WEBVTT - What If Obama Was Never President? | MiniPod 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.440 Native Lamb Pod is a production of our Heart Radio 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:04.880 in partnership with Reason Choice Media. 0:00:05.000 --> 0:00:09.040 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome. 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:12.160 And welcome to our mini pod. Welcome home, y'all. This 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:16.639 is always an amazing Native Land production here where we 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:18.880 get an opportunity to just sell the complimentary Yeah. No, 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:21.840 we get an opportunity to that was that was us 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:28.040 self complimented? Yes, And while we are grieving missing our 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:30.760 homegirl Tiffany Cross on this show, we do have for 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:33.600 the first time the three of us joining together for 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:37.800 this mini pod. And we got an interesting question that 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:40.960 was asked and I actually, uh, this was this was 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:43.159 my idea if y'all can't tell, but I want to 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:45.040 pose it to the larger group. Can we browe that 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:46.560 question real quick? And then I want to think about it. 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:48.159 I want to I want Andrew to start with this. 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:52.680 No, why why a G Because I talked too much? 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:54.200 I wait, No, I don't do that. 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:56.720 No, you just covered the whole pod, so rude. 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:02.920 Hello Native Land Pod. My name is Paula Chandler. I 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:06.440 am sixty two years old and a native of Washingtonian 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:10.560 and I have been with you guys from day one. 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:17.320 My question to the group is, and it's kind of 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:21.679 a hypothetical but maybe more of a discussion point for 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:29.120 maybe a mini pod. But there was a bio series 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:31.840 on Showtime a couple of years ago that featured three 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:36.360 First Ladies, Michelle Obama, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Betty Ford. And 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:40.200 there was one scene where Michelle Obama, they and Barack 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:42.640 were transitioning out of the White House. Trump had been 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:48.480 voted in in twenty sixteen, and Michelle Obama played Viola 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:54.200 Davis asked the question do they hate us that much 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:59.720 to vote this kind of person into office? I'm pair 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:03.960 for raising, but that's what the gist of it was. 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:12.079 And my question to the group is what would this 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:17.040 country look like if Barack Obama was never president? 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:20.720 Miss Paula, thank you for your thank you for your question, 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:21.440 thank you for the death. 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:23.920 Wait can I ask a question, Macaary, Is this the 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:25.840 same show? I never watched the show, but is this 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:30.200 the same show? Where Viola Davis looks at who is supposed. 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:33.080 To be Barack Obama said, because you are nic is 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:33.680 it that show? 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:35.040 I don't. 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:39.200 She made some very strange facial expressions throughout the. 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:46.359 We need can we run next? 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:47.359 No? 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:52.640 No, controversial, David. 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:53.840 She knows I love her, but. 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:57.919 She played that part hard. It was hard. 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:01.440 This is the this is y'all are miss see. This 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:02.720 is why I don't This why I'm not the lead. 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:03.919 This is this is what I'm talking about. 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:05.920 You have the floor, yep. 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:08.280 So I thought the question. Paula. Shout out to you. 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:12.239 You look amazing to be fifty years young. Ain't no 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:14.919 way you sixty two. I know all that whispering you 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:17.240 doing at you at your desk right there. We love 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:19.960 it them frames. You've been drinking your water in minding 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:23.760 your business. It's a great question about what happens. Have 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:26.000 y'all ever thought about that if Barack Obama was an 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:26.760 elected president? 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:29.200 I have you well, let's hear it. I want to 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:30.760 you were supposed to. 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:31.440 Haven't know. 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:33.320 I haven't given a lot of consideration to us. 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:33.760 I like it. 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:37.000 H I mean, I may go ahead, Angela, so go 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:37.920 ahead tell me what you think. 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:42.080 I feel like I talked a lot in the last show, 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:43.200 So please have your floor. 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:45.720 You actually didn't. You didn't talk enough. 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:46.560 But you didn't. 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:47.680 You didn't talk enough. 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:49.080 But like, but I'll have the floor. 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:51.600 Yeah, I'm gonna take it. But you but you definitely. 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:55.320 Your voice is definitely so controversial. 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:58.760 So you go, I'll be sandwiched between the two diplomats. 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:01.520 Well, I just think that they're too things that there 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:03.400 are two things that I would say about Barack Obama 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:05.440 if he was not elected president. The first is that 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:08.440 there is a picture that I remember from Jacob Philadelphia. 0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:10.960 Y'all may or may not remember Jacob Philadelphia, but at 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:12.800 the time he was four years old, he was in 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:15.600 the White House, his parents had just gotten decommissioned, and 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:17.600 he got an opportunity to ask the president one question, 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:19.800 and he said, does your hair feel like mine? And 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:23.040 the shade God as we call him, Pete SUSA, captured 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:26.680 that image of Barack Obama leaning over and letting Jacob 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:28.960 Philadelphia shout out to Jacob. I think he just graduated 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:31.359 college or is in college now, which to make you 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:36.200 feel old. But I just think that Barack Obama's presidency 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:39.200 meant so much to an entire generation of young black 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:40.960 and brown children that they could grow up and be 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:43.520 anything in the world. There was so much hope just 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:46.120 about we're not talking about his accomplishments, we're not talking 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:48.640 about the criticisms we have, We're not talking about him 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:51.720 using drones. We're not talking about you know, the Affordable 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:54.280 Care Act, of successes, all of those things. But what 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:55.960 we are talking about is just what he meant in 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:59.520 terms of hope for black people, and I think that 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:01.320 they're there is a lot to say that a black 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:04.480 man can be president. That's first. Second. I am really 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:07.599 really pleased at my father and all the work of 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:11.719 our parents, Eddie Rott, and just the heroes and heroines 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:15.160 we know, who bled, who got shot, many of which 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:19.080 who died, who you know, paid the ultimate what Abraham 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:21.800 Lincoln called the last measure of devotion, so that we 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:26.240 could make you know, some similance of progress in this country. 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:29.839 I'm glad they got an opportunity to see, you know, 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:32.599 a black man get elected in this country. I'm glad 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:34.920 they got an opportunity to see that. So I think 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:40.279 the hope and the reward, although you know, you know, 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:43.680 we've taken multiple steps back, I think I think that 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:46.479 means a lot. So that's why those those are the 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:49.360 those are the kind of points I would make if 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:51.320 he didn't get elected. And I don't know what the 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:54.800 country looks like without him, but I do know that 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:56.880 he made a great deal of progress, not as much 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:59.240 as we would have wanted. And I just think think 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:03.080 about about going from George W. Bush to Donald Trump. 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:09.720 Yeah, I I go back and forth about this so much, 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:12.560 and not about whether or not he should have been president, 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:15.599 because I know how much it meant to me that 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:20.120 we had Barack Obama as our president. What I will 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:24.359 say is it felt divine. It felt like he was 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:26.760 called when all the odds were against him, there was 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:30.279 still a path created. I remember, you know, crying and 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:35.800 begging my congressional boss at the time to endorse him. 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:38.640 There was a split in the Congressional Black Caucus where 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:41.880 you know after it. I wasn't the CBC executive director yet, 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:45.159 but when I became the ED, I learned that Barack 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:47.920 Obama was hardly active and that a lot of them 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:52.880 felt like he wasn't very respectful and definitely wasn't deferential 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:54.960 to them, and that was hard. And then having sat 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:57.360 in meetings with him and the CBC, it was difficult 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:00.479 to watch his behavior, including him doodling the entire time 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:03.080 in a meeting. I walked over to make sure that's 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:04.359 what he was doing. I went to go look at 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:07.320 the notepad after he was doodling the entire time the 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:11.400 members of Congress were talking. And yet when you look 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:17.000 at who replaced him, you can't help but to understand 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:19.800 just how presidential he was, and just how much he 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:22.880 earned that position, and just how much he was overqualified 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:24.400 when you consider the competition. 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:28.800 I don't agree with every decision he made. 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:31.600 I don't agree with the advice that he currently gives 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:35.520 to people who may one day fill his shoes. I 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:39.880 don't like his posture on reparations. I don't think that 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:42.240 we did the right thing on healthcare. I don't think 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:44.400 we went far enough if we broke or deals with 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:47.280 insurance companies that are now stabbing the American people in 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:50.440 the back on healthcare so that they can still make 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:55.920 handover fist and premiums arising because the Republicans are deciding 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:58.840 that greed is far more important than the livelihood of 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:02.560 the American people, our ability to survive. So what I 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:08.760 think was shortsighted about that administration is just how greedy 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:13.440 people can be on a bipartisan and nonpartisan level. And 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:19.760 I think that there were places where progressivism was was 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:25.240 denied so that they could so that they could yeah 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:28.360 sidelined is a better word, so that they could be 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:32.720 deemed as acceptable. And still he wasn't accepted right. So 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.000 it's like, at what cost If you're going to have 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:39.880 this super majority and this opportunity to do something with 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:42.320 people who think like you, why not do it? And 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:44.760 then here's the thing that I also know, working on 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:49.719 the hill at that time, he really didn't have everyone 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:53.160 because he had a majority in the House and in 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:53.640 the Senate. 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:57.400 He had that in word, but not indeed right. 0:08:57.520 --> 0:09:00.240 And we saw that even with the healthcare fallout, members 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:03.360 of Congress who voted with him and then lost their seats. 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:06.480 Even if he had those members or people who were 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:11.079 willing to risk it, all their constituents weren't. 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:14.079 And I think that is also important to note. 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:15.720 And I think it didn't take long for us to 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:17.600 see just how much this country would turn. 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:20.600 I want you all to remember, this is my last point. 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:25.840 The Voting Rights Act since its inception, had always been 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:32.079 a bipartisan vote, an overwhelming bipartisan vote since nineteen sixty five. 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:37.040 The moment the tide changed on that is after Barack 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:41.080 Obama's election. So this country felt like it threw us 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:43.760 a bone, only to take it back and to do 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:46.319 it in such a way that it was damn near violent. 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:48.839 And I think that is the piece that we also 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:52.959 have to wrestle with. They thought they were giving us something, 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:55.920 not that they were receiving something from someone who was 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:56.640 one of ours. 0:09:57.000 --> 0:09:58.679 And I think that is so treacherous. 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:00.640 And when you look at how far we come, whether 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:03.960 we talk about the dismantling of affirmative action, of course, 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:07.280 voting rights, or elements of the Civil Rights Act or EEOC, 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:10.480 the Department of Education, all the things that were stood 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:13.240 up to ensure that we would be protected. They're even 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:15.520 taking ruby bridges off of a coin in the two 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:19.240 hundred and fiftieth anniversary of this damn country. Right, These 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:21.520 are the things that we have to wrestle with the why. 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:24.080 And I still think because of that reason, whether it 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:26.880 was just the symbolic election of Barack Obama, which again 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:28.880 I think it was much more than a symbol, I 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:30.360 think that would have been sufficient. 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:36.880 Andrew, I appreciate both your points. I do think he should. 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:38.840 She gonna selected Merrick Garland, though, Okay, keep. 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:43.280 Going, well, I would double downtap whatever that is, because 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:47.240 big mistake in my opinion. But that wasn't the only 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:50.520 big mistake. I think there were a lot of big mistakes. 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:54.160 I talked sometimes about negotiating against ourselves. I think there 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:58.520 was a lot of negotiating against what was possible for, 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:03.800 you know, sort of plausible options. But you know what 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:05.880 is we reflect on a lot of presidencies. I think 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:08.760 that can also be said. I don't want to single 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:11.679 the Obama presidency out for that. I do think it 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:18.319 was a sim certainly a symbolic presidency, but not transformational. 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:22.200 And I disagree, but go ahead. 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:28.280 Symbolism of it was is not to be undermined. It's 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:32.120 not to be reduced the symbolism of it what it meant. 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:33.680 And I have to tell you this, and I don't 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:36.040 know if this is controversial or not, but I actually 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:39.920 appreciated the symbolism of Michelle Obama as first Lady more 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:43.800 than I probably appreciated the symbolism of Barack Obama as 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:49.640 as as president. I think Michelle Obama's presidence there unleashed 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:53.600 something I think far more lasting in black women in 0:11:53.600 --> 0:12:00.240 our community and black boys, black men too. And again 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:02.520 we could we could probably debate the ins and outs 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:05.920 of it. But but even today this moment, I feel 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:10.440 her presence more lasting as first as as first Lady, 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:13.680 and what she meant for the country despite all of 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:20.160 the bulletin arrows that she had to take and intercept 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:25.880 throughout the campaign and also through throughout the governing. When 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:28.560 I think about the transformational part of it and what 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:32.720 was possible the sixty one votes in the US Senate 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:40.880 and the and the overwhelming Democratic majorities in the House. Remember, 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:43.880 we didn't get healthcare in those numbers. We had healthcare 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:47.440 after we fell below that sixty and after we lost 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:50.280 some seats even in the House. It was the death 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:56.920 of Kennedy that took us to fifty nine and all 0:12:57.080 --> 0:13:00.840 the dramatics that happened around that because the President had 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:02.800 set up to this point that we would only pass 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:07.240 healthcare with a sixty plus and a bipartisan way, with 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:10.000 a sixty plus majority in the US Senate. And that's 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:13.280 when Nancy came in and said, you said sixty, I 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:17.559 say fifty one, and then began all the negotiations and 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:19.960 antits that got us to the version of healthcare that 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:22.760 we ultimately got. But before we even got to a 0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:27.199 bill on paper, there were huge negotiations that didn't include 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:31.439 the American people that took away all the possibilities before 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:34.280 we got to what was possible. And that's really one 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:36.960 of the things that really sticks in my crawl about 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:41.320 the transformational or the lack of the transformational at that time. 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:44.800 And it wasn't just that there were lots of policy pieces, 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:48.120 not to mention the appointments pieces. I still maintain that 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:51.120 had Barack Obama nominated a black woman to the Supreme 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:54.600 Court as his last last and that last final year, 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:57.040 that we would have had a we would have had 0:13:57.360 --> 0:14:00.400 a black woman on the US Supreme Court. The fact 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:03.760 that Mayor Garland could not muster even the support of 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:08.319 white men moderates to be part of the base of 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:12.920 of his of his appointment, and nobody else in the 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:14.720 country happened to be excited about him. 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:17.800 There was no rallying cry for his appointment. 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:21.560 We would never have allowed, I think the Republicans, nor 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:23.560 do I believe they would have had the audacity to 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:26.960 steal a black woman seat on the Supreme Court quite 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:31.160 the way they did a white man, a moderate white man, with. 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:33.800 Very little support quite frankly from the country. 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:37.800 These are obviously, what do you call it, backseat quarterback 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:40.720 observations are making we couldn't. Nobody could have known these 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.160 things in the moment. Even though I felt very strongly 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:47.400 about a black woman appointment appointed and that last appointment, 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:51.520 I wouldn't change the election of Barack Obama. 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:54.400 I think its symbolism was important, but mostly the coupled 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:59.040 symbolism I think was important. But the transformation, the losing 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:02.960 of seven hundred plus legislative seats around the country that 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:08.800 threw us into a ridiculous redistricting process where we lost 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:10.880 a far more than what I think we could have 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:13.840 and should have gained. There are just a lot of 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:15.240 clawbacks that. 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:17.960 Came with that, that came with that moment of history 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:22.400 that I sometimes wonder if it was worth it from 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:26.600 a political policy standpoint, And I probably will come down 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:30.720 on the side that from political policy, probably not from 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:37.000 a symbolic perspective, probably, so I'm split on it. But 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:40.880 nonetheless I'm I'm very much so proud that that Barack 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:46.400 Obama was able to break that ceiling, and hopefully the 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:50.360 next opportunity that we have will take us, you know, 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:52.720 twice as far, you know as his. 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:02.360 You know. 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:04.320 The one thing that I hope we get from this 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:08.080 as a people, though, is that even when we elect 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:10.720 a leader who looks like us and things like us 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:15.040 in many ways, we still have an obligation to make demands, 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:18.920 to have requirements, and to make our requests known. 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:21.520 We took such an approach. I mean, like. 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:24.440 Literally, I got half hate mail from racist at the 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:27.080 Congressional Black Caucus and half hate mail from black people. 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:30.360 Don't you say nothing about the president? The saving Sea 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:34.320 should not be challenging Barack Obama. Y'all had that conversation quietly. 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:37.560 It's like their role is actually to push policy that 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:39.680 isn't the best interests of their constituents. 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:42.280 And we have this on that show Angela early on, 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:44.640 and anytime we would have a critique, it was like, 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:46.720 we don't need to do that, but I think we 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:47.560 definitely need to do it. 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:49.440 Out Like, I think that the critique is fair. I 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:51.600 think the critique, though, as you said, is a lot 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:55.800 in hindsight, because I think that you I think that 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:59.240 if you look at Barack Obama's presidency, like repealing Don't Ask, 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:03.440 Don't Tell, Lily led Better, Wall Street Reform, right, if 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:06.439 you look at the Affordable Care Act, I mean, the 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:08.199 list kind of goes on and on and on with 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:10.480 some of the things. I mean, he saved he saved Michigan, 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:14.000 like he said, he saved the auto industry. Those things 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:16.879 are real policy changes. Now the question is now, what 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:19.439 what what if you somebody, somebody's gonna be in the comments, 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:22.040 what did he do for black folk? Right? So, I 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:24.119 hear you, and I do think that Mary Garland was 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:26.560 a horrible choice. I don't think Mitch mcconnall was going 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:28.359 to give us a seat, but I do wish that 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:32.080 he would have gone out with a p y oh 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:34.720 to help Tillory tremendously. So, but I get all those things. 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:40.560 I think that I think that we judge Barack Obama 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:44.280 through the lens of Donald Trump in two ways. The 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:46.800 first is Donald Trump. With this president, she has shown 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:51.080 you what is possible. He has shown you that there 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:56.239 that anything the president wants to do, he can do it. 0:17:56.320 --> 0:18:01.119 Presidential presidential power largely goes unchecked. The president is willing 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:03.320 to break those things. That's first. And on the flip 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:06.879 side of it, I use Barack Obama as a symbol 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:08.359 all the time he was editor in chief of the 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:12.160 Law Review. He had to be, you know, the top 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:15.359 tenth of one percent in order to be elected president 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:19.160 of the United States, And I wouldn't hire Donald Trump 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:23.720 to run a McDonald's right. And so I just think 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:26.600 that there are a few lenses that we look at 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:31.320 Barack Obama through, through the lens of Donald Trump. And 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:33.120 I also think that if Hillary Clinton would have gotten 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:35.720 elected like she should have gotten elected, then Barack Obama's 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:38.360 legacy is probably shiny er because some of those things 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:41.720 that we're talking about would have been strengthened, preserved, et cetera. 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:45.679 YadA YadA YadA. So life is funny, man, and politics 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:49.399 is funny. But I am I'm proud of Barry. Barry 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:52.800 could have done more. I'm more proud of Celli. Oh 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:56.359 and those things. They raised an amazing family in the 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:58.040 White House under the glare of all those. 0:18:57.840 --> 0:19:01.040 Things, with their mama. And here move moved her mama 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:01.440 right on. 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:05.439 In there, missus, miss Robinson, may may she rest in power. 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:08.840 Well, I wouldn't hire Donald Trump to run an errand. 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:13.240 But the truth is is Barack Obama probably you know, 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:18.440 he really did initiate the ex not initiate because the presidents, 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:21.720 all presidents try to expand power, but he expanded presidential 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:23.080 power while he was president. 0:19:23.200 --> 0:19:29.359 I mean, you don't remember much of the ex Everyone, every. 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:31.879 Every one of them has sought to expand the power 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:36.960 of the office. Those drone strikes that were very contentious 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:38.560 during the time, mostly on the left. 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:39.960 A lot of the folks on the. 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:44.800 Left were highly critical of of Quite frankly, while Donald 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:47.840 Trump may be doing it with soldiers, Barack was doing 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:51.840 it with you know, with flights and drones to. 0:19:51.840 --> 0:19:59.840 Take out UH leaders. We also including Latin Well, not that. 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:01.640 I was I want to mention that in my list 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:03.960 of accomplishments, I was going to say that he probably 0:20:04.040 --> 0:20:08.159 had one of the greatest foreign foreign policy accomplishments with 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:10.280 the killing of Osama bin Laden, that any president's had 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:11.000 in recent history. 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:16.240 He also deported more people than any president in the 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:20.720 collection up to that point. I'm not citing that. I'm 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:23.280 not citing that as a negative or positive. I'm simply 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:27.840 saying at during his presidency heat well, it isn't. 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:30.040 I just wasn't making the point for that reason. 0:20:30.160 --> 0:20:33.399 I was making the point to say that he didn't 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:37.480 often wait on an invitation or license for certain things. 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:40.600 He also showed hubris in the offices as well, and 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:43.800 I think in some ways his lived experience probably not 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:47.159 being a black man from the traditional South unleashed his 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:52.600 license in ways that I think would have constrained a 0:20:52.680 --> 0:21:00.000 traditional African American from the traditional geopolitical South serving an 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:03.119 in office. I think his lived experience, how he now 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:04.200 that is. 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:07.080 Now that's a fact. I mean, you know, you know, 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:10.400 being yeah, no, no, no, no, no, that's a whole hearted fact. 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:12.920 Not going to an HBCU. Being raised in the way 0:21:12.920 --> 0:21:16.080 that he was raised in Kansas, in Hawaii, not not 0:21:16.160 --> 0:21:19.800 the traditional South. You know, all of those things are true. 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:26.160 I do think though he had more formidable foes and allies. 0:21:26.800 --> 0:21:28.760 For the best example I can give you is that 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:31.840 I don't think anybody would say that Chuck Schumer is 0:21:31.920 --> 0:21:34.760 nearly as formidable a foe as Mitch McConnell was when 0:21:34.760 --> 0:21:36.800 he was absolutely not. 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:38.600 Is he a friend? 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:39.400 Does Harry Reid? 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:43.760 Nor is? And I'm going to say that you, I mean, 0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:46.959 the constraints that that that Barack Obama had were their 0:21:47.040 --> 0:21:49.320 names were Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell. I mean, that's 0:21:49.400 --> 0:21:53.120 just that, that is, and those were more formidable figures 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:56.840 than we have today. I'll wrap up my comments on 0:21:56.880 --> 0:21:59.760 this just just this week Mike, I mean, Mark Kelly 0:21:59.800 --> 0:22:03.119 said that we no longer have three branches of government. 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:04.200 John Bayner too. 0:22:04.800 --> 0:22:07.320 That's true, formidable, But but Mark Kelly said, we no 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:09.560