As his final days wind down, President Barack Obama continued his farewell tour with an interview on “60 Minutes” that included remarks about his post-White House plans, his regrets, and of course, how he views his successor, President-elect Donald Trump.
Obama was diplomatic in his comments about Trump, noting that he “has a talent for making a connection with his supporters that overrode some of the traditional benchmarks of how you’d run a campaign, or conduct yourself as a presidential candidate.”
Obama also discussed how technology has changed communication and news consumption and warned of the dangers of relying on forms of new media that eschew nuance.
“We are moving into an era where a lot of people get their information through tweets and soundbites and some headline that comes over their phone,” he said. “There’s a power in that. There’s also a danger — what generates a headline or stirs up a controversy and gets attention isn’t the same as the process required to actually solve the problem.”
One new media topic Obama wouldn’t talk about was Trump’s controversial Twitter account, which made headlines over the weekend after the president-elect responded to criticism from Congressman and civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis by saying that the associate of Martin Luther King, Jr. was “all talk, no action.”
“You know, you’re going to have to talk to him,” Obama said with a laugh. “First of all, I think everybody had to acknowledge, don’t underestimate the guy, because he’s going to be the 45th president of the United States.”
Obama also told “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft confidently that “the country is significantly better off than when I came in.” But Kroft also pushed the president on some of his more regretful moments while in office, such as his infamous “red line” promise to get the U.S. involved in the Syrian civil war if the Syrian government used chemical weapons. The comment earned Obama harsh criticism after he did not follow through on that promise.
“I would have, I think, made a bigger mistake if I had said, ‘Eh, chemical weapons. That doesn’t really change my calculus,’” he said. “And regardless of how it ended up playing, I think, in the Beltway, what is true is Assad got rid of his chemical weapons.”
As for life after the White House, Obama said that his family was ready to leave and enjoy some long-awaited respite from the scrutiny that comes with living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
“The girls…they are now of an age in which the constraints of Secret Service and all that stuff has gotten pretty old. Michelle never fully took to the scrutiny. I mean, she’s thrived as a first lady, but it’s not her preference.”
You can watch a clip of Obama’s final TV interview as president above and watch the full interview here.