Obama jokes Colbert could run for president

[0:00] How dumb do you think it is for people to say that I should run for president? [0:04] Well, you know, the bar has changed. [0:07] Let me put it this way. [0:08] I think that you could perform significantly better than some folks that we've seen. [0:15] I kind of got to enjoy President Obama not being able to keep himself from laughing [0:22] in that interview with Stephen Colbert that took place at Obama's Presidential Center, [0:27] which opens in Chicago next month. [0:29] And while President Obama never mentioned President Trump by name, [0:33] he did make what seemed to be a series of critiques about his successor [0:37] and about his concerns with the current administration. [0:40] There's a bunch of stuff that, you know, we can overcome. [0:46] We can't overcome the politicization of the criminal justice system, [0:51] the awesome power of the state. [0:54] You can't have a situation in which whoever's in charge of the government [0:58] starts using that to go after their political enemies or reward their friends, right? [1:05] All right. [1:07] John King, we don't hear or we haven't heard a lot from President Obama in the Trump era. [1:13] He's been relatively judicious in terms of when he's chosen to engage on certain things. [1:17] But this is obviously a significant moment for him. [1:21] What stood out to you and what message do you think he is wanting to send and present at this period of time? [1:27] The mix in the two clips you play is what stands out to me in the sense of you often figure out what's going to work in the moment, right? [1:33] And that is a very serious case talking about, remember, it was the Trump people constantly complaining about Biden, [1:38] alleging the Biden administration was politicizing the Justice Department. [1:41] And now what we've seen during the Trump administration, [1:43] and I think you could get 100 law school kids and not ask them their politics and let them take a vote and say, [1:48] which Justice Department has been more political? [1:50] And I think the answer would be pretty obvious. [1:51] And that would be the Trump Justice Department. [1:54] So that's a policy argument that Democrats want to hear from their candidates, [1:58] that they think the Trump administration has gone way overboard. [2:01] But I actually think the humor is kind of effective in the idea that, you know, [2:04] he didn't mention Trump there, but it's pretty clear he's saying, [2:06] well, maybe you could perform Stephen better than some people out there. [2:10] Humor can play a huge role in politics, especially when people hate politics, [2:13] as to try to get people to laugh a little bit. [2:16] Yeah, well, and, you know, it sort of struck me that the thing he seemed to be laughing about was like, [2:19] oh, Stephen, like, you think you could do what I did? [2:22] It was a little bit of a vibe I got there. [2:24] And, Jamie, the interesting thing, I mean, he said this to The New Yorker [2:27] in a piece that was published earlier this week. [2:30] This is Obama talking about himself, his role in the media environment. [2:33] He says, for me to function like Jon Stewart, even once a week, [2:36] just going off ripping what was happening, which, by the way, I'm glad Jon's doing, [2:40] that I'm not a political leader, I'm a commentator, Obama said. [2:42] In fact, he insisted he's doing more than people realize. [2:45] The media environment is so difficult that people don't even know all the stuff I'm doing, right? [2:49] Which also speaks to, I mean, his conception of his own celebrity [2:52] and the way that he should be able to punch through. [2:54] But it's pretty telling. [2:56] So there have been times where he's, you know, he's come out. [3:00] The Radio City Music Hall moment with the other presidents. [3:05] He does a lot on social media, which is very different from sitting down, [3:10] but reaches a wide audience. [3:14] I do think that, I'm just wondering, as we get to the midterm elections, [3:19] are we going to see more and more of Obama out there? [3:24] I think the answer is yes. [3:25] I hope so, and I think the answer is yes. [3:27] I mean, look, I've been on the last three presidential campaigns for, [3:30] if you want to count Biden and Harris being two separate ones, up for debate. [3:33] He is by far our most important and most effective surrogate. [3:38] He was in 2016 for Hillary Clinton. [3:40] He was in 2020 for President Biden. [3:42] He was in 2024 for President Biden and then Vice President Harris. [3:46] So I think you will see more from him. [3:48] And look, I mean, I think this team is trying to find different ways [3:51] to use his voice effectively and to break through and get out there. [3:55] And I think a conversation with somebody like Stephen Colbert, [3:57] where there's, you know, Obama does very well with humor. [4:00] You don't always see that because he tends to be very serious and give very serious speeches. [4:05] But we just saw that he's got a great sense of humor. [4:07] But in order to break through in this current moment, [4:09] you want to sit down with somebody who can have that sense of humor with you, [4:12] but who can also have very serious discussions [4:15] about some of the major challenges we're facing. [4:17] Well, I think you learned the lesson from the first Trump administration [4:20] that when he did punch, it got blown up in a substantial way. [4:25] And he was pretty humorless about it, frankly. [4:27] So I think he's adapted to that. [4:29] But the other thing I would say and submit here as a Republican [4:34] is that my Democratic friends, their best person was last on the ballot 14 years ago [4:43] and left office 10 years ago. [4:46] That is a markedly different Democratic Party, different coalition, [4:50] different electoral math here. [4:52] And yet he is still the best attribute they have for the Democratic Party. [4:56] Well, so here, I'm glad that you put it that way because it speaks exactly to the next point [5:01] that I wanted to talk about, which is who Obama identified in this interview [5:06] as someone who is the next up-and-coming voice for the Democratic Party. [5:11] Here he was talking about Zoran Mamdani, the mayor of New York, [5:15] talking about how he cuts through the gobbledygook was Obama's word, not mine. [5:19] What I'm more interested in, for Democrats, is do you know how to just talk to regular people [5:28] like we're not in a college seminar, right? [5:31] You know, can you talk plain English to folks? [5:36] And so what I'm looking for... [5:37] Is there a strict no gobbledygook? [5:39] No gobbledygook. [5:40] You should carve that into the wall somewhere. [5:43] Carve that into the wall somewhere. [5:46] Gobbledygook turns out to be Stephen Colbert's word. [5:49] I mean, is he right about that? [5:51] Oh, sorry, is that for me or for you? [5:52] No. [5:54] Yes, he's absolutely right about that. [5:56] I mean, we have to talk to people in a normal way. [5:59] I mean, some of the best messengers, not only in the Democratic Party, [6:03] but in the Republican Party, too, who are just running for office, [6:06] we've got to be able to talk to people, you know, in plain English. [6:08] And, you know, you can criticize President Biden for all you want, [6:11] but that was something he was very adamant about. [6:13] He would go through his speeches, and he would take out complicated words [6:17] or words that maybe a third or a fifth grader didn't understand, [6:20] and he would put plain language in there. [6:22] Like malarkey. [6:24] Well, like, we will understand malarkey. [6:26] So, look, the bottom line is this. [6:27] People want to be communicated to, not like they're in a college seminar, [6:30] but they want to be spoken to in ways that they can actually understand. [6:34] Since here. [6:34] And that breaks through. [6:35] That's the beer test model, and I think that those are the people who tend to... [6:39] Well, what Jamie said was likability. [6:41] Sincerity has been broken through, and that is a post-Obama era. [6:47] Obama is way too polished. [6:48] He made the teleprompter sing. [6:50] That was what he got. [6:52] We got, as a hangover of that, Trump saying exactly what he thought in that moment, [6:57] which could be directly outrageous and very specific to a moment, [7:01] which would drive the media cycle. [7:03] It's a very different environment now how politicians talk, [7:06] including significant Democratic elected officials that think the four-letter F word [7:11] is the most powerful political language they can use in order to get into the media cycle. [7:16] It's very different today. [7:17] John? [7:18] I agree with you. [7:19] I think right now people put authenticity, many people put authenticity ahead of partisan label, [7:24] because they don't trust any politicians, and again, they don't trust this town, [7:27] to listen to them, to do things relevant to them. [7:29] So Mamdan, he broke through by talking about affordability in a way that the people of New York City got. [7:34] Now, can you sell those ideas in North Carolina? [7:36] Can you sell those ideas in Indiana about free buses or subsidized housing? [7:41] Maybe not. [7:41] But he was talking to his voters about an issue, high rents, high costs, high affordability, [7:46] that broke through. [7:48] I just had a Trump voter in a conversation the other day. [7:50] We were talking about affordability, and I said, what should people do? [7:53] This is a Christian conservative pastor in Texas who said subsidize housing and subsidize food [7:58] for families who need help. [8:00] A conservative saying, because he sees the affordability crisis up close. [8:04] So people are willing to go way outside their boxes to solve problems. [8:08] It's the politicians who aren't willing to meet them where they are. [8:11] I mean, honestly, even the word affordability, I've thought about this. [8:14] When we say affordability crisis, what does that even mean, right? [8:16] It means like people don't have enough money to pay to live, right? [8:20] Like, how is it, why is it that we're still using that kind of language even when we talk about this? [8:24] It's such a real thing. [8:25] And to your point, Governor Beshear, who I think everyone believes may run in 2028 for president, [8:30] he says things like, don't say food insecurity. [8:33] Say I'm going hungry. [8:34] Like, talk to people, meet them where they are, talk to people like normal human beings. [8:38] It's going to take you pretty far. [8:40] This is the rise of populism, which is, what is your lived experience? [8:43] Do you like it? [8:44] And what we've seen for 20 years in America, actually a little bit longer, [8:48] is that people are very unhappy with their situation. [8:51] You can call this tech. [8:52] You can call that with a tech overlay, in case you've spent a lot of time talking about the concern the parents have. [8:58] Or actually manufacturing. [9:00] Where are the manufacturing jobs? [9:01] Actually, or surprisingly here. [9:03] But the rhetoric around job losses and people's lived experience has changed people's psyche [9:08] about whether or not we should be optimistic about America and our future. [9:13] John King, do you find when you talk to these voters, too, because you bring up manufacturing, right? [9:19] And we think a lot about the hollowed-out towns in places like Youngstown, Mahoning County, western Pennsylvania, [9:25] and that driving the Trump era. [9:29] But we are barreling into a situation where it's going to happen on a white-collar scale also for kids that are coming out of college. [9:36] I mean, it's already starting to happen to people I know who have kids who are graduating on a scale [9:42] and in a set of communities that's totally different. [9:44] Are you picking that up already from voters you talk to? [9:47] Oh, yeah. [9:47] People look backwards. [9:49] You know, Grandpa used to work in that factory. [9:51] Dad worked in that factory. [9:52] I thought I was going to work in that factory. [9:53] That factory's gone. [9:54] So people look backwards at the manufacturing part, and they think, no one's here to help my town. [9:58] No one's talking in a way to help my town. [10:00] Where's the economy? [10:00] And then they look forward, and you look, as a parent of a high school freshman, I have two older kids who are out in the world doing just great. [10:06] A parent of a high school freshman, what is AI going to do to the next three years of his life in high school, [10:10] then the four years in college, and then what jobs are out there? [10:12] People are out there asking this all the time because they're seeing it. [10:15] They see these data centers pop up in their communities. [10:17] They think it's thousands of jobs. [10:19] It's a lot of construction jobs at the beginning. [10:20] But then once the thing is built, it's mostly an HVAC team to keep it cool and some programmers. [10:26] And so they're asking these questions on a daily basis. [10:28] Again, if they don't see many people, some would say any people, whether it's their governor's office, [10:34] their state legislature, or especially here, giving them a North Star, this is where we're going. [10:39] It's going to be bumpy. [10:40] It's going to be a lot of curves. [10:41] That's what they're missing. [10:42] They're lost in this economy.