of the motion to proceed and various serve the Robert rules of order to close debate and what evolved then is now a supermajority requirement essentially to get anything passed it requires 60 votes would be exception of you know the changes that were made finally with confirmations as a consequence of some of the obstruction that took place he we should hold you think do you agree that we should eliminate the filibuster that's where I was going but thank you David I guess I wasn't getting there fast enough that they're saying that the point is that when you look at what happened in 2009 2010 we had 58 votes then Al Franken comes in and we get 59 votes and then for four months we had 60 votes and this Orleans because well and and then there was a temporary right the temporary Kennedy and so so for four months of my entire presidency I had 60 votes the rest of the time we could not get anything passed unless we got at least one Republican vote and if you had a situation in which the other party but risk by everything from the the right-wing media to the Koch brothers and various other groups that were actively mobilized very quickly early on to to ensure that any Republican who crossed party lines was punished and challenged in that environment it is it is I think a reasonable argument to make that that we should have had a discussion at least about whether this filibuster process should continue now keep in mind that a lot of senators like the filibuster because it's what gives individual senators power it gives them additional leverage they would not have necessarily up easily but yeah the original design of the constitution of ensured sufficient checks and balances in part by having a bicameral legislature and by having the Senate not originally not directly elected by popular vote but even now you know Wyoming has two votes and so does California so it's it's you already have a range of counter majoritarian structures embedded in the Constitution adding the filibuster I think has made it almost impossible for us to effectively govern at a time when you don't have when you have at least one party that is not willing to compromise on issues we I was there when the midterm happened in 2010 well let me ask you one thing before I get there garland there's you thinking back is there anything you could have done recess appointment or otherwise to to install justice garland or judge garland as justice Garland no we looked at the possibility of recess appointment the there were already rulings on the books that would indicate that we could not do that and have it upheld and you know part of the challenge that we never completely solved it and and I'm the first to confess you know I was not able to get this messaged effectively filibusters obstruction process fouls violation of norms not calling a Supreme Court justice it's just not the stuff that moved people to vote and the other side didn't get punished toward whether also this assumption that Hillary was gonna win and she'd probably fill that seat if you didn't well that there was that assumption but it wasn't it wasn't wrong we it wasn't the reason that we didn't try to get it on it's just we couldn't we couldn't focus enough attention on on the fact that the basic norms of governance that took place you know for prior presidents suddenly didn't hold for us yeah the only time it got attention was when it was so outrageous like when a guy stands up and says you lie in the middle of a joint session of Congress where people go huh well that's different yeah it was but it didn't result in the opposition party the Republican Party losing seats you so you went through this change of party control in 2011 what what do you what does President Trump not know about what he's about to face that he should I you know I let's reframe that what did I experience because I don't know what he's gonna deal with it's a different environment at a different time I I think that we tend to overestimate the power of the presidency to move major legislation in the current environment that's been true for a while and and there's a there's a historical reason for it the Democratic Party and the Republican Party were not polarized in the 50s 60s 70s even into the 80s in part because ideologically though each party was a mess it you had Dixiecrats Southern Democrats who were very conservative not just on racial issues but on a whole range of issues you had Rockefeller Republicans who were very liberal there wasn't yet what had taken place with what we call the great sorting where people suddenly figured out that there's a national alignment and if I feel this way then I must be a Democrat versus Republican everything was much more regional and and and so as a consequence you could have a lot of cross party movement moderate Republicans got wiped out by twenty by 2006 even before we came into office there were barely any what would have been considered moderate Republicans and there were very few conservative Democrats so moderate Republicans but they well they free that's exactly right when I say moderate I mean their ability to vote for you know after they came out office they'd be like all Barack you know I know this is really unreasonable I'm sorry it didn't do me much good or the country much good and and I think that's still to some degree the case but but what that means then is is that the legislative process more or less shuts down you then have to look at your administrative and and executive powers as a way of moving the needle on a whole range of issues that was controversial to some folks why is he signing executive actions as opposed to passing legislation it wasn't my preference but the alternative was complete gridlock in and the inability to solve real problems that were out there at the time now this this is a general problem that we're gonna have with our democracy until we get Congress working because what is absolutely true is Congress punts so much now and has for the last thirty years it this wasn't just true under my administration the ability to move big legislation through has so challenging and the window for any administration to do it is so narrow that what you end up having is a situation in which agencies and essentially whoever controls the White House is filling in all kinds of gaps because there's no clear direction about what exactly does the Clean Air Act mean as the science of Vols around climate change so you've got the courts and the agencies interacting and Congress is sort of a bystander to the whole process I don't think that's healthy I don't think that's optimal but I also think that when you are in that presidential seat what you are constantly figuring out is within the bounds of the law and I want to make clear that distinction within the boundaries that have been set by your office of legal counsel and the courts can you exercise enough executive authority to be able to get some things done otherwise stuff just shuts one big thing you did get done was the Affordable Care Act yeah we got that passed yes and in this list that was and by the way my understand we're in open enrollment right now so I want to give a little plug anybody who's listening if you if you don't have health insurance go on healthcare.gov send me down there to the hill or others did rom and others when they were grumpy about the Affordable Care Act to tell them why this was going to in the long run be a political winner it wasn't in 2010 how gratifying was it to you to see all of these candidates all over the country Democrat candidates campaigning on the Affordable Care Act and Republican candidates saying yeah we're for that too we're for pre-existing conditions it felt gratifying I wish it would come a little bit earlier but that's it would have been helpful on in in in 2014 but look you will recall that health care was always hard and tricky and during the campaign you and and the pollsters and Plouffe would warn me that this is a big headache because despite the fact that the United States says is unique among advanced economies around the world in not providing universal health care and having as many uninsured as we do and paying more and paying more much more for it despite all that 85% people have health care in the country they did back then we got it up to 90 but and people tended to believe the worst about any changes in the health care system if you already had health insurance you figured any changes might make things worse for me and so the politics of covering that last 15% and making people's existing insurance more secure was never easy and ever good which is why nobody had gotten it done now they've experienced it and they don't want to give it up well and and and my basic theory was if we could get the equivalent of a starter home if we could change the terms of the debate so that it was a given that everybody should have health insurance that is affordable and that was the default that was the baseline which which people don't remember the before the Affordable Care Act that wasn't a given so we changed the terms of debate by insisting everybody's got to have a baseline we got this little starter home going we knew that you know it wasn't everything we would want but that it would at least to begin the process of getting more and more people accustomed to the idea that they should have insurance and by the way that the people who do have insurance should have insurance that actually is worth something are you confident that the future will bring more and more reform and improvement yes because that's been the the trend of the expansion of the social welfare system in this country Social Security started as a very modest program for widows and orphans and it excluded because of Southern Democrats who didn't want african-americans to benefit it excluded domestic workers and it excluded agricultural workers and over time it evolved into what we have today Medicare Medicaid all these things have started off more modestly and then over time people realize there should be improvements to it I think the same thing will happen with the Affordable Care Act what's it what what we've seen is a cut in this election and again I'm the first to confess it took longer than I expected yeah is that this basic principle that people have that yeah everybody should have health care and if you have got a pre-existing condition I shouldn't be foreclosed from getting health care I think that now has been asked tenants asked an answer and I and I would be surprised if you once again have Republicans going after this thing as hard as they have although their continued to undermine it in various places just out of spite in ways that I've never fully understood I mean though the the one thing that has gotten me fired up on occasion is the idea for example Republican governors whose constituents would directly benefit and wouldn't and and this the states would not be paying initially was entirely free and then afterwards a modest match their unwillingness to coverage to residents of their States and in places like Texas where you've got millions people who like basic coverage I found three states with Republican governors Utah Nebraska and Idaho voted to expand Medicaid in this past election so where the market is on this eventually we'll get there think about how many people didn't get a checkup didn't catch an illness early enough that the suffering and the pain that has been unnecessary as a consequence of an ideological or political agenda is is not our finest moment yeah and this was one of those issues you mentioned earlier where you were very clear that you were willing to lose for it it wouldn't have passed from my vantage point without the help of Nancy Pelosi who was Speaker of the House she's in the news now what is your sense of that and and whether the Democrats in the Congress need her in these next two years like you know Churchill got dispatched after World War two but he led the country through the war you know look and they know who Churchill is they do yeah IIIi will just offer my opinion about Nancy Pelosi I'm not gonna wait into hmm House Democratic caucus politics I think Nancy Pelosi when the history is written will go down as one of the most effective legislative leaders that we this country has ever seen and you know Nancy is not always the the best on you know a cable show or with the quick sound bite or what-have-you but her skill tenacity toughness vision is remarkable her stamina her ability to see around corners her her ability to stand her ground and do hard things and to suffer unpopularity to get the right thing done I think stands up against any person that I've observed or work directly with in Washington during my lifetime and I I think that we have a tendency in our politics in this country to put a premium on performance art and you know can they give you fancy speech and are they you know quick and cool on some YouTube video or you know how are they as their banter on you know the late-night talk shows yeah you've ruined it for everybody yeah well but but I tell you you know a lot of this job or a lot of the work of government is not flashy it is it is nuts and bolts and it is a grind and it is hard and it's a matter of competence and knowing your stuff and being willing to just do the blocking and tackling involved and actually getting things across the finish line and and my experience has been that Nancy Pelosi knows how to do that and and she was an extraordinary partner for me throughout my presidency well I can understand you not wanting to wait into house politics so that I just want to give my know you know I have to ask you this question from from quasi Frank from Brooklyn who asked based on the current state of the nation do you have any regrets about something you did or did not do during your presidency and would you change any decisions you made well one of my biggest regrets is is one I've talked about a lot and is in the news today some of you heard that just a couple miles from here there was a nother shooting in Mercy Hospital where what appears to and not all the details are in but it appears a disgruntled ex-fiance decides to come in and shoot his former fiancee and then she never leathers police whether three others including a police officer and you know the I this I've also said the hardest day of my presidency was was the day of the Newtown shootings in Sandy Hook and and and and having to be having to comfort parents whose six-year-olds had been slaughtered just two days before and the and the angriest I was ever during my presidency was seeing Congress not do anything about it completely unresponsive and erupted you from Wednesday and say uh Leah so for another student asked what was the most challenging part of the presidency on a personal level this would be it yes and and and the fact that I I buy my second term it was literally every two or three months where I was having to travel and [Music] hug sobbing parents or spouses or children because of mass shootings and it had become routine and we had this you know kabuki dance of what we're offering our thoughts and prayers and you know people would start talking about we need to do something about this and the other side would immediately the NRA and and the entirety just about of the Republican Party and and some Democrats where the politics was tough in their communities would would just shut off any discussion of dealing with this public health crisis that does not exist anywhere else okay but this is unique to the United States relative to our peer countries it just it's not even close we we have significantly brought down traffic fatalities during X Y or in my lifetime maybe the fact is that it is much safer now to drive and the reason for that is people said huh we should take a look at this and say why are all these people dying in cars it didn't mean we took away all cars it meant we did try to figure out how to make this more sensible and more safe and that included everything from airbags and seatbelts to anti drunk driving campaigns to how do we engineer roads and how do we analyze when accidents take place same thing with airplanes same thing with just about every other aspect of our lives and you have this one area that is treated as completely off-limits but you know why you know why mr. president because they they would argue the opponents that this is the one that is enshrined in the car but actually it turns out for example free speech the First Amendment the last I checked is enshrined in the Constitution and yet we who we help it's slightly but we you know say you can't yell fire in the middle of rent of a theater we we consistently make decisions around how do you balance the the health and safety of people with the requirements of freedom and and look you and I have had conversations about this I represented in Illinois downstate Illinois full of hunters and and and Michelle and I used to when we were when we were campaigning out in Iowa and we'd be in rural areas and you'd see some farm house miles from a big town and you'd say I can see why I'd want firearm here because if somebody just pulled into my driveway the sheriff's not responding for quite some time I might need some protection III so the issue and as mning that we can't even have this conversation without knowing where it ends because it is self apparent that we can create a system in which people could still have a hunting license and an ability to have a firearm in the home for their own protection but that there were significant limits and restrictions on their ability to shoot up hospitals and schools and synagogues in fact that we can't have that discussion in part has is driven not simply organically this didn't just get of emerge on its own this this was in part manufactured by gun manufacturers and economic interests and it was exploited for political purposes and they mined the cultural design and they mined a cultural divide so that guns became a symbol in part of that divide and it took on an outsized importance separate and apart from the actual policy that was at issue and do you see any hope of changing it Andy well I I see hope in changing it if people vote and I see hope in changing it and if people of goodwill you know examine of our willingness to try to come up with some improvements I I don't see hope in us suddenly mmm eliminating that the the high levels of gun violence that we have in our society right away but I see us being able to improve things and this is something that I've said consistently I said on the campaign trail and and as you know I used to say in the White House I am NOT somebody who believes that something's not worth doing unless you get all of it done I am a big believer in the half a loaf I'm a big believer and better is good and and on issues like this I would gladly take better where I'm saving maybe a hundred people a year and then it's becomes 200 and maybe then a thousand kids aren't getting shot I would take that in a minute even though I would still mourn and weep for the thousands of others who we haven't saved yet I have to ask you two things before I want to talk about what you're doing now one is your reaction of midterm elections you jumped in there I remember you tell me the bushes had taught you a lesson how to be a former president and that was basically to give room in space for the but you felt the need to jump in there and campaign yes and how do you feel about the results the president said it was nearly a total complete victory for his but I I think we did very well and the reason I'm was particularly happy was to see the significant increase in vote totals that the percentage of people who voted the percentage of young people who yes was heartening to me there was a about a 10% jump in the voting rates of I want to report to you that we ran a drive here in this campus in University of Chicago led the nation I like that it yes that's what I would expect so my general theory of politics is if you vote you win and if you don't you lose and if you want to move your agenda forward then you have to have more votes than the other guy it's not all that sophisticated math it's math do you want Congress that's more responsive to the issues vote more of your party into Congress and then hold them accountable and that's how that's how this stuff works for the most part so you were you were I was placed pleased with the result I have to ask you this question because I bet you there are people here who would be interested in it as you look to 2020 what are your impressions of beto mania and what sort of role in the Democratic Party do you see him taking in the future impressive young man who who ran a terrific race in Texas and what what I liked most about his race was that it didn't feel constantly poll-tested it felt as if he didn't poll in fact it it felt as if he based his statements and his positions on what he believed and that you'd like to think is normally how things work sadly it's not that you know I think you and I would both agree that in 2008 and hopefully pretty consistently all the way through that that the reason I was able to make a connection with a sizable portion the country was people had a sense that I said what I meant and and that's a quality that as I look at what I'm sure will be a strong field of candidates and in in 2020 many of whom are friends of mine and people I deeply respect what I oftentimes am looking for first and foremost is do you seem to mean it are you in this thing because you have a strong set of convictions that you are willing to risk things for and he struck you as a guy who yes and I think there others I don't think he's young you know we've got a number of people in the who are thinking about the race so I think fall in that same category and and being able to sustain that and maintain that in the heat of battle when the spotlights on and there are significant risks and you taking that position may lead you to lose this race that you've invested so much in that's a that's the test I want to see somebody pass it and and by the way I I can't even say that that is necessarily always a winning formula you know III don't want to leave people with the impression that the good guys always win that the folks who are the most honest always succeed in politics no I mean I think that there's a lot of times where the outcomes may be different and disappointing but what I will say is this the the people who move the needle forward that the people who move the country in a way that goes back to that earlier comment we our discussion we had about the history of this this that the folks who make it more likely that our children live in a place that is fair and free and provides the equal opportunity to all people the moments where we've moved forward has to do at some point with somebody's being a being willing to risk everything for a larger principle and that's true sometimes even for folks who weren't particularly principled in the past day you look at Lyndon Johnson at the moment he signs the Civil Rights Act and he fights to get the Civil Rights Act passed this is not somebody who had been in the past of particularly principled but grace lit upon him and it at a certain moment he said you know we shall overcome and he used his mastery of the Senate to to get that thing through you know my you know how I think about politics it seems to me that what we saw in this election and what you may see in 2020 that people are gonna be hungry for that and someone I and I'm not pushing better o'rourke over other candidates but one of the things that made him appealing was he went everywhere treated with respect and I think that's a lesson that whoever runs needs needs to learn I think the country's hungry to be knitted back together and to see a sense of mutual regard I'm a big believer as you know in you show up everywhere and you talk to everybody and you don't write people off and you don't assume oh well that persons not woke and you know what let me tell you something if how are they going to wake up if you're not having a conversation with them and listening to them and getting a sense of what they I and you may need to be awakened to how they're feeling and what they're going through I I've never understood this idea that there you have to choose between your base and sort of a you know expanding reaching beyond your base I you talk to everybody you though those of us who consider ourselves progressives one of the principles we have fought against is somebody reducing us to our color or our gender or sexual orientation and suggesting that there are things we can and can't do were there things that we can or can't believe because of those attributes those those those immutable characteristics well we you can't then turn around and say oh yeah that that white man and Arkansas I'm not gonna reach him or you know that you know evangelical you know I'm sure they're not gonna be interested in hearing about my environmental issue you don't know that you have to engage and pay attention and and and and when that happens you're not gonna immediately bridge all those divides there are very real differences these are hard issues a lot of times some people genuinely disagree but at minimum you will establish you you will be contributing to the the the goodwill and the habits of the heart that are required for our democracy to continue to function and and that is no small thing oh that's more essential now than ever so I've run over way over I know I know we know but you know what we knew that was gonna happen but it's my oats it's my podcast so I'm gonna run over but I can't leave without pointing out that there are Obama scholars who were studying at the Harris school here and it speaks to the work you're doing now through your foundation and what your what what you're doing and what your hopes are for it well we just completed of a young leaders summit here in Chicago that included some of our Obama Scholars who were doing great work at the there they are they're all cheering and clapping these are remarkable young leaders from around the world who are studying here at the Harris School at the University of Chicago but also collaborating learning from each other you know working with us to find ways in which we can support their efforts back home and you know what I am constantly amazed by is how much talent there is everywhere young people who are smart and driven and innovative and idealistic and are absolutely intent on change in the world for the better what they are concerned about I think is that the old institutions aren't always working the way they're supposed to and there's sometimes cynical about those existing structures so part of what our job is through the oh the presidential center programming is to give them a platform where they can start creating and remaking and revitalizing yuning with each other these these institutions institutions that can provide workers with representation so that they can make a decent living and and and have decent jobs in this new economy you know innovations that help us deal with the environmental consequences of climate change and start getting on top of that you know innovations to ensure that the governments are transparent and and and and representative and and the creativity and the the passion that they've already displayed makes me optimistic and we had young people even younger than these folks some of them just out of high school had already started their own projects and Arizona and South Carolina as well as here in Chicago so I am very excited about the programming and obviously I'm excited about us building a presidential center that in partnership with the University of Chicago I think can help tell the story of of not simply my presidency but as I think the best museums do and and libraries do tell a story about America's journey to create a more perfect union well as you know this Institute of Politics is we're working the same side of the street here we're gonna be great partners as always yeah well I appreciate our long friendship and collaboration and you know we share a vision and it was such it's been such a joy to be along on this journey with you and thank you so much for being here today it was great to be here and and congratulations to all the IOP participants you guys are doing great look forward to seeing you do great things thank you [Applause]

Channel: UChicago Institute of Politics

Views: 41,188

Rating: 4.6955752 out of 5

Keywords: 10-25-18, President Obama, Barack Obama, David Axelrod, The Axe Files, UChicago, Institute of Politics, IOP, Podcast

Id: Xrbr1uektrg

Length: 75min 6sec (4506 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 15 2019