Two of my worlds collide, smashing President Barack Obama out of his egg, which detached him from the mystic narratives built in many American’s minds – “He’s a level-headed academic”. President Barack Obama sat down with legendary stand-up comic Marc Maron, who also happens to be one of the greatest interviewers of all-time, and gave incredibly honest and thoughtful answers.
President Barack Obama and Marc Maron could not be any different in temperament. President Obama comes off as somewhat emotionally disengaged and optimistic, whereas Marc is an anxious narcissist with anger issues. Barack Obama has a wife and two daughters, Marc has never completely settled down and is a proud owner of too many cats. The interview takes place in Marc Maron’s garage, which just so happens to be down the street where President Obama inhabited during his early adulthood.
The interview takes off immediately which highlights Marc Marons uncanny ability to put a guest at ease despite his hyperactive demeanor. They dive deep into macro political issues like healthcare, terrorism, and racism. The interview takes place shortly after the horrific massacre in Charleston, South Carolina. This adds extraordinary context to the interview. The Charleston shooting is the most significant hate crime in the last 50 years. President Obama doesn’t draw the race-card, he doesn’t say that America is broken. He believes that the issue boils down to insecurity and lack of identity rather than an inherent bad nature of human beings. You can really tell he takes a Lockean view of human nature rather than a Hobbesian view of human nature (even though he doesn’t go as far as a lot of Americans; as in he doesn’t fully buy Locke’s theory of property, which in the Earth was put here for humans to use to any benefit). The President actually repeatedly says that race relations are much better than they were 50 years ago.
However, President Obama does not hold back on his frustration over the uniqueness of the mass-shooting problem in the United States. He cites Australia was able to act quickly because the public was so outraged over the one and only mass shooting in their country 25 years ago. President Obama explains how the most disturbed he has been was Congress’s inability to act after the Sandy Hook Massacre. While being firm on what he calls “common-sense gun control reforms”, he understands that hunting is a key part of life for many Americans and often symbolizes or evokes feelings of nostalgia and tradition.
The President also talks a lot about how Democracy is not only slow but how the prior outcomes of democracy are heavily entrenched. In Democracy you have to fight extremely hard to create change, at the federal level you need millions of voices behind you. This creates precedent that is extremely well guarded and protected. He campaigned on “hope” and “change” incredibly abstract concepts, but as a hyperrealist he recognizes that democracy can only move so far in the parameters of time awarded to our experiences. This is what makes an effective and reasonable President, someone who has high ambitions and knows there are pressing issues that need realistic changes; NOT someone who spouts normative propaganda preaching deontological lessons like supply side economics or abstinence and abstinence only sex education. The country we live in isn’t all Cadillacs and apple pie.
Not only does he recognize that the average person is well intentioned and does not want others to be hurt, but he also realizes the big players such as corporations represent a lot of people and often times are really acting in what they think produces the most utility. YES, I UNDERSTAND THEY ALSO DO A LOT OF SCUMBAG THINGS. This is something that I have come to realize over my short time in politics, yes there are campaign-finance issues, but a lot of time large organized interests are representing the welfare of lots of people. On the counter this does mean they get to tip the scale through numbers? But democracy isn’t built to represent the aggregate of separate individuals, it is meant to represent groups of individuals. What state are you from? What district do you live in? Who do you work for? What organizations do you belong to? What charities do you donate to?
The President is also very aware that many of the issues facing the American public are extremely complex. It is almost impossible for the average American to go to work, raise a family, and enjoy life while being completely engaged and understanding of incredibly complex issues like health-care. Humans are already bad at conceptualizing large numbers. We have no chance at appreciating the scale and degree that these systems exist. This is another thing I have learned to recognize in politics, we often ask too much of government without really understanding the massive difficulty of the tasks we assign. You fix health care.
The interview is an incredibly humanizing archive of President Obama, which is rare. He has been President of the United States of America for 6 and a-half years and is starting to realize part of his legacy is built on his personality. Despite the withdrawn demeanor he is no stranger to doing fringe press such as “Between Two Ferns with Zack Galifinakis”. However, in this interview the President talks a lot about his struggles to find identity as a youngster especially growing up without a father. It is quite inspiring to hear how he grew up confused, starting out at the grassroots level of politics and how he rose to the leader of the most powerful nation in the world.
The President also actually pats himself on the back. Something he has been very reluctant to do in his Presidency. He touts reducing unemployment from 10% to 5.5%, expansion of LGBT rights, and cutting carbon emissions through rule making. Anyone who has watched his State of the Union addresses closely knows that he is not one to boast his achievements but instead focuses on the challenges ahead.
And he also said the N word, and a lot of douchebags freaked out about it.
The full interview can be heard below:
The Post-Academy 