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Barack Obama left office in 2017,
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and almost immediately began work
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on a memoir of his years
in the White House.
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The writing of presidential memoirs
is an American tradition,
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00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:21,920
but few are as eagerly
anticipated as this.
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00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:36,160
We will go out and remake America,
and then we will change the world.
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President Obama looks back
at his first term in office
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in his new memoir,
A Promised Land.
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Because of you,
tonight I can stand here and say
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that I will be
the Democratic nominee
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for the president of
the United States of America.
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Obviously, I'd love
to have your vote.
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CROWD CHEER
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If there is anyone out there
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who still questions the power
of our democracy,
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tonight is your answer.
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Obama writes with measured candour
and often in granular detail
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about the many challenges that
confronted him
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during his time in office,
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and he also writes
about the deepening
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of America's
many historic divisions.
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I've come to Washington
to talk to Barack Obama,
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US president from 2009 to 2017,
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and ask him to reflect
on his presidency
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and how it changed America.
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The Obama presidency
began with crisis,
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much of the global banking system
and much of the American economy
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teetering on the edge of collapse.
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But those eight years in the White
House also witnessed the emergence
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of what was to become a global
movement for racial justice.
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Yes?Yep. Thanks, then.
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Mr President.
It's wonderful to see you.
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Thank you so much for having me.
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Can I ask you about the timing
of A Promised Land?
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You were writing it,
as the preface says,
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you were putting the final
touches to it in August... Right.
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..during the summer,
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during the summer
of Black Lives Matter -
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an enormous explosion of debate
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and discussion and protest, and
what you called righteous anger
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that's been compared
to the civil rights movement.
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How did those events and that
atmosphere, how did that impact
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on your views of where America
stands right now
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in this long journey in its
relationship with race and racism?
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Well, obviously, a running thread,
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through not just this book
but also my presidency,
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was the question of race.
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That's been one of the central
faultlines in American history,
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our original sin.
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And I think as I was watching
the events unfold this summer,
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both the... the...
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..death of George Floyd,
the murder of George Floyd,
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but also the response,
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it was a mixture of despair
and optimism.
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PROTESTOR: Enough is enough!
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Despair that the chronic lingering
role of race and bias
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in our criminal justice system
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continues in such a blatant form.
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Enormous optimism that you saw
an outpouring
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of protest activism and interest
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that far exceeded
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anything we had seen previously,
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and was peaceful, was thoughtful,
was well-organised
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and was multiracial.
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Traditionally, after Ferguson,
after Trayvon Martin, you know,
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there was still, I think, resistance
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on the part of large portions
of the white community in America
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to push back against the notion
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that this was more than just one
incident or a case of bad apples.
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"The issue of black folks
and the police was more polarising
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"than just about any other subject
in American life."
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No justice! No peace!
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"It seemed to tap into some
of the deepest undercurrents
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"of our nation's psyche,
touching on the rawest of nerves."
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"Who controlled legally sanctioned
violence, how it was wielded
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"and against whom still mattered
in the recesses of our tribal minds,
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"much more than we cared to admit."
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What you saw this summer
was some communities
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that had a very negligible
black population,
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folks going out
there and saying black lives matter
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and embracing the notion
that real change has to come.
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And that, I think, is consistent
with the themes of this book, which,
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you know, I call it A Promised Land
because in biblical terms, you know,
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Moses doesn't get there.
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You're wandering for 40 years.
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It's full of trials and
tribulations and travails.
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But the notion that if we are
persistent and hopeful,
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we can make things better,
if not for ourselves,
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then certainly for future
generations, I think,
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is what propelled me into politics
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and it's what I saw on display
this summer.
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And you hold true to that belief
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in what you call the possibility
of America,
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and you're yet candid
about the contradictions of America,
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this nation conceived in liberty
but by men who were themselves,
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in many cases, the owners
of enslaved Africans.
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How do you balance your belief
in the possibility of America
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with your candid assessment
of the nation's flaws?
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I think it's useful to hold two
ideas in your head at the same time,
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which is that, um, America
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is full of flaws
and contradictions, and yet...
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..despite the cruelties,
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despite the obvious violations
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of our professed ideals - slavery,
Jim Crow,
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the treatment of Native Americans,
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the internment of Japanese
during World War II,
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so forth - um, this remains
an experiment that matters
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not just for Americans,
but for the world.
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You don't have an example in history
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of a great power
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whose population is made up
of people who come from everywhere
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and are functioning as a democracy
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and are trying to figure out,
"Can we live together peacefully?
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"Can we bind ourselves to a common
creed even if we don't look alike,
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"don't have the same last names,
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"don't necessarily worship
in the same way?"
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And what is the source of optimism
is, you see a trajectory
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in which American democracy becomes
more and more inclusive,
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starting with the abolitionists
and the suffragettes
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and the union movement.
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And later in our history,
the LGBTQ movement
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systematically saying,
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"You know what?
When we describe we, the people,
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"it's not just a handful of folks.
It's not just property owners.
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"It's not just white males.
It's all of us.
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"We have a seat at the table."
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And there is a powerful
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and beautiful story to tell
in that progression.
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But as I point out, and as I think
our recent history indicates,
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that history doesn't move
in a straight line.
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It zigzags and can go backwards.
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You know, if you were
a African-American
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right after the Civil War,
during reconstruction,
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you might feel pretty optimistic.
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15 years later, you'd feel
very pessimistic
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because there was a massive
retrenchment.
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And that, I think, is the thing
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that always makes me
cautiously optimistic
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as opposed to Pollyannish
about America,
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and, for that matter,
about the world.
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"Of all the rooms and halls
and landmarks that make up
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"the White House and its grounds,
it was the West Colonnade
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"that I loved best. For eight years,
that walkway would frame my day.
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"A minute-long, open-air commute
from home to office and back again.
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"The place where I'd gather
my thoughts,
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"taking through the meetings
that lay ahead,
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"girding myself for this decision
or that slow-rolling crisis."
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The book, including its title,
is loaded with symbolism,
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symbolism from the Bible, from
the words of Martin Luther King,
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from Abraham Lincoln. You can feel
the weight of American history
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in lots of the language
that you use,
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and that symbolism was always there
as part of your journey.
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You began your journey
to the White House in 2007,
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announcing your candidacy,
as you remind us in the book,
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at the Old State Capitol building
in Springfield, Illinois,
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where Abraham Lincoln gave his
famous,
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legendary "A House Divided" speech.
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In 2020, is America once again
a house divided?
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We are very divided right now,
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certainly more than we were when
I first ran for office in 2007
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and won the presidency in 2008.
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Even more divided than when
I ran for re-election in 2012,
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and more divided than we were
four years ago
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when Donald Trump first
won the presidency.
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And some of that is attributable
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to our current president,
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who actively...
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..er, fanned division
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because he felt it was good
for his politics,
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but it preceded him and it
will outlast him.
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And I discuss in the
book some of the trends
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that have created that kind of
division.
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Some of it has to do with broad
socioeconomic factors,
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growing inequality,
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the growing division between
rural and urban America,
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people feeling as if they're losing
a grip
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on the ladder of economic
advancement and so react,
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and can be persuaded
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that it's this group's fault
or that group's fault -
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it's immigrants' fault,
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it's folks who are taking
advantage of the system.
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So some of that was there.
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It has been greatly magnified
by the course of media.
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Here in the United States, you start
with older media forms like Fox News
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and talk radio hosts like
Rush Limbaugh,
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whose business model is premised
on fanning a certain kind of anger,
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resentment, a certain story
about people who are not like us,
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are taking advantage of us
and we have to fight back.
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That has been turbo-charged
by social media.
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And, you know, I think the debate
that's been taking place here about,
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you know, the kinds of crazy
conspiracy theories
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and what some have called
truth decay, right?
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Where facts don't matter, er...
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You know, everything is fair game,
everything goes.
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That has contributed enormously
to these divisions,
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and it's going to take
more than one election
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to reverse those trends.
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It's going to require work
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at a local level, as well
as national level.
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It's going to require not just
political work, but cultural work
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to get people to listen to each
other, think more critically
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in evaluating information.
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I think at some point, it's going
to require a combination
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of regulation and standards
within industries
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to get us back to the point
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where we at least recognise
a common set of facts
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before we start arguing about what
we should do about those facts.
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You've said in the past that
Americans, at the moment,
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can't recognise each other.
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Look, if you are somebody
who exclusively watches...
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..you know, er, right-wing media,
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um, I am unrecognisable
as a figure
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because what's portrayed
of me is just a caricature.
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00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:20,360
It doesn't compute with
what I believe, what I say, etc,
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but there are millions of people
who subscribe to the notion
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that Joe Biden is a socialist,
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00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:31,760
you know, who subscribe to the
notion
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that Hillary Clinton
was part of a evil cabal
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that was involved in paedophile
rings.
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00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:45,040
What's been interesting, obviously,
and sad during this election
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is that, um, that kind of
lack of fidelity to the truth
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has consequences
when it's being promoted
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by the most powerful
elected official in the country.
224
00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:07,960
And the pandemic is a classic
example of reality biting back
225
00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:10,160
if you ignore it for too long.
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00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:15,280
Obviously, the same would apply
in a more slow-rolling
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but ultimately perhaps even more
damaging way with climate change.
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00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:29,880
"In my own mind, those dark cyclones
of oil came to symbolise the string
229
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"of constant crises we were
going through.
230
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"More than that, they felt alive
somehow. A malevolent presence.
231
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"Actively taunting me.
232
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"Even Sasha came into my bathroom
233
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"one morning while I was shaving to
ask,
234
00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:51,240
"Did you plug the hole yet, Daddy?"
235
00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:57,440
And it began, in some ways,
your presidency was the experiment
236
00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:01,280
for these ideas with birtherism,
again involving Donald Trump.
237
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It was your person,
to an extent,
238
00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:07,680
that was the first target for this
wandering from the truth.
239
00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:10,920
You know, I won't say that I was
the first target, but I think
240
00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:15,880
that what you started seeing
with Sarah Palin,
241
00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:19,480
who John McCain selected as his
running mate
242
00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:23,480
and sort of liked to swim
in these waters,
243
00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:29,160
and then with the Tea Party,
its emergence, birtherism,
244
00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:31,960
which Donald Trump promoted,
245
00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:38,200
what you started seeing
was a systematic effort
246
00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:43,360
to not just demonise me,
paint me as the other,
247
00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:49,240
but I think more profoundly,
the realisation that,
248
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um...
249
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..the old rules about paying a price
for being caught lying
250
00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:03,200
or making stuff up
no longer applied, that you could,
251
00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:07,200
because of the multiplicity of media
outlets out there,
252
00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:11,000
you could just put out
whatever you wanted.
253
00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:17,920
Instead of honest debate, we've seen
scare tactics.
254
00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:19,560
"As I debunked the phoney claim
255
00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:22,440
"that the bill would insure
undocumented immigrants,
256
00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:25,520
"a relatively obscure five-term
Republican congressman
257
00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:29,800
"from South Carolina named Joe
Wilson leaned forward in his seat,
258
00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:35,080
"pointed in my direction and
shouted, his face flushed with fury,
259
00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:36,560
"'You lie!'"
260
00:17:36,560 --> 00:17:39,320
The reforms I'm proposing
would not apply
261
00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:41,120
to those who are here illegally.
You lie!
262
00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:47,680
"For the briefest second, a stunned
silence fell over the chamber.
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00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:51,480
"As far as anyone could remember,
nothing like that had ever happened
264
00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:55,520
"before at a Joint Session address,
at least not in modern times."
265
00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:59,480
And I will not accept
the status quo as a solution.
266
00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:02,160
Not this time. Not now.
267
00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:07,080
That breakdown in some
of our conventions
268
00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:10,000
around public discourse began to
change
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00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,200
and, you know, we notice it...
270
00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:15,840
People, I think, noticed it more
with things like birtherism.
271
00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:22,720
But it actually applied in
less obvious ways,
272
00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:26,200
for example, during the debate
around health care, you know,
273
00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:29,400
when the Republican Party starts
saying
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00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:33,440
that the health care bill we had
proposed,
275
00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:36,320
which was actually modelled
276
00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:42,480
on a bipartisan approach,
277
00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:43,760
championed by Mitt Romney
278
00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:47,400
when he was the governor
of Massachusetts, a Republican,
279
00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:49,720
along with Ted Kennedy, a Democrat,
280
00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:52,640
that still involved private
insurance,
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00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:56,360
you started getting
these crazy stories about,
282
00:18:56,360 --> 00:18:59,920
"Well, this is going to legalise
euthanasia."
283
00:18:59,920 --> 00:19:03,320
"They're going to kill your
grandma," and so on and so forth.
284
00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:05,640
Stuff that was clearly not true.
285
00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:09,760
But, you know, if you've repeated
it often enough,
286
00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:11,280
it began to get traction
287
00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:14,400
within certain segments
of the American people.
288
00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:17,400
And these ideas
used to be on the fringes,
289
00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:19,720
and then they moved very much
to the centre... Yes.
290
00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:25,640
..of both Republican policy
and politicking. Yes.
291
00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:29,360
That makes bipartisanship,
which is one of the lubricants
292
00:19:29,360 --> 00:19:32,800
that makes this system work,
in theory, very difficult.
293
00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:35,360
Is bipartisanship possible today?
294
00:19:35,360 --> 00:19:37,360
It is very challenging.
295
00:19:37,360 --> 00:19:43,400
A lot of the old bipartisanship
was premised on, um,
296
00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:47,920
you had southern Democrats
who were quite conservative.
297
00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:53,680
You had liberal Republicans
from north-eastern states.
298
00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:57,760
You know, those Dixiecrats,
Southern Democrats,
299
00:19:57,760 --> 00:19:59,960
abandoned the Democratic Party
300
00:19:59,960 --> 00:20:03,400
right after Lyndon Johnson
signed the Civil Rights Act
301
00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:06,800
and African-Americans become
more empowered politically.
302
00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:14,800
Conversely, a lot of Republicans
who are pro-civil rights
303
00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:18,120
or pro-environment, they get
driven out of their party,
304
00:20:18,120 --> 00:20:20,320
and it makes it much more difficult
305
00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:25,680
to find the outliers,
the iconoclasts,
306
00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:28,240
those who are willing
to break party ranks.
307
00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:33,680
I'm signing this reform bill
into law on behalf of my mother,
308
00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:36,120
who argued with insurance companies
309
00:20:36,120 --> 00:20:38,800
even as she battled cancer
in her final days.
310
00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:42,840
I'm signing it for 11-year-old
Marcelas Owens.
311
00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:46,480
Marcelas lost his mom to an illness
and she didn't have insurance
312
00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:48,480
and couldn't afford the care
that she needed.
313
00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:49,720
We are done.
314
00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:51,400
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
315
00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:55,120
It's going to be very rare
where either party in America
316
00:20:55,120 --> 00:20:57,960
has that big a majority to get
things done,
317
00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:00,040
and what I worry about is,
318
00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:04,720
on everything from a pandemic
to a major economic crisis
319
00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:07,800
to climate change, it is...
320
00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:13,120
it's hard for this big, creaky
system to move quickly enough
321
00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:17,000
to respond to the very real needs
of the American people.
322
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,720
And I think that there are going
to be some structural reforms
323
00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:23,920
that have to happen in...
324
00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:26,800
Because part of the cynicism
people feel about government is,
325
00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:29,520
if government's gridlocked,
that's good for people
326
00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:31,680
who want to protect the status quo.
327
00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:34,840
You know, I experienced this
during my presidency.
328
00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:38,240
Things I wanted to get done
that I couldn't get done
329
00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:43,040
because of these problematic
features in the government
330
00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:49,240
and how it functions would
dishearten and discourage my base,
331
00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:51,120
which then leads them not to vote,
332
00:21:51,120 --> 00:21:53,240
which then leads me to then
lose more seats
333
00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:54,640
during a midterm election,
334
00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:57,400
which then makes it even
harder to get things done.
335
00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:00,000
And you start getting
into that vicious loop.
336
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,560
Can I ask you about part
of what's happening in America
337
00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:05,080
that you draw a lot of hope from?
338
00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:07,000
You write at the beginning
of the book
339
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:10,280
about the attitudes of the young,
of your daughters' generation,
340
00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,640
and especially when it comes
to issues of race and equality,
341
00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:16,040
that those attitudes are profoundly
different
342
00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:18,920
to their parents'
and their grandparents' generation.
343
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:22,840
Is America, is perhaps the world,
at a great inflection moment
344
00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:25,960
between generations with very
different views of the world?
345
00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:29,000
They are. And it's not just
around race.
346
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:32,640
It's around gender.
It's around sexual orientation.
347
00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:35,640
My daughters and their peers
348
00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:40,760
cannot conceive of treating somebody
differently
349
00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:42,840
because they're gay
350
00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:45,520
or bisexual or transgender.
351
00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:50,880
And I'm not saying that they are
representative of all young people,
352
00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:54,000
but it doesn't matter
whether I'm in Johannesburg
353
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:59,160
or Buenos Aires or Ho Chi Minh City.
354
00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:02,920
You talk to these young people,
they share that common attitude.
355
00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:04,520
They are more sophisticated.
356
00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:10,000
The collision of cultures is
something they are comfortable with.
357
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:15,200
And the folks who resist
are us old folks,
358
00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:20,600
who want to fasten ourselves
to our old attitudes.
359
00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:25,560
So the spirit that is prompting
nationalism
360
00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:30,880
and nativism and xenophobia
in some cases,
361
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:35,640
it's not that suddenly people
are mean
362
00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:42,880
or automatically looking
to harm others.
363
00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:46,360
I think they feel uncertain,
unmoored.
364
00:23:46,360 --> 00:23:50,000
There are those who've said
that the sight of a black president,
365
00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:52,880
the sight of an African-American
first family,
366
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:55,760
while certainly
an historic achievement for America,
367
00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:59,040
may also have been the event
that revealed the depths
368
00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:01,560
of America's historic problem
with race.
369
00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:03,760
What they say, in short,
is that your presidency,
370
00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:07,120
not for what you did
but for who you are in the end,
371
00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:10,360
made these situations,
the race relations issue worse.
372
00:24:10,360 --> 00:24:12,640
How do you respond to that line
of argument?
373
00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:18,360
Yeah. That doesn't make much sense.
374
00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:21,200
Um...
the idea that it made it worse.
375
00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:25,760
I do think that it exposed
376
00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:31,040
some faultlines in our culture
377
00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:34,800
that we have to work through,
but, er,
378
00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:41,320
the fact that you saw
all those protests this summer
379
00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:43,720
indicate the degree to which
380
00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:47,480
we have the capacity
to work them through.
381
00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:52,320
You know, I was never of the view
382
00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:58,560
that somehow, my election signified
a post-racial America.
383
00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:06,800
What I was of the view,
and I still am,
384
00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:10,760
is that the majority of Americans
385
00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:14,440
have very different attitudes
386
00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:16,840
than their parents
and their grandparents did,
387
00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:19,040
and that's indisputable.
388
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:21,200
By the way, 2008 wasn't an accident.
389
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:24,720
I then got re-elected in 2012
390
00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:28,600
and left office in 2016
in a pretty good position
391
00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:31,000
if there weren't term limits
392
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:35,520
and had not Michelle put the
kibosh on things, you know,
393
00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:37,720
even without the Constitution.
394
00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:43,240
I certainly had the
majority of the American people
395
00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:46,720
still approving of the job
I was doing.
396
00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:50,240
So that indicates a change
in attitudes.
397
00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:57,960
It also allowed, for eight years,
children growing up - black, white,
398
00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:04,600
Hispanic, Asian, Native American -
to learn to take for granted
399
00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:09,840
that a black person could occupy
the highest office in the land.
400
00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:11,760
And they internalised that.
401
00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:14,760
And now another generation will be
able to take for granted the idea
402
00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:18,200
that a woman of Indian and Jamaican
heritage can be Vice President.
403
00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:21,960
That's exactly right. Right?
And that's how progress gets made.
404
00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:26,480
But along the way, there's
going to be pushback.
405
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:27,840
There's going to be resistance.
406
00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:33,280
And I don't think it's unfair to
say that Donald Trump's election
407
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:38,160
was in some ways in part
fuelled by anxieties
408
00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:42,040
around these changes
that are taking place.
409
00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:45,280
He was very explicit about that,
right? "Make America great again."
410
00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:49,840
And so there was...
there was this interim period
411
00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:54,840
when things aren't great.
Um, and...
412
00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:02,400
You know, I can't, er, change
413
00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:06,560
or apologise for those reactions
and that backlash.
414
00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:09,080
That's the nature of progress.
415
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:12,160
But what I can say for certain
416
00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:16,400
is that as a consequence of the work
we did,
417
00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:21,920
the indisputable fact
that the country was better off
418
00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:27,480
eight years later than it was when I
took office, it moved the needle.
419
00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:29,160
Young people felt as if,
420
00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:32,880
"You know what? Government is
not separate from me."
421
00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:35,560
And that will have ripple effects
422
00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:38,720
that go beyond the particular
challenges
423
00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:40,920
that we're facing right now
424
00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:44,040
and makes me, again,
cautiously optimistic
425
00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:46,320
as long as we're all vigilant.
426
00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:49,720
And that's part of what A Promised
Land is about,
427
00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:55,440
wanting young people
to cultivate that cautious optimism
428
00:27:55,440 --> 00:28:00,040
that the world can change, but you
have to be a part of that change.
429
00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:03,480
Mr President, thank you
very much for your time.
430
00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:05,640
I look forward to volume two.
I really enjoyed it.
431
00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:07,640
Thank you very much.
432
00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:10,920
With the interview at an end,
what he left behind
433
00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:14,200
was his unshakeable sense
of optimism,
434
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:17,120
that belief in the promise of
America,
435
00:28:17,120 --> 00:28:22,200
even in the aftermath of an election
and a transition like no other.
436
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:24,280
And... action!
437
00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:30,640
Good? That's beautiful.
438
00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:34,400
You know what, I can take direction.
Great. There's no doubt about it.
55734
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