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Showing Original Post only (View all)Obama: once out of office, I’m gonna stop being polite and start getting real [View all]
by Andrew Prokop at Vox
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/9/23/13029670/obama-after-presidency
"SNIP.............
Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin has a great new interview with President Obama in Vanity Fair. In the wide-ranging interview, they discuss Abraham Lincoln, Obamas biggest regrets from his time in office, and how a visit to the pyramids reminded Obama that cable news doesnt really matter.
But perhaps the most intriguing bit was when, in a brief discussion of Obamas plans for his post-presidency, Obama hinted that he planned to start speaking out more like an activist than a president.
There are things, he told Goodwin, that in some ways I suspect Im able to do better out of this office. He elaborated that because of the institutional constraints of the presidency, there are things I cannot say.
He went on to essentially say he wanted to use his post-presidential bully pulpit more like an activist than a venerable elder statesman. There are institutional obligations I have to carry out that are important for a president of the United States to carry out, but may not always align with what I think would move the ball down the field on the issues that I care most deeply about, he said.
...............SNIP"