“Obama’s Advice For Democrats.”
Barack Obama sits down for his first major interview of the midterm season to talk about the state of democracy here and abroad, the escalating situation in Iran and the ongoing war in Ukraine, and how Democrats can appeal to the broadest coalition of voters. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, click here.
- Duration
- 56m
- Broadcast on
- 15 Oct 2022
- Audio Format
- other
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(upbeat music) - Welcome to Plates Of America, I'm John Favreau. - I'm John Lovett. - I'm Tommy Dietor. - I'm Dan Pfeiffer. - And here's our interview with President Barack Obama. Well, welcome back to Plates Of America. - Thanks for doing this. - It is great to be with you guys. Good to see you. - All right, we're going to start with the midterms. - Of course. - We're getting serious here. So these midterms like 2010 are happening and we would say a sub-optimal economic environment. But sort of unlike 2010, Democrats have a handful of pretty powerful arguments that seem to be moving voters about who are Republican side. On one hand, you got a bunch of big lie-believing insurrectionists, so that's one argument. Another argument is about extremism on abortion, gay marriage, contraception, et cetera, and then also Republicans who want to get back to Congress to cut taxes for the wealthy, pay for it by cutting Social Security and Medicare. You're about to get out on the campaign trail. Do you think there's a way to sort of weave those things into one narrative about the stakes in this election? - Well, look, I think the first and most important issue is are we going to preserve and hopefully strengthen our democracy? And that's sort of a baseline question. And I believe that given how at least Republican officials have behaved, they increasingly are willing to subvert basic democratic procedures, right? Like let's count votes. Let's make sure that people are allowed to vote. Let's make sure that whoever gets the most votes has the most seats and that if they get the most votes in Congress, that you can pass laws, right? Basic stuff like that, they don't increasingly seem to believe in. And so that's the sense of urgency that I have. Now, I think for the average voter out there, we can talk about specific issues that are important to them and this has been a long-term battle that we've been having between Democrats and Republicans. And that is, do we create the kind of economy that gives everybody a fair shot and that grows the economy in a way
Transcription truncated.
Barack Obama sits down for his first major interview of the midterm season to talk about the state of democracy here and abroad, the escalating situation in Iran and the ongoing war in Ukraine, and how Democrats can appeal to the broadest coalition of voters. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, click here.