Barack Obama on Media, Legacy, and His New Presidential Center — Glass Half Full with Craig Melvin

[00:00:00] Craig Melvin: Well, Mr. President, all those years in office, you were talking about hope and change. And who knew that you were talking about the New York Knicks? [00:00:07] Barack Obama: Listen, my first real basketball hero was Walt Clyde Frazier. Wow. And I loved those 70s Knicks. And I've got a lot of friends from New York. And I know a lot of long-suffering fans. Yes. That I could not be happier for. Kudos to them. What an incredible run. Captain Brunson, put them on their shoulders, OG. There is a controversy, though, I guess, about whether Spike's going to get his own float in the parade. [00:00:39] Craig Melvin: I've heard that. [00:00:40] Barack Obama: I'm for it, because that guy stuck with it every year for a long time. So a lot of losing. Absolutely. [00:00:49] Craig Melvin: Hey there, everyone. Craig Melvin here. And welcome to this edition of Glass Half Full. And this is a special episode, a bonus episode, if you will, because I recently sat down with the 44th president of these United States, Barack Obama, ahead of the opening of his presidential center. It was a wide-ranging conversation. He was reflective. But he was also characteristically optimistic. I hope you enjoy this edition, this special edition of Glass Half Full. When the Obama presidential center opens, those first ticket holders who come into this space, what do you want them to feel? How are you going to feel in that moment as well? [00:01:34] Barack Obama: I'm going to feel proud that we have been able to bring to this community a place that really helped me grow up and gave me so many blessings. The idea that I can bring back Michelle, who grew up just 10 blocks from here, that we can bring back a world-class institution that has a public library, has a recording studio, has a basketball court, has world-class art, and sculptures, and a community garden. And what I want people to feel is welcome. What I want them to feel is this is theirs. And I want every kid in this community to feel as if when they walk through here, the world is full of possibilities, and they don't have to feel as if that's for somebody else. I want them to feel as if the capacity to do great things and dream big dreams is their inheritance as well. [00:02:43] Craig Melvin: How about you? What are you going to be feeling in that moment? Beyond the pride. [00:02:49] Barack Obama: Yeah, you know what, I think we'll have a lot of alumni coming back and people who were part of this journey who helped us get here at every phase. So I feel a lot of gratitude, appreciation for the degree to which people invested in Michelle and me and what we were trying to do. But I really am hoping that it's less an act of nostalgia and that it's more an inspiration for us moving forward. It's the reason why the way the museum's organized, a lot of the campus here is designed to inspire action today. Not looking backwards, but to get a sense of, all right, this was a small chapter in America's ongoing journey to perfect its union. And that depends not on one person or a handful of people. That depends on all of us feeling as if we've got power. We've got the capacity as citizens to make America better. [00:03:55] Craig Melvin: I've walked the property, walked the space. It's remarkable on so many levels. Six or seven stories, like 19 acres outside of Chicago, more than $800 million. There are presidential libraries, and then there's this. [00:04:08] Barack Obama: Well, what is true is that I didn't want to build a mausoleum. I'm too young for that. I really did want to think of this as a center, a hub, for the next generation being inspired, motivated, but also getting help and getting resources to carry that baton further, to be inspired by some of the things we did the same way I was inspired by the civil rights movement, and the same way I was inspired by union workers and activists and throughout American history. I want them to come here and say, oh, well, it's cool that the Obamas were able to do that, but I wanted to make sure that when they came here, it wasn't just them staring at a case and then leaving. I wanted them to feel like, here's a place where now I can actually shoot a video about an issue that I care about in the community. Tape a podcast. I can tape a podcast. You know, I can listen to a, see a world-class speaker come in the auditorium and hear them describe how we should be addressing AI, and that's not something that is for somebody else to do. I wanted folks who come to visit to feel like that's part of my world, part of my responsibility. [00:05:46] Craig Melvin: Let me give you a couple headlines. The Obama Center opens as a time warp to an old political order. That's one. With his new museum, Obama offers a trip to a parallel America. What do you make of that sentiment, that this is a reminder of what America was? [00:06:05] Barack Obama: Well, I think it's true, and I think it's a reminder of what America is. There's no doubt that we are going through a period right now of disruption, polarization. A lot of the norms and expectations we had about government have been pushed aside. And so that's caused, I think, people to feel as if our democracy, our civic habits and virtues, our shared understanding of how we treat each other has started to crumble. On the other hand, when I travel across the country today, not just when I was president, you still see that sense of decency with people. You still see folks helping each other and looking out for their neighbors. I think we saw it in Minneapolis, where people took on a really tough situation and responded, I think, with that sense of, we're in this together. We're not just going to look out for ourselves, but I think that's not what's being highlighted. And I'm glad that this center and this library and the museum, this entire campus reminds people, not of the past, but reminds people of what's inside all of us, that we all have the capacity for empathy. We all have the capacity for looking out for each other. We all have the capacity to feel a civic responsibility to make sure our government works. We all play a part in assuring that our elected officials are accountable. That's not something that I think we can afford to suggest is behind us. That's what we need to be pointing towards in the future. [00:08:06] Craig Melvin: You've always represented a lot of different communities, but there has always been this singularity to your story. Earlier this week, one of your former aides was talking on one of these cable shows and said, Democrats should stop looking for Obama 2.0. Not going to happen. Do you think in the current climate that someone like you, with your background and your story, do you think that you could break through now the same way you did back in 07, 08? [00:08:34] Barack Obama: I do think it's harder because of the nature of your business, the media. It's more splintered. I hadn't even been elected yet to the U.S. Senate. I had won the primary. I had won the nomination, Democratic nomination, to be the senator of Illinois. But nobody really knew who I was except outside of Illinois. And when I gave that speech at the convention, suddenly I'm a national figure because all the networks covered it. And if you're on the cover of Time Magazine or Newsweek back then, suddenly everybody knows who you are because we all shared one culture. And the challenge we now have is that the media is so splintered that people who are doing excellent work, people who are just as gifted or, in some cases, more gifted than I am to communicate people's aspirations, hopes, and dreams who are And really doing great work at state and local levels, it's harder for them to break through. That's part of the reason why a lot of the work we do as a foundation. We're nonpartisan. We don't electioneer. But we are constantly on the lookout for this new generation of talent. How can we throw a spotlight on the great work that they're doing? How can we encourage them to get to know each other across the country and also across the world so that together they can, and by the way, those young people, they also know how to work social media better than some old guy like me, right? So, I think we're in a transition period where there are a lot of Barack and Michelle Obamas out there doing cool stuff, but politics hasn't quite given them the platform yet. Media hasn't shined a spotlight on them yet. If we can help focus on the great work they're doing, then that's one of our core missions. [00:10:37] Craig Melvin: I've got to ask you about Iran, because there is a part of the museum that's devoted to your work on the Iran nuclear. As you know, that deal was scrapped. The current administration announcing earlier this week that the framework of a new deal is in place. What do you make of what we know about the deal so far? [00:10:56] Barack Obama: Well, we don't know anything. So, it's too early to say. It is, I am very happy to see a ceasefire, and I'm hopeful that it holds. We have a tendency to forget that any war, primarily, the burden is borne by regular people. Just folks who are just trying to live their lives and look after their families. And so, if we can stop fighting in the region, that's good for the people who live there. If the Strait of Hormuz reopens, hopefully, over time, that provides ordinary folks some relief from high gas prices and energy prices. But in terms of what was the original rationale for this war, which was, there was a deal in place in which Iran had agreed not to develop nuclear weapons, that the entire international community, including Israeli intelligence, our own intelligence agencies assessed, was working. This administration, or a prior version of this administration, pulled out of it, which caused, then, Iran to develop more nuclear capacity. We've now fought a war, spent billions and billions of dollars, put enormous strain on our military. A lot of people have died. And it feels like we're back where we were before we started the war, except maybe a little bit worse off. And my understanding is that the ceasefire says we've now got 60 days to develop a plan to deal with the nuclear issue, but we don't know yet what that plan is. So until I see, until there's some public document that indicates exactly what the agreement is, I have no way to compare it to the plan that we had put in place over the course of a lot of years of work. [00:13:15] Craig Melvin: I want to go back to the museum for a moment here, because I understand that one of your favorite parts is this multimedia display, and it shows letters. Yeah. Some of the letters every night that you would send. Ten letters a day. Ten letters a day. [00:13:29] Barack Obama: Yeah. Out of the 40,000 we were getting. [00:13:32] Craig Melvin: There was one in particular that caught my attention. There's a seven-year-old girl. Her name's Emily. And when she wrote the letter, she was the same age as Sasha. She lost her mom to cancer. She said that before her mom died, she was able to go in her wheelchair and vote for you in 2008. And you wrote her back, of course, and you said that you wrote about losing your mom, too, at an early age and how that shaped you. She heard that her letter was featured here in the library. She wanted to send a message. [00:14:06] Speaker 3: Hi, my name's Emily Smith. I'm 24 years old. I was born and raised in Rhode Island, but I currently live in New York City. I knew even at a young age that I wanted him to hear her strength and determination for the both of them. I feel a lot of emotions right now, mainly peace and pride, knowing that my mother's legacy continues to live on, not only through myself, but now at the Obama Presidential Center. I also feel very grateful to be able to report back 17 years later. And I'm happy to say that I was able to graduate college with a BSN and have since become a registered nurse with a career focus in mental health. I would like to take this opportunity also to thank President Barack Obama for everything he has done for this country and that he continues to do, as well as being such an inspiration to me and always reminding me to dream big dreams. [00:14:54] Barack Obama: Thank you. Well, all right, so like I can tell you were, that's a setup, but that's, I appreciate it. What a wonderful message. You know, those letters, those letters would come every night, along with a stack of memorandum about war and peace and the economy. And what they helped me do was to remind me that I used to tell my staff, you run elections and get elected, but that's not actually, that's a means to an end. And the end point is, are you delivering something to make the lives of folks a little bit better who sent you? And those letters reminded me of that, whether it was that, at the time, seven-year-old girl, who's now this amazing young woman, or some of my favorite letters were from Republicans, who would say, "I didn't vote for you. I don't agree with anything you're doing, but you seem like a good dad and I appreciate that." And you'd read that, and you were reminded that there, that these aren't abstractions of, you know, when we make decisions about Social Security, or we make decisions about sending young people to war, when we are thinking about how do we preserve our environment, or we're trying to figure out how to reopen, you know, shuttered auto factories, like behind that are people who are struggling and doing, you know, amazing things in the face of hardship. And that's what those letters reminded me of, and what that video that you just showed me speaks to. I hope when people come here, they're not just fixated on some speech I'm given, not just fixated on Michelle's dresses. More than anything, as you've seen in these exhibits, you'll hear the voices of the American people. And that, I think, will give you encouragement. That makes you feel that the idea of America as a multiracial, multiethnic, multireligious, raucous, noisy democracy, that that can work. I think their voices are what makes you feel confident in the future. [00:17:44] Craig Melvin: From the gowns, to the garden, to that sledding hill that she didn't have when she was a little girl. Michelle Obama's fingerprints are all over this place. All over this place. What do you want folks who come here to take away with regard to her legacy? [00:17:58] Barack Obama: That she was a full partner, that her journey is just as improbable as mine. She grew up, like I said, 10 blocks from here in her aunt's house, because her parents didn't own the house. In a maybe 600, 500 square feet second floor with her brother and her two parents and a dad who woke up every morning and got to work, even though he had multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis and a mom who was as wonderful and wise a person as I've known and that little girl, Michelle Obama, ended up being the first lady of the United States and was as powerful an ambassador for America and occupied that office with as much warmth and class and dignity. As anybody could. As anybody could. And continues to do that amazing work and made me better in every regard. And look, I think most people know this. The idea that we have a center here where the next generation of Michelle Obama's coming out of these same neighborhoods maybe can feel as if people will be a little slower to discount them and what they're capable of, that they'll be able to draw inspiration from her example. And that's a pretty good thing. Thank you. [00:19:44] Craig Melvin: Thank you. Well, there you have it. President Barack Obama there, reflecting on the love of his life, his time in the White House and America's future as well. So I hope you enjoyed this special edition of Glass Half Full. As always, we would encourage you to like, subscribe, download, share, and there's one more that I can't remember. But until next time, the glass is always half full. Cheers. [00:20:14] Speaker 4: Hey, thanks for watching and don't forget you can catch the Today Show every morning on NBC or take today when you're on the go. Just follow the Today Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.