This morning Prince Harry interviewed @BarackObama for @BBCr4today. Missed it? Download the full interview here. ?? https://t.co/uQgsXFv4sx pic.twitter.com/qH2GD1xfgj
— BBC (@BBC) December 27, 2017
Shorter, in case you don’t have time to listen right now:
Politicians, and others in positions of power, should stop corroding civil discourse and seek to unify society, the former US president Barack Obama said in a rare interview conducted by Prince Harry for BBC Radio 4’s Today programme…
Obama reflected on the day he relinquished power to Trump and said: “Overall there was serenity there, more than I would have expected,” but his sense of achievement was laced with a sense of “all the work that was left undone”. He said he viewed each presidency as part of a relay race, but felt he had passed the baton on successfully. “We had run a good race,” he said.
Since leaving office, he said, life appeared to move in slow motion, but he insisted this slower pace could be liberating if it meant he “could spend an extra 45 minutes talking to Michelle or having a long breakfast”…
Prince Harry and Obama spent part of an often personal interview – the first since he left office – discussing their shared “obsession” in empowering a new generation of young civic leaders worldwide, an issue that lies at the heart of the Obama Foundation, the central vehicle for Obama’s post-presidential public work.
He said: “This generation is the most sophisticated, the most tolerant in many ways, the most embracing of diversity, the most tech-savvy, the most entrepreneurial, but they do not have much faith in existing institutions.” …
Asked about anything that he had missed since leaving office, he said he missed the camaderie of his team, adding: “I used to cause traffic, I now experience traffic.”…
“Love or hate him, Obama has always made an effort to be constructive in his public statements. I appreciate that quality more now than I did before he left office.” https://t.co/axeuj0zINz
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) December 27, 2017
Thursday Morning Open Thread: A Little Reward for the FaithfulPost + Comments (100)