Photo Cred: Nick Caito
By Deidre Montague
When it was announced that former President Barack Obama was coming onto the stage, the fully packed audience stood up, clapped, and cheered loudly in the Bushnell Mortensen Hall theatre.
Once he took his seat with historian, author, and moderator Heather Cox Richardson, they began their conversation about how he feels about his role as a historical figure and actor in politics, how we got to the political climate we have today, and how we can get to a shared national identity.
This sold-out conversation with Obama was hosted by The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving in partnership with the Connecticut Forum. They also had a simulcast of this talk in The Bushnell Belding Theatre for educators, students, and non-profit organizations.
When asked about how he felt about his role as both a historical figure and current political actor, Obama shared how he never saw himself as someone in politics. He said that he was not the kid who wanted to be president in his youth.
However, he was inspired by social movements, especially the Civil Rights movement. He cited that his heroes from this movement included Robert “Bob” Moses, Diane Nash, and the Freedom Riders.
While a student at Harvard Law School, he shared that he studied various social movements and realized that the success of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was because of the Freedom Fighters, Dr. Martin Luther King, and former President Lyndon Johnson.
Obama said he saw the true power of both the people and politics and that this is the recipe for change: when people come together, dream of better, and push government and politics toward better, while politicans work to balance the equities of everyone to achieve better for everyone.
He said he believes that it is that push and pull that leads to incremental steps taken toward change, which leads to extraordinary changes.
When pushed by Richardson about whether he believes this is true in today’s political climate, he said that he believes that this system has currently been captured by those who have a weak attachment to democracy.
He said that if we listen to those in political power today, people can see that there is a weak commitment to how a liberal democracy is supposed to be run, clarifying that when he uses the term ‘liberal,’ he means the belief in rule of law, freedom to assemble and protest, political system of power sharing between political parties, compromise, and all in the laws in the U.S. Constitution that were expanded over time for more equality for all.
An example Obama cited is the recent ICE officers picking up and arresting individuals and sending them to another country against their will. He said that you can’t do things like this, saying that there must be responses from both society and inside of the government resisting these policies and practices happening today.
He also warned that if guardrails (laws) are not followed, democracy is not self-executing – adding that when today’s politicians do not take their oath seriously to The Constitution, it does not support all voices being heard, checks/balances, or the law.
Obama also said that what he believes makes the United States exceptional is that it is the only big country on earth and superpower that is made up of many (diverse) people of the world who show up together for this “social experiment” of democracy.
He added that when democracy works, it gives the world hope that people can be bound together by an idea (instead of race, gender, and tribe) and somehow work together to arrive at a common goal – as it allowed us as a nation to become better – not perfect – but to progress over time, which he says makes our nation truly special.
When Richardson asked Obama what the biggest factors that have caused the United States to have this current political climate, he said that the process of globalization and technology that wiped out manufacturing jobs and changed retail and commerce had a catch – it created a winner take all economy, which meant that if you had high skills and privilege, you gain more and if you did not have those skills, you get less and are passed up from opportunities.
He added that this led to the rise of inequality, making people who had less feel left out and created tensions. Coupled with the information ecosystem (cell phones, social media) making bigger gaps in equality, he said that this led to the collison of cultures as people saw how others were living. This led to mass migration and the rise of social members.
Obama went on to say that all of these factors made some people feel stressed as their world as they knew it was changing: identity, economy, gender norms, religion, demographic change, and marginalized people demanding a seat at the table. These changes made those people want to maintain their status quo – disregarding democracy.
He also added that more changes in the information/media environment play a role as well, warning that the A.I. revolution currently happening is not made up and will speed up over time – taking over more jobs over time.
Yet, Obama says that most of the problems that we are facing today are not technological, but are about how we cooperate and work with each other, which he said is the biggest and hardest challenge.
He also said that we need democracy, social cohesian, and trust more than ever – as he says it has been as weak as it’s ever been since he was born, and that our ability to work together must be affirmed, or none of the societal issues we face will be solved.
Obama also spoke more about the information/media environment, saying that in his 2006 “The Audacity of Hope” book, he went to the Google Campus in 2005 and remembers seeing revolutionary potential.
He also acknowledged that the impact of the changes in the information/social media environment (cell phones came out in 2010 and the start of social media) had for his presidential campaign, as he was not the establishment’s presidential candidate – he was an upstart.
Obama said that because he was only able to afford 20 year old staff members, it was them harnessing the power of social media that helped him to make history as the first Black president of the United States from 2009 to 2017.
He also said that he was able to see social media harnessed for good and bad, along with the social media business model change over time, at first, it privileged accuracy and speed. Then, he said it figured out a way to make money faster, which was advertisements, which shifted its premise to keeping people’s attention, which over time also attracted anger, conspiracy theories, division, and bias that trigger our reactions over our reasoning.
Obama added that these changes led to a loss of a monoculture – no more must see TV, such as families sitting and watching news anchor Walter Cronkite or Mary Tyler Moore – along with magazines like TIME, where you had to read it to find out what is the next book everyone is reading.
He said that he believes that these changes have made it more difficult for us to find common ground, as it has created demogogues who work to divide us and has led some people to believe that those that are different from you are trying to get you.
Obama added that it has caused pernicious things, such as basic facts, to be attacked and says that those in power with money exploit this space and flood the zone with so much untruth that at some point, people do not believe anything – citing the 2020 presidential election when Trump declared that he won, despite it being proven that former President Joe Biden won that year. He also clamps down on representatives who know when things are not true, but will say that it is for their benefit.
He also said that there needs to be experimentation with new forms of journalism with social media that reaffirms facts – saying that while it’s okay to have diversity in opinion, it is not okay to have diversity of the facts, along with some government restraints on social media that do not violate the First Amendment of freedom of speech, but does not elevate the most polarizing and dangerous voices.
Richardson also asked Obama how can we have a shared national identity, which he said that it can happen when everyone embraces the true great story of America that includes everyone treated with care, dignity, deserving of rights, are all equal, all have a part to play in democracy, and responsible for our lives, individually and collectively – with no one being better or worse than anyone.
However, he said that today’s politics are reasserting the bad story of America- the idea of castes, wrongly deciding who is a “real American” or “not American,” not acknowledging the first Americans (Native Americans) as American, saying that enslaved individuals are not American, women are only sort of American if they are obedient to their husbands, and the idea that some people are better than others and are more deserving since they have more wealth and power.
Obama also addresses the concerns he has heard from institutions that are cowering to this bad story of America due to threats from the current administration to make things harder for them and negatively impact their bottom lines.
He adds that commitments are being tested in today’s political climate and it may be uncomfortable and hard.
Obama says that when he is asked about this, he says to them, “What do you believe? What is your mission? What do you care about? – and encourages them to push back against threats that are against their values, even if it leads to loss of money or donors.
Lastly, he says that he is still the “hope guy” and believes that the good will win out in the end and says to the youth of today that it is important to be impatient with injustice and cruelty, they should be a healthy outrage of what is going on in the world today, yet you have to find common ground with people who may not agree with you on everything, but on some things – not pigeonhole people, which he criticized Republicans and Democrats for doing.
He says that when these things happen, that we will begin to see hope, because people start seeing themselves in each other – when they work together and find common ground, which he said is the basis for democracy and our long term salvation.
