Reflecting on his presidency, Obama posed the question, “Well, was there something else I could have done?”

Former President Barack Obama cautioned against ignoring the complexities of the Israel-Hamas war, warning that “all of us are complicit.”

“If you want to solve the problem, then you have to take in the whole truth. And you then have to admit nobody’s hands are clean, that all of us are complicit to some degree,” he said in an excerpted interview with Pod Save America released Saturday.

  • Veedem@lemmy.worldEnglish
    38·
    1 year ago

    Well thought out response from someone who knows how to captivate an audience. I miss his leadership even if there were some key flaws during his terms (e.g. the gross overuse of drone strikes).

    Ultimately, no president is perfect but I also believe their ability to be a figure head who can make the public look inward, from time to time, is important.

    Trump did nothing to lead. He just spread anger and hostility. Biden, while he means well, has never been the beet public speaker (both in presence and in avoiding putting his foot in his mouth).

    • pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafeEnglish
      17·
      1 year ago

      I’d rather have an effective leader than a charismatic one. I don’t elect presidents to assuage my fee-fees, and the fact that the rest of the population does is the problem.

      • Salamendacious@lemmy.worldOP
        17·
        1 year ago

        It’s unfortunate but charisma is a very important component in contemporary American politics. I think that’s largely the reason Hillary lost the election. Trump is not as qualified as she was but he is much more charismatic. I think it’s because people don’t care enough to do stay informed and research candidates. So they make emotional decisions based on the stupidest criteria. The biggest example is one of the factors that got George W elected/reelected, “I’d rather have a beer with him than the other guy” .

        • pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafeEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          That needs to change and adults who refuse to need to have their ability to vote taken away from them.

          Most adults simply aren’t qualified to run a democracy and we can’t continue destroying everything to dumb it down for them to appease them. I probably count among their number and if those depraved assholes couldn’t vote anymore, I’d accept not being able to vote anymore, too.

          Find someone like John Kerry and make him king. Have an AI do it. Force people to submit to extensive psychological and IQ testing throughout their lives if they want to vote. There’s a way to do it fairly. Ignorant assholes might not think it’s fair, but their opinions can’t matter anymore if we’re to escape tyranny and have happy meaningful lives.

          We are capable of reason and overcoming our emotions. We can’t just submit to the will of those who refuse to. They’re no more powerful than you or I.

          • Salamendacious@lemmy.worldOP
            6·
            1 year ago

            The core of a democracy is that people get to choose their own leaders. Even though I agree with you that I wish people took voting more seriously. I don’t think people should lose their right to vote because I disagree with their decision making process. If you want to flip a coin or roll dice or whatever as long as it’s your own choice then you can vote for whomever you want. Even if I utterly disagree with that process. That’s what a right is. It’s innately a part of you. Unless you commit a felony per Richardson v. Ramirez

            • pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafeEnglish
              1·
              1 year ago

              Well, people openly choosing emotions over rationality at the cost of everything they hold dear and bringing untold harm to everyone else around them, including genocide, isn’t “disagreeing with their decision making process”. It’s a credible accusation of wrongdoing.

              Because what’s even more innate than your rights are you responsibilities, and that means you have to put rationality and what’s best for your community above whoever makes you feel the best when you interact with them or when you watch them speak. We’re supposed to run the most powerful nation in the world, one with nuclear weapons, and that means our responsibilities trump our rights and petty desires.

              That’s what being an adult means.

              And if people refuse to do so, then they shouldn’t have that power and influence over politics.

              The truth is there’s nothing innate about voting, humans are not like other animals like bees that can have stable democratic societies (if you want to call beehives that), we’re too selfish and cruel for that, but we also evolved with the capability to overcome those animalistic tendencies. And if we want to survive and have the kind of life we want, we have to be willing to do so no matter how shitty it makes us feel.

              We can’t afford to just be animals anymore. We’re literally destroying the planet. Too much hangs in the balance and if you continue to defend people putting their feelings before facts simply because you feel the same way, no surface life will exist aside from some bacteria and a few pestilence bugs and we have to work for more than that.