“The good news, which I think is expected from the Biden team, is that they believe in the rule of law, multilateral institutions, cooperation, science, action, and human rights,” he said.
In his view, Europeans can expect the new administration to represent a continuation of the Obama administration’s policies and highlighted the strengthening of transatlantic and NATO relations.
As he said, the new president has made a good voice with his intention to unify the country, but he believes this will not happen overnight.
“I couldn’t imagine what happened,” Obama said of the January 6 Capitol siege, in which four protesters and a police officer were killed.
He described the rise of right-wing populism as undeniable, which he sees as a reason why people do not feel safe, economically or culturally. “We have to learn to live together,” he said.
He spoke of the transformation of the US Republican Party, including the decline of the moderate forces. “So we now have a democratic party, which is a left or center-left party, and on the other side a republican party, which is an extreme-right party,” he declared.
Obama says the Republican Party denies the existence of climate change, questions the election results, and sticks to conspiracy theories propagated by “the craziest” Donald Trump.
Barack Obama stressed that the work of democracy requires both the left and the right. In a longer online transcript of the interview, he explained that in addition to the differences, both sides should initiate a common agreement on issues such as representation, elections, legislation, or the flow of information.
“The events of the past few years have taught us that even the richest countries, and the most advanced democracies, are not immune to these problems. We see this kind of problem in Russia, Turkey, the Philippines and Myanmar. But it seems to be the case,” said the former US president. “A problem also in the United States, Spain and Hungary.” And Germany. “
MTI
