Former President Barack Obama, in a CNN interview that aired Thursday night, said he does not believe President Joe Biden will face a serious primary challenge during his 2024 reelection campaign and praised his former vice president’s tenure in the Oval Office.
In a wide-ranging, sit-down interview from Athens with CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour, Obama also discussed the recent indictments of former President Donald Trump, increasing polarization in the United States, the war in Ukraine, the rise of artificial intelligence and more.
Here are five top takeaways from Obama’s hour-long appearance on CNN:
Trump indictment ‘less than ideal’
Obama discussed Trump’s two indictments, saying it is “less than ideal” that a former president and a leading Republican presidential candidate is facing federal charges.
“But the fact that we have a former president who is having to answer to charges brought by prosecutors does uphold the basic notion that nobody’s above the law,” Obama said.
Without referring to the former president by name, Obama suggested Trump’s behavior makes him unfit for office.
“Having been president of the United States, you need a president who takes the oath of office seriously,” he said. “You need a president who believes not just in the letter, but in the spirit of democracy.”
“There are checks and balances to the system, you are subjected to those checks and balances,” Obama added. “You cannot ignore them. You cannot make your own rules. You cannot view the Justice Department as your personal law firm.”
Democrats are united behind Biden
Obama offered strong praise for Biden, applauding his administration’s response to the numerous challenges faced by the sitting president since assuming office in 2021.
“I think Joe Biden has done an extraordinary job leading the country through some very difficult times,” Obama said.
Obama also predicted that Biden, his former vice president, will have an easy path to the 2024 Democratic nomination.
“I do not think that there’s going to be any kind of serious primary challenge to Joe Biden,” he said. “I think the Democratic Party is unified.”
Obama credited Biden for bringing Democrats closer together after a contentious 2020 presidential primary saw Biden earn the support of more centrist Democrats while Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-VT., found strong support from the party’s progressive wing.
“The truth is that partly because of how Joe has governed, those divisions have been bridged,” he said.
Ukraine is ‘vital’ in fight for democracy
Obama described Ukraine as “vital” in the fight for democracy and praised the European Union for creating a peaceful and democratic political alliance.
“Do not take for granted the extraordinary achievement of the European Union,” Obama said, “and the fact that a continent, that was wracked by war and bloodshed for centuries, was now as prosperous and as peaceful as any in history.”
He also claimed that witnessing the war in Ukraine up close helped to reinvigorate the European project.
“Watching the Ukrainians themselves — with such courage and bravery — fight back, I think that reminded Europe of who they were,” Obama said.
Obama addressed whether his administration should have been more forceful in its response to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.
“The Ukraine of that time is not the Ukraine that we’re talking about today,” he said.
“There’s a reason why there was not an armed invasion of Crimea,” Obama added. “Crimea was full of a lot of Russian speakers and there was some sympathy to the view that Russia was representing its interests.”
Race is the ‘fault line’ in American politics
Obama said that “race has always been the fault line in American life and American politics,” but argued that the country has made strides since his first presidential election in 2008.
“Although I was always skeptical that my election somehow signified a post-racial America, if you look at any speech I gave throughout my presidency I was always someone who reminded the country of the progress that was possible,” Obama said.
“That was my brand, right? That’s part of the hope and change thing,” he said, referring to his 2008 presidential campaign slogans.
Obama, however, said that the push for equality on the basis of gender and sexual orientation have generated “as much of a backlash as the racial backlash.”
He also warned that the the United States must also combat economic inequality if it wants to have a thriving democracy.
“Our democracy is not going to be healthy with the levels of inequality that we’ve seen generated from globalization, automation, the decline in unions,” Obama said.
Calls for stricter regulations on Artificial Intelligence
Obama warned that if artificial intelligence is left unregulated like social media, it could have more severe consequences for democracy than even social media platforms had.
“We will have bigger problems with AI,” Obama said. “National security problems, job displacement problems, misinformation problems that undermine our democracy.”
Obama, however, noted that there is “enormous potential” for artificial intelligence if it is used for the right causes.
“If harnessed correctly, you can have AI teachers that much more cheaply are delivering a very good education to people in remote areas,” he said.
The danger, Obama noted, is if AI is weaponized.
“It can be a very powerful tool for mischief,” he said.
The next Georgia?:Biden campaign targets North Carolina to reshape 2024 electoral map
