Transcript: NPR’s Full Interview With Former President Barack Obama
November 16, 202012:02 AM ET
…NPR: So I’m not going to ask you what advice you’d give to Joe Biden, because presumably you would tell him yourself, but you’re a proponent, you’ve always been a proponent of people power. Is there something that you think citizens should be doing right now?
BO: “Well, look, getting a handle on this public health issue is going to require all of our cooperation. It’s been tough for the American people because they haven’t been getting one clear set of guidelines and information, and all of us, no matter how well-informed or conscientious we’ve been, have at times been confused with a bunch of conflicting notions of how we should be dealing with this.
I think priority No. 1 — and I’m confident Joe will do this. He’s got Ron Klain as chief of staff who was my point person for dealing with the Ebola crisis, understands this stuff. All of us as citizens need to work and get behind a clear plan for getting this pandemic under control. Because if we can get the pandemic under control, the economy then is in a position to start bouncing back. But beyond that, what I think all of us as citizens are going to have to do is to really start examining what can each of us do, whether it’s at the local level, in our own families, to step back from the demonization of each other, the bitter partisan divides that we’re seeing, and ask ourselves: What role can we play in rebuilding social trust? And look, it’s a hard thing to do. And again, I don’t want to make mass media as the boogeyman. But, when you look at these information silos in Facebook and other social media and the rabbit holes that people are following, the denial of facts, the belief in wild conspiracy theories like QAnon getting real traction, each of us have some responsibilities to start thinking carefully about not being so gullible and just accepting whatever it is that we’re seeing pop up on our phones…”
We’re drowning
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/covid-cases-flood-hospitals_n_5fbd255cc5b66bb88c619fe3
Ed Yong of the Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/11/americas-best-prepared-hospital-nearly-overwhelmed/617156/
Ken:
They will do nothing until they are dying and even then they will deny.
Stolen from somewhere.
“Biden’s won in Michigan so many times he is legally required to change his name to Ohio State.”
Cute
While back, Quinn Norton’s What Comes After America caused quite a stir over at Emptywheel:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/11/03/what-comes-after-america/
Happy Thanksgiving everyone and my condolences to all the mother turkeys who lost their young ones to this holiday season.
Ken,
Only time will tell whether Donald Trump is conservative America’s new boyfriend or just a revenge sex fling.
Ron:
I like that. Just don’t get him pregnant.
Tee hee. Either way.
[For all those who like myself prefer reading over listening to a recording the link below and just one short excerpt out of a very long interview.]
https://www.npr.org/2020/11/16/934584373/transcript-nprs-full-interview-with-former-president-barack-obama
Transcript: NPR’s Full Interview With Former President Barack Obama
November 16, 202012:02 AM ET
…NPR: So I’m not going to ask you what advice you’d give to Joe Biden, because presumably you would tell him yourself, but you’re a proponent, you’ve always been a proponent of people power. Is there something that you think citizens should be doing right now?
BO: “Well, look, getting a handle on this public health issue is going to require all of our cooperation. It’s been tough for the American people because they haven’t been getting one clear set of guidelines and information, and all of us, no matter how well-informed or conscientious we’ve been, have at times been confused with a bunch of conflicting notions of how we should be dealing with this.
I think priority No. 1 — and I’m confident Joe will do this. He’s got Ron Klain as chief of staff who was my point person for dealing with the Ebola crisis, understands this stuff. All of us as citizens need to work and get behind a clear plan for getting this pandemic under control. Because if we can get the pandemic under control, the economy then is in a position to start bouncing back. But beyond that, what I think all of us as citizens are going to have to do is to really start examining what can each of us do, whether it’s at the local level, in our own families, to step back from the demonization of each other, the bitter partisan divides that we’re seeing, and ask ourselves: What role can we play in rebuilding social trust? And look, it’s a hard thing to do. And again, I don’t want to make mass media as the boogeyman. But, when you look at these information silos in Facebook and other social media and the rabbit holes that people are following, the denial of facts, the belief in wild conspiracy theories like QAnon getting real traction, each of us have some responsibilities to start thinking carefully about not being so gullible and just accepting whatever it is that we’re seeing pop up on our phones…”