In an interview with Folha, the former American president says he expects recent electoral trauma to lead to a different policy.
Ten days after Joe Biden saw his name confirmed as the next US president, it is once his former boss, Barack Obama, stealing the show. This Tuesday (17th), the day of the worldwide launch of “A Promised Land”, details of the first volume of his memories at the White House took over the world.
Folha submitted nine blocks of questions (with 12 questions in total) in writing to the Democrat on November 5. He pledged to answer at least five of them and asked that all of the questions be anchored in the book, conditions accepted by the newspaper.
You write in the presentation of the book that democracy in your country seems to be on the edge of a cliff – a crisis rooted in the clash between two opposing views of what the United States is and what it should be. Mr. do you think that, due to today’s events [5/11], with the victory of your ex-vice president, the precipice is further away? You are right: the division between what America is and what America should be is an important theme in the book, but there is also another competing set of views for our country. There is a more inclusive view and a more tribal view. The two interact constantly, and we have seen this interaction taking place not only in the past four years, nor in the eight years leading up to it, but throughout our history.
The question remains: who will win this dispute of ideas? I have faith that the generous and welcoming vision of our country will come out on top. And I have retained my optimism, even over the past four years. Because, at the same time that we saw our worst impulses revealed, we also witness what we can be when we show our best side, when Americans took to the streets in unprecedented numbers to protest against the separation of families, armed violence, police brutality and more.
This is what gives me special hope for the next generation. His belief in the equal worth of all people is innate, natural. For Malia, Sasha [her 22 and 19-year-old daughters, respectively], and their friends, our differences are something to celebrate. For them, this is evident.
This book is mainly for these young people. It is an invitation to once again reform the world and, with hard work, determination and a great deal of imagination, create an America that finally aligns with what is best within us.
Read more in portuguese at Folha de S.Paulo.
