QOTD: President Obama
by digby
He said a lot of things in his interview today, much of which I co-sign. But none more than this:
PRESIDENT OBAMA: “I”— you know, “I'm here to help move the country forward.” And so I think it's a healthy dynamic. So, to me, the relevant contrast is not between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, but relevant contrast is between Bernie and Hillary and Donald Trump and Ted Cruz and the vision that they're portraying for the country and where they want to take us and how they think about everything from tax policy to immigration to foreign policy, and that gap is as wide as I've ever seen. You know, you think about it.
GLENN THRUSH: Right.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: When I ran against John McCain, John McCain and I had real differences, sharp differences, but John McCain didn't deny climate science. John McCain didn't call for banning Muslims from the United States. You know, John McCain was a conservative, but he was well within, you know, the mainstream of not just the Republican Party but within our political dialogue. And that’s where, ultimately, any voter is going to have to pay attention is the degree to which the Republican rhetoric and Republican vision has moved not just to the right but has moved to a place that is unrecognizable.
GLENN THRUSH: Where does it end? I mean, the thing — you know, you were about civility in, you know, your first inaugural [address], I recall. This — where does it — what do you think this Trump thing really means, and where do you think it ends, and how do you think it stops?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, my hope — not just for me or the Democratic Party but for the Republican Party and for America – is that this is an expression of frustration, anger that folks like Trump and, to some degree, Cruz are exploiting. It’s real within the Republican Party and the Republican base, but that after this venting, Republican voters will settle down and say, “Who do we want actually sitting behind the desk, making decisions that are critical to our future?”
And I've always said I want a healthy, two-party system where there's vigorous debate but both parties are contributing to a constructive vision of the country and help us make progress. And it will be interesting to watch, during the course of this campaign, whether or not Republican voters steer back towards the center.
"Interesting" yes. The way watching a train derail is interesting. More like scary as hell.
He's wrong about one thing. The Republican party's rhetoric and vision is unfortunately very recognizable. It's just not something the advanced democracies have seen in over 80 years.
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