Barack Obama answered questions from France 2, in an interview broadcast Tuesday, November 17.
The former American president has just released the first volume of his memoirs, in which he sweeps away a number of subjects which are currently burning in the United States.
Tuesday, he returned to the election of Joe Biden, the Trump presidency, racism or Nicolas Sarkozy.
Joe Biden to heal America's wounds
Reacting to the election of its former vice-president, Joe Biden, Barack Obama presented him as capable of repairing America's deep divisions.
Read also: Joe Biden is preparing despite the systematic obstruction of Donald Trump
“
This country is truly divided.
It doesn't date from Donald Trump, but it was certainly accelerated by his presidency.
I believe that Joe Biden
and Kamala Harris represent a return to certain norms, to certain uses of respect in the treatment of political opposition, of obedience to institutional practices, which are essential to this country.
[...]
I think that the battle of ideas will have to continue and that there will be no single answer.
Rather, it will take a revival of citizenship.
I believe that a review of how we think about our democracies and how we reform them is a long-term project
”.
Donald Trump spoke to Americans who
“
felt they had lost their status
”.
When Donald Trump was elected President of the United States in 2016, a whole different president was chosen, a whole different program, a whole different relationship to politics.
How to explain that 8 years of Barack Obama led to 4 years of Donald Trump?
For the former president, Donald Trump knew how to exploit the uneasiness of an America set aside by globalization.
To read also: Nicolas Baverez: "Populism will survive Donald Trump"
“
When I left
[the White House]
,
I had a pretty good reputation with the American people
[...]
.
But what was clear was the divisions due to the reactions of globalization, the fact that the inhabitants of the urban areas had been more successful economically and had adopted a more cosmopolitan point of view, which they accepted and encouraged the diversity.
All this has left many people who live in more rural areas, who are outside these trends, to feel that they have lost their status
”
.
Politics is not just a material question.
It is often a question of competing stories to tell who we are, what our life means, our identity.
Barack obama
“
I think the right-wing media stoked all of that resentment and made people think, in a way, that the America they remembered no longer existed.
Politics is not just a material question.
It is often a matter of competing stories to tell who we are, what our life means, our identity.
I told a story about who we were and what we had to stand up for.
I believe the majority of Americans adopted the story I told them, but a large number did not and Donald Trump certainly reflected that
”.
Nicolas Sarkozy, "
dwarf rooster that bulges the chest
"
In his memoirs, Barack Obama is not kind to the former French president, whom he describes as a "
dwarf rooster which bulges the chest
".
On France 2, however, he underlines the "
energy
" and "
charm
" of Nicolas Sarkozy, and returns to the importance of the transatlantic relationship.
To read also: Guillaume Tabard: “Nicolas Sarkozy,“ great voter ”on the right”
“
I found President Sarkozy to be an important partner alongside Angela Merkel at a time when we were dealing with a lot of difficult issues.
Nicolas is someone who is constantly on the move, who spoke constantly, who liked people to pay attention to him.
This energy and charm, associated with Angela Merkel, who was a much more sober, thoughtful person, ended up forming a good combination
”.
Nicolas is someone who is constantly on the move, who spoke constantly, who liked people to pay attention to him
Barack obama
Thinking broadly, Obama recalled how "
Europe as a partner
"
,
holding her "
to heart
"
.
“
One of the things that has worried me over the past four years,
” he continues, “
is how weak this relationship is.
And I believe Joe Biden can restore it
”
.
"
There will always be a gap between the public image and the presidential office
"
One of the projects of his memoirs was to “
demystify the presidential function
”
.
"
Those who have access to positions of power are still human beings with fears, doubts
"
,
he recalls, looking back on the difficulty of navigating between the "demands
bureaucratic
" and "
symbolic
" incumbent on the President .
Read also: Barack Obama confides in his fatherhood: "Watching my daughters grow up was the greatest joy of my life"
“
There will always be a gulf between the public image and the presidential office with its iconic aspects like flying on the Air Force One plane, the people greeting you, the trumpet blasts.
But until 2008, I was someone who washed his car, ran errands with his daughters and had to worry about paying his bills.
Telling that seems useful to me to demystify the function
”.
For the former president, “
there has always been a debate about the nature of political leadership, with the contrast between charismatic leadership and bureaucratic leadership
”
.
Barack Obama compared the American system to the English system where the queen assumes symbolic power when the prime minister arrogates to himself bureaucratic power.
“
In the United States we expect him to do both,
” he explained
.
“
The ceremonial aspects were strange.
You are constantly reminded that there is a gap between the image and the reality of the human being that you are,
”he confided.
On racism: "
You can't solve a problem by pretending that it doesn't exist
"
The Black Live Matter movement that rocked the United States with its protests was a reminder of how hotly the race question was still in the United States.
First black American president, Barack Obama advocates frank work on the issue.
Read also: The dangerous prophets of Black Lives Matter
“
You can't solve a problem by pretending it doesn't exist.
One of the debates raging in America is: how do we overcome our racial divide?
There are those who say "let's forget the past, look to the future".
The problem is that slavery, segregation, Jim Crow laws ... We can't pretend that it never existed, because it continues to have a huge influence today,
”he explains. he listed "
the huge gaps in wealth
", "
education and health
".
To read also: Bob Woodson: "The concept of systemic racism is a political weapon which feeds on white guilt"
“
Just like Germany could not succeed without looking closely at what happened during the Nazi era.
The United States needs to work more on these issues.
Many white Americans react badly to being told that they are guilty of the injustices committed 100 years ago.
The issue of race should not be defined as "victims" and "culprits".
We have to think of it as a human situation, we have to see the humanity of those who were at the top of the racial hierarchy, and of those who suffered from prejudice and bigotry
. "