Cant believe that theres going to be a close election. You know, were leading in the polls Brand New, this hour, as the race for the White House kicks into high gear, Brand New Cnn Polling, it shows a dead Heat Race in critical Battleground States. And detroit, michigan. Are you ready to have your voices heard after slipping from red to blue . In 2020, michigan shaping up, yet again to be key to unlocking victory in 2024, were going to take a deeper dive into this critical state and the Justice Department files criminal charges against the leaders of hamas for the October 7 attacks as the White House looks to forge a Ceasefire And Hostage Release Deal all right. 5 00 a. M. Here youre in washington. A live look at Capitol Dome on this wednesday morning. Good morning, everyone. Im Kasie Hunt. Its wonderful to have you with us the Post Labor Day sprint to the White House is on a new Cnn Polling just out this hour shows a Neck And Neck race. The polls conducted just after the end of the democratic national convention, and they have Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump in key states like michigan and wisconsin, just outside of the margin of error in both of those places Donald Trump holds an outright lead and arizona, 49 to 44 in that Sun Belt State three other Battleground States, there is no clear leader with Harris And Trump in a statistical deadheat in nevada and georgia, a State Central to victory in both Campaigns Pennsylvania is a dead even tie. The new polling comes just six days before the next pivotal moment in this campaign, the first president ial Debate Heat between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris and pennsylvania, where Vice President harris rallied Union Workers earlier this week its going to be a tight race to the very end. So lets not pay too much attention to those polls. And we are the underdogs in this race. And we have some hard work done ahead of us but heres the beauty of us in this room. We like hard work joining me now to discuss all this, Erin Doherty Political reporter for axios and tia mitchell, Washington Correspondent for the atlanta journal constitution. Good morning to both of you. Thanks so much for being here. So weve got this new polling in Swing States. Its the, you know, its Labor Day when youre getting a likely Voter Screen and battleground state polling. Lets see, lets all say, i may be a political nerd heard but its, its very interesting to be able to dig into some of these numbers. And tia, our Polling Team really sort of describes this race thats coming down to georgia. And pennsylvania because those are the two places. If the map stays largely the same, if trump wins georgia and pennsylvania, thats the Ball Game for harris. If she can hold michigan and wisconsin and she can win in pennsylvania, shed have to add that little blue. In omaha to get there, but that would get her two to 70. This is a really close race, which of course is a huge change from when Joe Biden was at the top of the ticket what what are these numbers say to you . Yeah i think the change in like a month and a half is just astounding and its proving a lot of the people who, you know that groundswell behind the scenes. And then in front of the scenes to remove Joe Biden, i think a lot of people are feeling vindicated by these poll numbers. I think it does continue to show oh, that georgia is going to be tight and thats why i think harris also has a bigger Ground Game right now in all of the Battleground States. But it does show that in georgia, harris is putting in a lot of work because it is so close and is so tight. But as you mentioned, she does have other pathways yeah. Erin, this was what Donald Trump was on a podcast with Lex Fridman on tuesday talking about how he is approaching this campaign because that of course has been the back the the other half of the story, obviously theres been the changes on the democratic side this sort of Joy Message that the Harris Team has brought to the table. But then how trump is choosing to run in this election. And he was defending himself and his approach. In this podcast, lets watch that. Well talk about it i think you are at your best when youre talking about a positive vision of the future versus criticizing the other side. Yeah i think you have to criticize though. I think i think that nasty they came up with a story that i looked down and i call soldiers had died in World War I. Suckers and losers was a Madeup Story so he says, i think they are nasty. And then there was also this oped from Lindsey Graham in the New York Times where he basically argues Lex Fridman was trying to hand Donald Trump that right. Saying youre at your best when you do it this way. Graham says this farmer worthwhile for mr. Trump is his record of success. The road White House run through a vigorous Policy Debate not an exchange of barbs clearly, that is not how trump is approaching this heading into the debate exactly and former President Trump is trying to project confidence going into this debate, but also, he sort of acknowledging that he has not shifted his approach with harris at the top of the democratic president Ial Ticket and obviously he sort of sharpened his attacks against President Biden for he had several months to sort of refine what he was going to say to try to compete with President Biden when he was at the top of the ticket. And now with harris, there, this is sort of his signal that he is going to be aggressive as weve seen him run in past campaigns. And i expect that during the president ial debate next week, we can expect to see several of the sort of sharp attacks against Kamala Harris unfold of course, tia, the democratic side, right . One of the criticisms of harris has been that she has not necessarily delineated her Policy Views are distinctions from the sitting president in a way that certainly her critics would like to see james carville, longtime democratic strategist, wrote this in an oped to be the certified fresh candidate, Ms Harris was clearly in decisively break from mr. Biden on a set of Policy Priorities she believes would define her presidency. He dont run from your differences with the president. Embrace them respectfully and honestly, how do you look at that advice and what role does that have to play on the Debate Stage next week . Well, i think the Harris Campaign believes that as she traveled across the Nation Weve talked about this being a Vibes Campaign about joy and freedom. And they dont necessarily feel like people on the ground are clamoring for her to get way into the weeds on policy, but thats different than what shes going to have to accomplish. On the Debate Stage. And quite frankly, there will be tens of millions of americans possibly watching the debate. And thats when she is going to have to drill down. She is going to have to be clear about the contrast. Shes also going to have to be clear about her own evolutions just personally on some of these issues like Fracking Or Border their policy. So thats where the Debate Stage, but i think they believe that they, that voters, that theyre trying to make sure turnout for them arent necessarily asking for those specifics they want that broader message so aaron, one of the other themes, of course that were seeing and were we flush this out a little bit in our poll in terms of how men and women are breaking differently in the Gender Gap here is absolutely enormous in pennsylvania men break for trump 55 to 40 . Women go for harris, 53 to 40 2 . It looks similar in wisconsin. Men break for trump 52 to 43 women for harris, 55 to 38 . How do these realities help, help us understand what each of these candidates are doing on the trail. Yeah. As tia mentioned, Vice President harris is sort of trying to invoke this message of joy and optimism. And i think that were also seeing, we saw last week during the Cnn Interview that harris is not really making her gender or her race a centerpiece of her president Ial Campaign when she was specifically asked about some of the offensive comments that former President Trade Trump made about her. She very pointedly said, next question. I think by not saying much about her gender or her Race And Sort of the History Making Nature of what her presidency would be if shes elected in november. She is sort of signaling that she would obviously be a historic candidate. She won, but she is focusing on the Policy Issues and again, these sort of centrist Policy Issues to appeal to a broad range of the electorate. All right. Aaron doherty, tia mitchell. Thank you, guys both very much for being here this morning. I appreciate it. All right. Coming up here on cnn this morning and major Cabinet Reshuffle for volodymyr zelenskyy, ukraines Foreign Minister hundreds his resignation ahead of Zelenskyys Visit to the u. S later this month, plus a former top staffer to the governor of New York charged for allegedly acting as a chinese agent and after a shocking Trump Victory in michigan eight years ago, the state of course, flipped blue in 2020. Were going to dig in to look at what both candidates would need to do to secure that state in 2020 for look, we did something that theyre very angry about. We Beach Somebody that should have been beaten in an election that we werent anticipated to win. But i told were going to win i came, to michigan the night before we had 49,000 people. She came to michigan the night before because she was told she may lose it Kamala Harris, yellow trump, the debate. Everyones been waiting for Follow Cnn for complete coverage and exclusive pre and postdebate analysis. 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And we have prepared personnel decisions but there will also be changes in the office im also counting on a slightly different wait for certain areas of our foreign and domestic policy. Little Bit Dream and Cnns Christiane Amanpour joins us from kyiv with the latest at christianes. So grateful to have you this morning, help us understand this reshuffling. Why now and whats the impact . So the president did a address to the nation Last Night. And as you said, and you saw, he explained that there needs to be a reshuffle with 13 months into this war. Now. And certain ministers have been changed over the last couple of years, including the Defense Minister The New One just in washington to talk to the administration, talked to General Austin as well. And they simply want i think to put a new face on to try to see who can be more powerful and more effective in which different positions the formality i believe the resignations. So everybody has to submit their resignation and either the president and the parliament accepts it or doesnt, or maybe move certain people from one portfolio to another. Its deemed that its considered that dmytro kuleba, who is very well known to the international community, who is the Foreign Minister whos extremely effective messenger for ukraines diplomatic and military posture. And its, and its needs its assumed that he will remain somewhere. We cant be 100 sure. We did talk to him. I did yesterday before this announcement and just after this Massive Attack on poltava but in central ukraine, which ballistic missiles from russia struck a Military Academy and reenergized the administration here, the governments Years Demand and request for anti Missile Defense systems this is what kuleba told me yesterday i actually got myself from poltava region, mike, my father is from there so this geography is very familiar to me. And we had a very detailed briefing and the main takeaway, the main lesson that i want to everyone again to hear about, and we will not get tired of reminding of it. This is just another reason why delivery of Air Defense systems to ukraine must be expedited so kasie, that was yesterday afternoon. And as you mentioned, overnight, yet another ferocious russian barrage of missiles and they really are stepping up the use of ballistic missiles, which are really, really difficult. Theyre very strong, they happen very quickly. You can barely get to shelter by the time the airraid sirens has sounded and you try to do what you can to get to shelter. So thats why they cause a lot of deaths and injury. But i did also speak to other seniors here in kyiv and they do believe that their own system, that general system of production, of selfsufficiency , of really ramping up their own Defense Establishment has to begin in earnest. Im just begun, but it has to continue in earnest as well as trying to get as much weaponry from the united states and other allies. Casey . Yeah, christiane, can i ask you obviously we saw the ukrainians trying to push into russia to put pressure on vladimir putin. Now were seeing these ballistic missiles used. How do you understand the interplay between those two things, and how does what the cranium is want to do on russian Soil Play into what theyre asking the u. S. For during this visit later this month so there is a lot of debate both externally and internally about what was the strategic point of the Kursk Incursion because yes, it is coincided with an uptick of russians pushing into their Frontline Positions since here in the east, threatening a key logistical hub, youve heard the name pokrovsk, right . So thats that plus now weve seen this uptick in this past week of what i call the war of the cities. In other words really going all out all across this country. Now, i asked culebra about it. Theyre very reluctant to associate them on the war of the citys, which is against infrastructure, not just energy infrastructure, but also theyre trying to target Military Infrastructure as well. And klaber says, look, the russians, again, know that winter is Coming Up. Theyve already crippled 50 of our Energy Supplies over the past 30 months, and theyre trying to really take us out over the winter. And this is the terrible thing for morale, for actual practical daily life. Its a very difficult thing in country like this in the location that it is to have such little electricity with there is heat, energy, or whatever over these long dark, Cold Winter month. At the same time we know that the russians, the ukrainians, that theyre trying to figure out how or whether theres any room to maneuver hoover in trying to deescalate what we call the hot phase of this war. And so theres just a lot of negotiating happening on the battlefield essentially. And thats what its all about. As well as the ukrainians still saying that theyre not about to give up any territory. So this meeting in washington associated around the u. N. General assembly meeting its going to be very important because zelenskyy says that hes going to present his fourpoint victory plan. Again, i couldnt get the details out of kuleba yesterday, but well see what it is yeah. No, its a plan thats going to have a lot of relevance once this comes back around and his facing u. S. Congress, as well as something theyve been very much looking for. Christiane amanpour, so grateful to have you on. Thank you so much for being there for us. I appreciate it. And still ahead here on cnn this morning with just 61 days until Election Day, the race, of course, comes down to the wire Coming Up, were going to take a closer look at Swing State of michigan. It is purple, its gone for two different parties in the last two elections plus the song, you will no longer be hearing at trump rallies. Looking into that and our Morning Roundup right. And mikah or take you go to hotels, what if i took on one of the hotels and you did the other one . The other one two
When you sign up to be a new vip of fabletics fabletics. Com . Its wednesday, august 28, right now On Cnn this morning, Donald Trump hit with a reworked indictment in his Election Interference case, thrusting his role alleged role on January 6 back under the microscope ahead of November Tomorrow night right here On Cnn, Kamala Harris and tim Walz Sit for their first joint interview. Its an opportunity for the campaign to address policy stances, predict say they havent taken and the demographics that may sway the election, well speak with a mayor of a pivotal swing States City where the latino population is the Towns Majority all right . Hey, im here in washington. A live look at the Nations Capitol Building on this wednesday morning. Good morning, everyone. Im kasie hunt. Its wonderful to have you with us Donald Trump indicted once again, the Special Counsel, Jack Smith, forging ahead with a Superseding Indictment in the 2020 Trump Election Interference case. Despite last march, last month, landmark supreme Court Ruling granting trump partial immunity for official acts. The new indictment is a slimmeddown version of the original but prosecutors have not dropped any of the four charges that were initially brought against the former president its extremely unlikely this case goes to trial before november, but it does put trumps alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 Election Back in the spotlight as the race for the White House enters its final months. Trump naturally calling the new indictment a Witch Hunt and accusing the Special Counsel of Election Interference in a post on social media. Trumps Running Mate, j. D. Vance, also underscored trumps message. This is what he had to say i havent read the whole thing, but it looks like Jack Smith doing more what he does, which is filing these lawsuits in an effort to influence the election. I think its clearly an effort to try to do more Election Interference. From Jack Smith. He should be ashamed of himself and its one of the reasons why we have to win, because he should not be anywhere near power joining me now cnn legal analyst, criminal defense attorney, joey jackson. Joey. Good morning to you at lets dig into first why this is playing out this way. Its of course because of that Supreme Court Immunity Ruling with the distinction between public and private acts, but help us understand it yeah, without question, kasie, listen, this indictment. Good morning to you. Is lean but mean and i say that because of the fact that it has the essence of the prior indictment in terms of the charges, not the essence. It does have the charges, those four charges relating to defrauding media United States Obstructing an official proceeding seeding. And of course, in impairing the ability to vote to others. And so what they did in terms of understanding is they simply decided that his Jack Smith and his team that they were going to have an indictment that comported what the supreme Court Ruling that you noted. And how does it do that . Well, if you cannot really do anything in terms of the official acts, you have to make it clear that these are unofficial acts of the president. It refers to him as a candidate for the united states. It would draw as the issues thereby making his conduct or really styling his conduct as it relates to private activity. It takes out issues relating to his use of the Justice Department really to conduct these sham investigations into otherwise as Pressure State electors. Why . Because the Supreme Court said that was a nono in the event that youre engaging with your department of justice, thats an official act. Cant use that takes out references to conversations with his Chief Of Staff and other aides, et cetera. And so what it does in its essence at the end of the day is making comport, right . Arguably, i say arguably because of course it will be challenged by Trumps Team and it should be, right. This is a process, but i think what this indictment does in keeping the other four charges, kasie, that it originally had was really attempt to suggest that this was Candidate Trump engaged in activities. The interesting thing though, thats key ben, the issues relating to the Vice President. Now thatll be subject of some contention because they said that is the Supreme Court, that those conversations and those interactions should be presumptively immune. However, prosecutors could rebut that presumption by demonstrating that it was outside. That is the activity the realm of the president s official acts acts, and boarded into private activity. So i think the indictment yes, its paired down. Yes, it looks a little different, but its still very strong. So joey, i want to ask you about one of the lines of criticism republicans are leveling at this, which theyre insisting that it violates what is, what is the socalled 60 Day Rule . Now this surfaced in a Doj Inspector general report. This is not a written down policy, but it is the way that they follow the rules here it says that prosecutors avoid public disclosure of investigative steps related to electoral matters or the return of indictments against a candidate for office within 60 days of a primary or a general election. The inspector generals report says that Highranking Department and fbi officials acknowledged the existence of this general practice that informs department decisions. Obviously, this was really on display in 2016 when Jim Comey was investigating Hillary Clinton and since use of private email we are more than 60 days barely, but we are more than 60 days from Election Day still, the trump folks are out there arguing that early voting is set to start in much less than 60 days, and that, that should impact the decision making here, theres also the wrinkle that this is not an original indictments, a superseding one. How do you view this potential conflict so a few ways in terms of a Superseding Indictment. First of all, It Indictment is merely an Accusation Members of a Grand Jury get together a Grand Juries of body of individuals, right . And those individuals do not decide guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. They decide Theres Reason to believe that a crime was committed and Donald Trump, are at this and since committed it, emir accusation, it doesnt take them, it doesnt take a unanimous Grand Jury. It takes of course, a majority of the Grand Jury. And so in terms of that, id say the Jack Smith if has an absolute obligation as a Special Prosecutor to do his job. Thats Number One. Number two, the election of course itself, even though theres early voting is more than 60 days away. So they want to comport with that. Number three, they would directed to engage in this activity because of the Supreme Courts finding this is not something that they decided were going to just two against the president. They attempted to do at former president , they attempted to do it before the Supreme Court and its Immunity Ruling on july 1st, said they were deficiencies and so they came back in an effort to comply with those deficiencies. Hes in finally, kasie, they did so because Judge Chutkan has an obligation. Shes the judge presiding over this to make decisions and so this is not something that was done out of the blue. It comports with legal process and again, the indictment being not youre guilty, but an accusation he had to respond to and it would be a complete abdication of the Special Counsel well, had they done nothing so i think its certainly legally proper and appropriate interesting. All right. Joey jackson starting us off this morning. Joey, always grateful to have you on the show. Thanks for being here thanks, kasie all right. Coming up On Cnn this morning, Gaza Ceasefire talks back on today in doha, coming directly on the heels of a rescue of an israeli hostage and an escalation in the West Bank will dig into it all plus Donald Trump made some inroads with latino voters in 2020. Were going to speak with the majority of the mayor of imagery what do you were tino Pennsylvania Town about who might win those voters over and after weeks of criticism of for avoiding hard questions Kamala Harris will sit down with cnn for her first interview since becoming the democratic nominee you are interviewing me, dana, because ive respect the american people enough to sit down for him i appreciate that. Harris has been the nominee for three weeks. She hasnt sat down for real. We are thursday, the most anticipated interview of this election Kamala Harris and tim Walz Sit down with Dana Bash for the first interview. Harris and walz a cnn exclusive Thursday Night at nine did you know taking xyz all at Night Release allergies while you sleep . So you wake refreshed for more productive day get 24 hour continuous relief that does not fade. Hawaiis all. Take Xyz Off At Night its usually pretty easy to spot the difference between an average was work and are professionals. 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Do not wait texts, mail, mail to 69, 069 Today Morgan Stanley is partnering but the Womens Tennis Association to remove ban curious because this game is for everyone the lead with Jake Tapper Today at four On Cnn developing, story right now in the middle east, hamas is calling for a general mobilization and a Quote Escalation of confrontation and quote, after israel launched a major Military Operation overnight in the occupied West Bank palestinian health authorities say at least nine people have been killed. Israel is describing it as a counterterrorism operation. In the meantime, Gaza Ceasefire and Hostage Release talks are resuming today in doha and israeli delegation will be joining negotiators from the u. S. Egypt and qatar the talks come just after the rescue of 52yearold israeli hostage, farhan alqadi he is the eighth hostage to be rescued alive in gaza by israel and the first to be recovered from Inside Hamas is elaborate Tunnel Network under gaza his family elated to hear hes alive I Cant explain these feelings. Its better than being born again god bless. We say thank you to everyone. And we hope farhan is good and healthy. Were very happy. Were very happy, were getting this news all right, Cnns Max Foster joins us live now from london. Im max. Good morning to you. Obviously a joyous reunion there for that family. But of course, this taking place against a backdrop of a continuing islands and the Peace Talks resuming. I lets talk about how the especially the attack and whats going on in the West Bank right now, may interact with these ceasefire negotiations. Whats happening there, and how do you see this playing out over the course of the day . Well have of course been israeli incursions into the West Bank in the past, this feels like a much bigger one. And the big question everyones asking is, where does it go from here . How much of an escalation is this . Because if we have a situation where the war against hamas is moving beyond gaza and into the West Bank. And a major way, the parameters of this war have changed then it clearly has a big impact othe pee talk because the parameters of Peace Talks change. Weve had some very strong rds coming from Thpalestn Authority which is in control the West Bank, whilst hamas is controlling gaa very song words coming from the Reign Ministry there saying there will be repercussions from this so this changes the dynamics of the war. If it is indeed an indicator about of a wider effort by israel to expand the operation into the West Bank, where there are other groups dominant as well, islamic jihad, for example, as well. So it changes a Piece Sale because it changes who they negotiate with and what the Peace Deals about and max on the hostage rescue, we saw that that happy Family Members there, but there are still 100 plus people we believe being held in gaza right now. And of course this putting a lot of pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu at home in israel to get some sort of deal here he doesnt seem to be bowing to it though what a Peace Deal is so complex and this was a remarkable moment, of course, for the families you described what it must be like for him and them being locked away for all of those months. The israeli saying its very complex operation. But theyre not giving much detail. I think was really interesting is what were seeing in parts of the israeli media just saying that he was on his own, that he somehow managed to evade his captors within the tunnel and then he was discovered by the israeli forces. Did he manage to escape his captors because of the operation or did he just managed to escape the captors . So a pretty remarkable story, theyre in a really hopeful one, but obviously hes making the point as everyone else is that there are still many more hostages there so this is, of course, central, 20 sort of Peace Deal as well. Be a priority for netanyahu throughout has been to not just destroy hamas, but its good the hostages out and its a good sign for him that hes managed to get one out, but there are still many left and others of course have very sadly died since of course. Alright, Max Foster for us this morning, max always grateful to have you. Thank you so much for being here all right. Coming up after the break On Cnn this morning with just a couple of months to go until the election how this new Superseding Indictment could impact your chances of winning back the white House Plus Football stars and brothers, the Duo Travis and jason and kelce, reaching new heights, how theyre cashing in with a new podcast deal, wouldnt have that and more coming up in the Morning Roundup but Jello Amelia Earhart be a practical joke so travelers belong in the History Books in practical jokers, all new Thursdays Attack on tbs set your dvr allergies with a leg room. They wont stop me. Thats because nothing its a Leg Up for the fastest non drowsy 24 Hour Allergy Relief shoes, Ally Ground time do press rewind with neutrogena rapid wrinkle repair. It has durham proven retinol expertly formulated to targets and Cell Turnover and fight not one, but five signs of aging. 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Honestly, someone get a helmet on this guy. Get a free unlimited line for a year when you buy one unlimited line. Plus, get up to 800 off Google Pixel 9 phones. Switch today about the Bosley Guarantee. Im Jim Sciutto in the Golan Heights and this is cnn all right. 21 minutes past the hour. Heres your Morning Round up. At t working to address a Software Issue impacting its wireless network. The Company Reporting that some customers numbers are having trouble connecting, but its not a nationwide issue the way it again, for the second time, spacex scrubbing plans to launch the Polaris Dawn Mission this time because of weather yesterday, takeoff was called off off to do a helium leak. The weather is not expected to clear up tonight or tomorrow. So now its unclear when they may launch. And this is even close. Hannah, Minnesota Vikings was nobody pretty on twitter, just another beat for the u. S. Still market Travis And Jason kelce, the brothers, Nfl Super Bowl champs and now super successful podcasters, the duos new heights podcast well, it just signed with amazon fo
Late teens. He writes that that as well as how he balanced governing with being a dad. We join him in chicago in a high school where he was visiting with a group of young men who were part of my brothers keeper to talk about their lives and the challenges they face. Are you going back to Community Organizing . Well, probably im a little too old and gray haired to be going door to door like i used to be. Plus Secret Service follows me around which is pretty disruptive. I am going back to what inspired me to get into public life. One of the thing that inspires former president barack obama these days are meetings like this one. Hey, people. Hey, hey. Its called a bam circle, bam stands for becoming a man. A program started in chicago in 2001 to mentor and support boys and young men. How is everybody doing . The idea is to create a place for them to safely and honestly share struggles and successes, issues at home, in school or on the streets. President obama first joined a Bam Circle Back in 2013. Thats when he met High School Students james adams, Lazarus Daniels and christian champagne. Today, in the same classroom they sat in eight years ago at the high park park, high school on the south side of the chicago, mr. Obama is catching up with them again. James and lazerus is 25. Christian is 25. He said talking with the president back then was Life Changing. So crazy. That first period that i went to class, it was like im fixing to meet the president on my lunch. That was the most unconceivable thing you could possibly think of, and then my heart was like racing like when we was just sitting down and he walked in like it changed the trajectory of my life dramatically. That meeting had a big impact on president obama, as well. One of the things that led him to launch an initiative called my brothers keeper which he announced at the white house in 2014. Christian, lazerus and james were there. That was your first time in d. C. My first plane ride and that was really my first time being out of my neighborhood. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Christian champagne was 18 years old at the time. He sad down with us and shared his story and to my surprise, he was just like me growing up without a father and sometimes not too concerned with school. [ laughter ] okay. Thats pretty nice that this is a black president grew up without a father. Some of the guys grew up without a father is relatable. Its not just he had it made from jump and hes a president. Its i can relate to him. Mr. Obama has been candid about the struggles of his youth and hopes sharing his story will inspire other kids to believe they, too, can establish great things. I made bad choices. I got high without always thinking about the harm it could do. You say you were a lackadaisical student of limited talent and dedicated partier. No Student Government for me, eagle scouts or interning at the congressmans office. I have to be careful not to overstate. I was not, you know, going around, you know, beating kids up. I get it. And, you know, setting things on fire but i understood what it meant to not have a father in the house. I understood what it meant to be in an environment in which you were an outsider. In hawaii, one difference between me and these young men was there werent a lot of black people generally at the time, and you also were growing up before that in indonesia as an outsider. Also an outsider in indonesia. So there was mixed in with the teenage hormones and just the usual stuff that teens go through, that sense of whats my place . And how do i raise myself to be a man . And what does that entail . Responsibilities are there . What obligations do i have . When i try to record in the book is the sense in which in part the values that my mother and grandparents instilled in me, even if i wasnt always following them when i was a teenager led me to the realization around 20, a little later than some of these guys that to be a full grown man meant not acting out, not being cynical but taking on responsibilities not just for yourself but the world around you. Helping boys and young men become full grown men is what bam is all about and the Obama Foundation supports bam programs in several cities through the my brothers keeper alliance. Do you think you would have benefitted from having this as a teenager . Im sure i could have. When we came here, three of the guys here were still in school at the time and we had a chance to have a conversation and part of what i shared with them was and i think this surprised some of the guys, was my life wasnt that different than yours. I wasnt that different from you. The main difference was i was growing up in a gentler environment. In hawaii. In hawaii. So, you know, the violence and drugs and some of the issues that the guys were dealing with day to day were different. But the mistakes i made, the struggles i was going through were similar, and i think that it would have been useful for me at that time to have just a circle in which you can talk and i think that, you know, one of the things we all learned from a pandemic is that Human Connection matters. That were not all by ourselves and we dont accomplish most of the things we accomplish by ourselves. It requires a community. And i think particularly for boys and men of color, many of whom grow up without fathers but many of whom also live in relative isolation where the communities because of safety issues or Economic Issues folks dont have as many resources around them it becomes that much more critical to be able to have someplace where you can come and just say listen, im struggling with this or, you know, im confused about that or, you know, these are the kinds of pressures im dealing with and have somebody who either is their peer or somebody older that can say yeah, man, thats something i went through, also. Im struggling with this, too. This is something im confused about and being able to talk it through. President obama says he found his purpose and ambition in life through community service, and eventually a career in politics becoming a father to daughter sasha and malia gave him the chance to be the father he never had. James and lazarus are fathers now as well. We were talking before, the three of you guys were in the program. You were in the school. Now you guys have moved on. Two of you are now fathers. Yes, sir. And both of you have daughters. Yes, proud. So, you know, anderson here, hes a new father. How old is wyatt now . Just turned 1. Just turned 1. So hes still in diaper changing mode. Other than changing diapers, how is that changed your perspective and how do you think about it because look, meeting the president. Thats cool. But its not Life Changing in the same way that being a parent is. Before having a daughter, like, i was able to make stupid decisions, but now that i have a daughter, i have to think about her. I have to think about her mother, her sister because now im the man of the house, and everything that i do is pretty much revolved around her. So i want to be that father thats always there. I want to be the one that you come home from school to that brightens up your day. Anything you need, you can always come to me. I didnt have that growing up. I didnt have a father. It was one point in time i didnt see my father for, like, ten years so i want to be there for her for everything. Fantastic. How about you . Being a father is amazing to me. My baby girl got a great big smile, full of energy, full of life, full of joy. I was fortunate to have my father and mother together. One thing bam helped me out with is being able to speak on things because i wasnt able to talk to my father because he was strictly business. He was old school. President obama checked in on him over the years since they met more than his own father has. Whats going on, man . You all right . Yeah . Things going all right . Finish strong like you were supposed to . Yeah, i do. I know experience, excellence is possible and i need to strive for that. Although, sports are important to me, i focus on my gpa and will get it back to a 3. 8. [ applause ] what has your life been like since that meeting . You went to morehouse . Yeah, i went to morehouse, well, for like a semester and then i realized i couldnt pay for it so i had to come back home and start over and go to western, work through that, got a Couple Internships and landed a job thats a career job now but before i wasnt even really thinking about going to college to be honest because i was always worried about can i pay for it . Would i be accepted . You know. I think after the first visit you may hear, i worked a little harder on my grades. You know, i stopped playing around. I was like maybe i could do something else. Maybe i could go to college. When you sit in a circle like that, you know, the obstacles these kids are facing and able to overcome is really extraordinary. Yeah, you know, the first time i sat down with these guys, the most important thing for me to communicate at that time and i was the president of the United States was you guys in many ways are ahead of me of where i was at your age. I just had certain advantages you guys dont. I could make a mistake and land on my feet. But even christian is 25. His single mom i think you have five or sixth brothers and sisters, family of six. You know, he got into morehouse, had to drop out because of money. Went to another school, had to drop out because he got ill. Now hes working hoping to go back to school. Its not a question of not working hard enough or, you know, being motivated enough. And that is where sort of for me, my personal Journey Intersected with this broader question of how are we setting up a society so young men like that can succeed or not succeed and thats what led me to the outside of chicago. Thats what led me to be an organizer is that sense that look, when i walk down the street of the south side of chicago, i see young people and they look and remind me of me or michelle and a combination of circumstance allowed us to succeed, but these kids are just as talented. Theyre just as smart. They could achieve just as much if weve got an education system, a social safety net, Job Opportunities that expose them and give them a chance and, you know, i think that the single most important thing i learned as an organizer here in chicago was that, you know, the line between success or failure in this society so often is dictated not by anybodys inherent merits but the circumstances theyre in. That doesnt mean they dont have individual responsibility. These young men you recognize i have to work hard and do my part but it also means we as a society continue to fail them. Also, how stacked the deck is against so many people in our society from even before they are born. Yes. I heard i was reading the speech you gave awhile back, a figure i never heard before by the age of 3 if you grew up in a low income family, you heard 30 million fewer words than a well off family. Which means by the time you show up in first grade, youre already significantly behind. The good news is it turns out as youre learning as a parent, kids are amazingly resilient and they can catch up, but it also means that we have to make investments to ensure they catch up. The other thing, i mean, i leave that Room Thinking how many other kids arent in that room . One of the things we really liked about this program becoming a man was they didnt focus on the superstar, right . That they deliberately target not the kids who are either in the most trouble or are either most successful in defying the odds but the kids who are right there sort of in the middle that can tip in either direction that if they get an encouraging adult, if they are able to as lazarus was expressing, if they can find words to tell their story and talk out, they can succeed and thats part of what i think made this conversation wonderful is yeah, these kids arent like sort of one in a million. This is what you just heard was young black men all across this country. Thats who they are. Its not the stereo type. These are not prodigies. They are brimming with potential. If we have a society thats afraid of them, we need to listen and hear them because theyre no different than you or i in so many ways except for the opportunities they have or dont have. Mr. Obama will be writing another book about his final years in the white house and what happened after, but in a promise land the president writes about the beginnings of the changes he witnessed in the Republican Party when john mccain selected sarah palin to his running mate. Dark spirits lurking on the edges of the Republican Party coming center stage. Did you ever think it would get this dark . [sfx revving trucks] Pilot Over Radio here we go, lets do this. Pilot over radio right there, right there. [sfx revving trucks] Pilot Over Radio g complete. How do you introduce the largerthanlife gmc yukon . With the worlds biggest tweet. The next generation gmc yukon. Premium thats made to be used. 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Its been more than four years since the obamas left the white house and a moment the former president describes as bittersweet in his book. Hello, everybody. Partly because they were leaving and partly because of what he thought might happen to the country. You wrote about sarah palin. You wrote about dark spirits and had long been lurking on the edge of the Republican Party coming center stage. Did you ever thing it would get this dark . No, i thought there were guard rails institutionally after trump was elected that you would have the socalled republican establishment who would say okay, you know, its a problem if the white house isnt doesnt seem to be concerned about russian meddling or its a problem if we have a president who is saying that, you know, neonazis marching in charlottesville, there are good people on both sides. Thats a little beyond the pale. And the degree to which we did not see that republican establishment say hold on timeout, thats not acceptable. Thats not who we are but be cowed into accepting it and january 6th what originally was dont worry, this isnt going anywhere, were just letting trump and others vent and then suddenly you now have large portions of an elected Congress Going along with the falsehood that there were problems with the election. And the leadership of the gop briefly for, you know, one night when they still had this sort of scent of fear in them going against the president then poof. Suddenly, everybody was back in line. What the reason for that is because the base believed it. The base believed it because this had been told to them not just by the president but by the media that they watch and nobody stood up and said stop. This is enough. This is not true. I wont say nobody, let me correct it. There were some very brave people who did their jobs like the Secretary Of State in georgia who was then viciously attacked for it and all these congressman said you know what . Ill lose my job. Ill get voted out of office. Another way of saying this is i didnt expect that there would be so few people who would say well, i dont mind losing my office because this is too important. America is too important. Some things are more important our democracy is more important. We didnt see that. Now, you know, im still the Hope And Change guy and so my hope is that the tides will turn but that does require each of us to understand that this experiment in democracy is not selfexecuting. It doesnt happen automatically. These values and trues we hold selfevident, this is important. Were going to sacrifice for it and stand up for it even when its not politically convenient. You write we need to explain to each other who we are and where were going. As somebody who has dedicated myself to Story Telling that resonates with me. Are we as a country still willing to listen to each others stories . This is the biggest challenge we have is that we dont have the kinds of shared stories we used to. There has always been a division along the lines of race. We have 400 years of whites and blacks not being able to have shared experiences because of slavery and segregation and so forth but within the white community, the stories of kids growing up in manhattan and the stories of kidding grows up in abilene, texas and the stories of the kid who is growing up in montana, those stories no longer meet, partly because of the segment, the siloing of the media, the internet, entertainment. We occupy different worlds and it becomes that much more difficult for us to hear each other, see each other. The thing i learned first as an organizer and then as an elected official as a politician was when you start hearing peoples stories, you always find a thread of your own story in somebody else. And the minute that recognition happens, thats the basis for a community. It seems like something has changed so that its become so extreme that were not even allowing ourselves to get into a position where we can see that commonality. I heard in the past you talk about when you were starting out in politics, you go to Southern Illinois to very conservative districts. They gave me a hearing. Yeah. I think thats changed. Part of it is the nationalization of media, the nationalization of politics. The fact is that you used to have a bunch of local newspapers and tv stations. People werent having highly ideological debates but focused on what is happening day to day and part of it is the structure of the economy and community. It used to be a high school, the average high school in america, the average public high school, you would have the bankers kid and janitors kid in the same school and they would interact and their parents would be going to the same Football Game and would have to know each other and if it turned out there was a talented kid of a janitor who also happened to be on the football team, the banker president might say hey, why dont you come work at the bank here because he knew that person. Now, we have more economic stratification and you have the media, not just Walter Cronkite but 1,000 different venues. That contributed to the sense that we dont have anything in common so so much work is going to have to involve not just policy but its also how do we create institutions and occasions in which we can come together and have a conversation . In promise land you say democracy seems to be teetering. The big lie pushed by not only the former president but republicans in congress. Are we still just teetering on the brink or in crisis . Well, i think we have to worry when one of our Major Political parties is willing to embrace a way of thinking about our democracy that would be unrecognizable and unacceptable even five years ago or a decade ago. When you look at some of the laws that are being passed at the state legislative level where legislators are basically saying were going to take away the certification of election processes from civil servants, secretaries of state,
Late teens. He writes that that as well as how he balanced governing with being a dad. We join him in chicago in a high school where he was visiting with a group of young men who were part of my brothers keeper to talk about their lives and the challenges they face. Are you going back to Community Organizing . Well, probably im a little too old and gray haired to be going door to door like i used to be. Plus Secret Service follows me around which is pretty disruptive. I am going back to what inspired me to get into public life. One of the thing that inspires former president barack obama these days are meetings like this one. Hey, people. Hey, hey. Its called a bam circle, bam stands for becoming a man. A program started in chicago in 2001 to mentor and support boys and young men. How is everybody doing . The idea is to create a place for them to safely and honestly share struggles and successes, issues at home, in school or on the streets. President obama first joined a Bam Circle Back in 2013. Thats when he met High School Students james adams, Lazarus Daniels and christian champagne. Today, in the same classroom they sat in eight years ago at the high park park, high school on the south side of the chicago, mr. Obama is catching up with them again. James and lazerus is 25. Christian is 25. He said talking with the president back then was Life Changing. So crazy. That first period that i went to class, it was like im fixing to meet the president on my lunch. That was the most unconceivable thing you could possibly think of, and then my heart was like racing like when we was just sitting down and he walked in like it changed the trajectory of my life dramatically. That meeting had a big impact on president obama, as well. One of the things that led him to launch an initiative called my brothers keeper which he announced at the white house in 2014. Christian, lazerus and james were there. That was your first time in d. C. My first plane ride and that was really my first time being out of my neighborhood. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Christian champagne was 18 years old at the time. He sad down with us and shared his story and to my surprise, he was just like me growing up without a father and sometimes not too concerned with school. [ laughter ] okay. Thats pretty nice that this is a black president grew up without a father. Some of the guys grew up without a father is relatable. Its not just he had it made from jump and hes a president. Its i can relate to him. Mr. Obama has been candid about the struggles of his youth and hopes sharing his story will inspire other kids to believe they, too, can establish great things. I made bad choices. I got high without always thinking about the harm it could do. You say you were a lackadaisical student of limited talent and dedicated partier. No Student Government for me, eagle scouts or interning at the congressmans office. I have to be careful not to overstate. I was not, you know, going around, you know, beating kids up. I get it. And, you know, setting things on fire but i understood what it meant to not have a father in the house. I understood what it meant to be in an environment in which you were an outsider. In hawaii, one difference between me and these young men was there werent a lot of black people generally at the time, and you also were growing up before that in indonesia as an outsider. Also an outsider in indonesia. So there was mixed in with the teenage hormones and just the usual stuff that teens go through, that sense of whats my place . And how do i raise myself to be a man . And what does that entail . Responsibilities are there . What obligations do i have . When i try to record in the book is the sense in which in part the values that my mother and grandparents instilled in me, even if i wasnt always following them when i was a teenager led me to the realization around 20, a little later than some of these guys that to be a full grown man meant not acting out, not being cynical but taking on responsibilities not just for yourself but the world around you. Helping boys and young men become full grown men is what bam is all about and the Obama Foundation supports bam programs in several cities through the my brothers keeper alliance. Do you think you would have benefitted from having this as a teenager . Im sure i could have. When we came here, three of the guys here were still in school at the time and we had a chance to have a conversation and part of what i shared with them was and i think this surprised some of the guys, was my life wasnt that different than yours. I wasnt that different from you. The main difference was i was growing up in a gentler environment. In hawaii. In hawaii. So, you know, the violence and drugs and some of the issues that the guys were dealing with day to day were different. But the mistakes i made, the struggles i was going through were similar, and i think that it would have been useful for me at that time to have just a circle in which you can talk and i think that, you know, one of the things we all learned from a pandemic is that Human Connection matters. That were not all by ourselves and we dont accomplish most of the things we accomplish by ourselves. It requires a community. And i think particularly for boys and men of color, many of whom grow up without fathers but many of whom also live in relative isolation where the communities because of safety issues or Economic Issues folks dont have as many resources around them it becomes that much more critical to be able to have someplace where you can come and just say listen, im struggling with this or, you know, im confused about that or, you know, these are the kinds of pressures im dealing with and have somebody who either is their peer or somebody older that can say yeah, man, thats something i went through, also. Im struggling with this, too. This is something im confused about and being able to talk it through. President obama says he found his purpose and ambition in life through community service, and eventually a career in politics becoming a father to daughter sasha and malia gave him the chance to be the father he never had. James and lazarus are fathers now as well. We were talking before, the three of you guys were in the program. You were in the school. Now you guys have moved on. Two of you are now fathers. Yes, sir. And both of you have daughters. Yes, proud. So, you know, anderson here, hes a new father. How old is wyatt now . Just turned 1. Just turned 1. So hes still in diaper changing mode. Other than changing diapers, how is that changed your perspective and how do you think about it because look, meeting the president. Thats cool. But its not Life Changing in the same way that being a parent is. Before having a daughter, like, i was able to make stupid decisions, but now that i have a daughter, i have to think about her. I have to think about her mother, her sister because now im the man of the house, and everything that i do is pretty much revolved around her. So i want to be that father thats always there. I want to be the one that you come home from school to that brightens up your day. Anything you need, you can always come to me. I didnt have that growing up. I didnt have a father. It was one point in time i didnt see my father for, like, ten years so i want to be there for her for everything. Fantastic. How about you . Being a father is amazing to me. My baby girl got a great big smile, full of energy, full of life, full of joy. I was fortunate to have my father and mother together. One thing bam helped me out with is being able to speak on things because i wasnt able to talk to my father because he was strictly business. He was old school. President obama checked in on him over the years since they met more than his own father has. Whats going on, man . You all right . Yeah . Things going all right . Finish strong like you were supposed to . Yeah, i do. I know experience, excellence is possible and i need to strive for that. Although, sports are important to me, i focus on my gpa and will get it back to a 3. 8. [ applause ] what has your life been like since that meeting . You went to morehouse . Yeah, i went to morehouse, well, for like a semester and then i realized i couldnt pay for it so i had to come back home and start over and go to western, work through that, got a Couple Internships and landed a job thats a career job now but before i wasnt even really thinking about going to college to be honest because i was always worried about can i pay for it . Would i be accepted . You know. I think after the first visit you may hear, i worked a little harder on my grades. You know, i stopped playing around. I was like maybe i could do something else. Maybe i could go to college. When you sit in a circle like that, you know, the obstacles these kids are facing and able to overcome is really extraordinary. Yeah, you know, the first time i sat down with these guys, the most important thing for me to communicate at that time and i was the president of the United States was you guys in many ways are ahead of me of where i was at your age. I just had certain advantages you guys dont. I could make a mistake and land on my feet. But even christian is 25. His single mom i think you have five or sixth brothers and sisters, family of six. You know, he got into morehouse, had to drop out because of money. Went to another school, had to drop out because he got ill. Now hes working hoping to go back to school. Its not a question of not working hard enough or, you know, being motivated enough. And that is where sort of for me, my personal Journey Intersected with this broader question of how are we setting up a society so young men like that can succeed or not succeed and thats what led me to the outside of chicago. Thats what led me to be an organizer is that sense that look, when i walk down the street of the south side of chicago, i see young people and they look and remind me of me or michelle and a combination of circumstance allowed us to succeed, but these kids are just as talented. Theyre just as smart. They could achieve just as much if weve got an education system, a social safety net, Job Opportunities that expose them and give them a chance and, you know, i think that the single most important thing i learned as an organizer here in chicago was that, you know, the line between success or failure in this society so often is dictated not by anybodys inherent merits but the circumstances theyre in. That doesnt mean they dont have individual responsibility. These young men you recognize i have to work hard and do my part but it also means we as a society continue to fail them. Also, how stacked the deck is against so many people in our society from even before they are born. Yes. I heard i was reading the speech you gave awhile back, a figure i never heard before by the age of 3 if you grew up in a low income family, you heard 30 million fewer words than a well off family. Which means by the time you show up in first grade, youre already significantly behind. The good news is it turns out as youre learning as a parent, kids are amazingly resilient and they can catch up, but it also means that we have to make investments to ensure they catch up. The other thing, i mean, i leave that Room Thinking how many other kids arent in that room . One of the things we really liked about this program becoming a man was they didnt focus on the superstar, right . That they deliberately target not the kids who are either in the most trouble or are either most successful in defying the odds but the kids who are right there sort of in the middle that can tip in either direction that if they get an encouraging adult, if they are able to as lazarus was expressing, if they can find words to tell their story and talk out, they can succeed and thats part of what i think made this conversation wonderful is yeah, these kids arent like sort of one in a million. This is what you just heard was young black men all across this country. Thats who they are. Its not the stereo type. These are not prodigies. They are brimming with potential. If we have a society thats afraid of them, we need to listen and hear them because theyre no different than you or i in so many ways except for the opportunities they have or dont have. Mr. Obama will be writing another book about his final years in the white house and what happened after, but in a promise land the president writes about the beginnings of the changes he witnessed in the Republican Party when john mccain selected sarah palin to his running mate. Dark spirits lurking on the edges of the Republican Party coming center stage. Did you ever think it would get this dark . [sfx revving trucks] Pilot Over Radio here we go, lets do this. Pilot over radio right there, right there. [sfx revving trucks] Pilot Over Radio g complete. How do you introduce the largerthanlife gmc yukon . With the worlds biggest tweet. The next generation gmc yukon. Premium thats made to be used. This is the greatest idea youll ever hear. Okay, its an app that compares Hundreds Of Travel Sites for hotels and cars and Vacation Rentals like kayak does for flights. So its kayak. Yeah, like kayak. Why dont you just call it kayak. Im calling it. Canoe. Compare Hundreds Of Travel Sites for thousands of trips. Kayak. Search one and done. Another day, another chance. C it could be the day youl sit break the sales record,s. Or the day theres appointments nonstop. With comcast business, you get the network that can deliver gig speeds to the most businesses, and you can get the advanced Cybersecurity Solutions you need with comcast business securityedge. Every day in business is a big day. Well keep you ready for whats next. Get started with a great offer, and ask how you can add comcast business securityedge. Plus, for a limited time, ask how to get a 500 prepaid card when you upgrade. Call today. Its been more than four years since the obamas left the white house and a moment the former president describes as bittersweet in his book. Hello, everybody. Partly because they were leaving and partly because of what he thought might happen to the country. You wrote about sarah palin. You wrote about dark spirits and had long been lurking on the edge of the Republican Party coming center stage. Did you ever thing it would get this dark . No, i thought there were guard rails institutionally after trump was elected that you would have the socalled republican establishment who would say okay, you know, its a problem if the white house isnt doesnt seem to be concerned about russian meddling or its a problem if we have a president who is saying that, you know, neonazis marching in charlottesville, there are good people on both sides. Thats a little beyond the pale. And the degree to which we did not see that republican establishment say hold on timeout, thats not acceptable. Thats not who we are but be cowed into accepting it and january 6th what originally was dont worry, this isnt going anywhere, were just letting trump and others vent and then suddenly you now have large portions of an elected Congress Going along with the falsehood that there were problems with the election. And the leadership of the gop briefly for, you know, one night when they still had this sort of scent of fear in them going against the president then poof. Suddenly, everybody was back in line. What the reason for that is because the base believed it. The base believed it because this had been told to them not just by the president but by the media that they watch and nobody stood up and said stop. This is enough. This is not true. I wont say nobody, let me correct it. There were some very brave people who did their jobs like the Secretary Of State in georgia who was then viciously attacked for it and all these congressman said you know what . Ill lose my job. Ill get voted out of office. Another way of saying this is i didnt expect that there would be so few people who would say well, i dont mind losing my office because this is too important. America is too important. Some things are more important our democracy is more important. We didnt see that. Now, you know, im still the Hope And Change guy and so my hope is that the tides will turn but that does require each of us to understand that this experiment in democracy is not selfexecuting. It doesnt happen automatically. These values and trues we hold selfevident, this is important. Were going to sacrifice for it and stand up for it even when its not politically convenient. You write we need to explain to each other who we are and where were going. As somebody who has dedicated myself to Story Telling that resonates with me. Are we as a country still willing to listen to each others stories . This is the biggest challenge we have is that we dont have the kinds of shared stories we used to. There has always been a division along the lines of race. We have 400 years of whites and blacks not being able to have shared experiences because of slavery and segregation and so forth but within the white community, the stories of kids growing up in manhattan and the stories of kidding grows up in abilene, texas and the stories of the kid who is growing up in montana, those stories no longer meet, partly because of the segment, the siloing of the media, the internet, entertainment. We occupy different worlds and it becomes that much more difficult for us to hear each other, see each other. The thing i learned first as an organizer and then as an elected official as a politician was when you start hearing peoples stories, you always find a thread of your own story in somebody else. And the minute that recognition happens, thats the basis for a community. It seems like something has changed so that its become so extreme that were not even allowing ourselves to get into a position where we can see that commonality. I heard in the past you talk about when you were starting out in politics, you go to Southern Illinois to very conservative districts. They gave me a hearing. Yeah. I think thats changed. Part of it is the nationalization of media, the nationalization of politics. The fact is that you used to have a bunch of local newspapers and tv stations. People werent having highly ideological debates but focused on what is happening day to day and part of it is the structure of the economy and community. It used to be a high school, the average high school in america, the average public high school, you would have the bankers kid and janitors kid in the same school and they would interact and their parents would be going to the same Football Game and would have to know each other and if it turned out there was a talented kid of a janitor who also happened to be on the football team, the banker president might say hey, why dont you come work at the bank here because he knew that person. Now, we have more economic stratification and you have the media, not just Walter Cronkite but 1,000 different venues. That contributed to the sense that we dont have anything in common so so much work is going to have to involve not just policy but its also how do we create institutions and occasions in which we can come together and have a conversation . In promise land you say democracy seems to be teetering. The big lie pushed by not only the former president but republicans in congress. Are we still just teetering on the brink or in crisis . Well, i think we have to worry when one of our Major Political parties is willing to embrace a way of thinking about our democracy that would be unrecognizable and unacceptable even five years ago or a decade ago. When you look at some of the laws that are being passed at the state legislative level where legislators are basically saying were going to take away the certification of election processes from civil servants, secretaries of state,
Late teens. He writes that that as well as how he balanced governing with being a dad. We join him in chicago in a high school where he was visiting with a group of young men who were part of my brothers keeper to talk about their lives and the challenges they face. Are you going back to Community Organizing . Well, probably im a little too old and gray haired to be going door to door like i used to be. Plus Secret Service follows me around which is pretty disruptive. I am going back to what inspired me to get into public life. One of the thing that inspires former president barack obama these days are meetings like this one. Hey, people. Hey, hey. Its called a bam circle, bam stands for becoming a man. A program started in chicago in 2001 to mentor and support boys and young men. How is everybody doing . The idea is to create a place for them to safely and honestly share struggles and successes, issues at home, in school or on the streets. President obama first joined a Bam Circle Back in 2013. Thats when he met High School Students james adams, Lazarus Daniels and christian champagne. Today, in the same classroom they sat in eight years ago at the high park park, high school on the south side of the chicago, mr. Obama is catching up with them again. James and lazerus is 25. Christian is 25. He said talking with the president back then was Life Changing. So crazy. That first period that i went to class, it was like im fixing to meet the president on my lunch. That was the most unconceivable thing you could possibly think of, and then my heart was like racing like when we was just sitting down and he walked in like it changed the trajectory of my life dramatically. That meeting had a big impact on president obama, as well. One of the things that led him to launch an initiative called my brothers keeper which he announced at the white house in 2014. Christian, lazerus and james were there. That was your first time in d. C. My first plane ride and that was really my first time being out of my neighborhood. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Christian champagne was 18 years old at the time. He sad down with us and shared his story and to my surprise, he was just like me growing up without a father and sometimes not too concerned with school. [ laughter ] okay. Thats pretty nice that this is a black president grew up without a father. Some of the guys grew up without a father is relatable. Its not just he had it made from jump and hes a president. Its i can relate to him. Mr. Obama has been candid about the struggles of his youth and hopes sharing his story will inspire other kids to believe they, too, can establish great things. I made bad choices. I got high without always thinking about the harm it could do. You say you were a lackadaisical student of limited talent and dedicated partier. No Student Government for me, eagle scouts or interning at the congressmans office. I have to be careful not to overstate. I was not, you know, going around, you know, beating kids up. I get it. And, you know, setting things on fire but i understood what it meant to not have a father in the house. I understood what it meant to be in an environment in which you were an outsider. In hawaii, one difference between me and these young men was there werent a lot of black people generally at the time, and you also were growing up before that in indonesia as an outsider. Also an outsider in indonesia. So there was mixed in with the teenage hormones and just the usual stuff that teens go through, that sense of whats my place . And how do i raise myself to be a man . And what does that entail . Responsibilities are there . What obligations do i have . When i try to record in the book is the sense in which in part the values that my mother and grandparents instilled in me, even if i wasnt always following them when i was a teenager led me to the realization around 20, a little later than some of these guys that to be a full grown man meant not acting out, not being cynical but taking on responsibilities not just for yourself but the world around you. Helping boys and young men become full grown men is what bam is all about and the Obama Foundation supports bam programs in several cities through the my brothers keeper alliance. Do you think you would have benefitted from having this as a teenager . Im sure i could have. When we came here, three of the guys here were still in school at the time and we had a chance to have a conversation and part of what i shared with them was and i think this surprised some of the guys, was my life wasnt that different than yours. I wasnt that different from you. The main difference was i was growing up in a gentler environment. In hawaii. In hawaii. So, you know, the violence and drugs and some of the issues that the guys were dealing with day to day were different. But the mistakes i made, the struggles i was going through were similar, and i think that it would have been useful for me at that time to have just a circle in which you can talk and i think that, you know, one of the things we all learned from a pandemic is that Human Connection matters. That were not all by ourselves and we dont accomplish most of the things we accomplish by ourselves. It requires a community. And i think particularly for boys and men of color, many of whom grow up without fathers but many of whom also live in relative isolation where the communities because of safety issues or Economic Issues folks dont have as many resources around them it becomes that much more critical to be able to have someplace where you can come and just say listen, im struggling with this or, you know, im confused about that or, you know, these are the kinds of pressures im dealing with and have somebody who either is their peer or somebody older that can say yeah, man, thats something i went through, also. Im struggling with this, too. This is something im confused about and being able to talk it through. President obama says he found his purpose and ambition in life through community service, and eventually a career in politics becoming a father to daughter sasha and malia gave him the chance to be the father he never had. James and lazarus are fathers now as well. We were talking before, the three of you guys were in the program. You were in the school. Now you guys have moved on. Two of you are now fathers. Yes, sir. And both of you have daughters. Yes, proud. So, you know, anderson here, hes a new father. How old is wyatt now . Just turned 1. Just turned 1. So hes still in diaper changing mode. Other than changing diapers, how is that changed your perspective and how do you think about it because look, meeting the president. Thats cool. But its not Life Changing in the same way that being a parent is. Before having a daughter, like, i was able to make stupid decisions, but now that i have a daughter, i have to think about her. I have to think about her mother, her sister because now im the man of the house, and everything that i do is pretty much revolved around her. So i want to be that father thats always there. I want to be the one that you come home from school to that brightens up your day. Anything you need, you can always come to me. I didnt have that growing up. I didnt have a father. It was one point in time i didnt see my father for, like, ten years so i want to be there for her for everything. Fantastic. How about you . Being a father is amazing to me. My baby girl got a great big smile, full of energy, full of life, full of joy. I was fortunate to have my father and mother together. One thing bam helped me out with is being able to speak on things because i wasnt able to talk to my father because he was strictly business. He was old school. President obama checked in on him over the years since they met more than his own father has. Whats going on, man . You all right . Yeah . Things going all right . Finish strong like you were supposed to . Yeah, i do. I know experience, excellence is possible and i need to strive for that. Although, sports are important to me, i focus on my gpa and will get it back to a 3. 8. [ applause ] what has your life been like since that meeting . You went to morehouse . Yeah, i went to morehouse, well, for like a semester and then i realized i couldnt pay for it so i had to come back home and start over and go to western, work through that, got a Couple Internships and landed a job thats a career job now but before i wasnt even really thinking about going to college to be honest because i was always worried about can i pay for it . Would i be accepted . You know. I think after the first visit you may hear, i worked a little harder on my grades. You know, i stopped playing around. I was like maybe i could do something else. Maybe i could go to college. When you sit in a circle like that, you know, the obstacles these kids are facing and able to overcome is really extraordinary. Yeah, you know, the first time i sat down with these guys, the most important thing for me to communicate at that time and i was the president of the United States was you guys in many ways are ahead of me of where i was at your age. I just had certain advantages you guys dont. I could make a mistake and land on my feet. But even christian is 25. His single mom i think you have five or sixth brothers and sisters, family of six. You know, he got into morehouse, had to drop out because of money. Went to another school, had to drop out because he got ill. Now hes working hoping to go back to school. Its not a question of not working hard enough or, you know, being motivated enough. And that is where sort of for me, my personal Journey Intersected with this broader question of how are we setting up a society so young men like that can succeed or not succeed and thats what led me to the outside of chicago. Thats what led me to be an organizer is that sense that look, when i walk down the street of the south side of chicago, i see young people and they look and remind me of me or michelle and a combination of circumstance allowed us to succeed, but these kids are just as talented. Theyre just as smart. They could achieve just as much if weve got an education system, a social safety net, Job Opportunities that expose them and give them a chance and, you know, i think that the single most important thing i learned as an organizer here in chicago was that, you know, the line between success or failure in this society so often is dictated not by anybodys inherent merits but the circumstances theyre in. That doesnt mean they dont have individual responsibility. These young men you recognize i have to work hard and do my part but it also means we as a society continue to fail them. Also, how stacked the deck is against so many people in our society from even before they are born. Yes. I heard i was reading the speech you gave awhile back, a figure i never heard before by the age of 3 if you grew up in a low income family, you heard 30 million fewer words than a well off family. Which means by the time you show up in first grade, youre already significantly behind. The good news is it turns out as youre learning as a parent, kids are amazingly resilient and they can catch up, but it also means that we have to make investments to ensure they catch up. The other thing, i mean, i leave that Room Thinking how many other kids arent in that room . One of the things we really liked about this program becoming a man was they didnt focus on the superstar, right . That they deliberately target not the kids who are either in the most trouble or are either most successful in defying the odds but the kids who are right there sort of in the middle that can tip in either direction that if they get an encouraging adult, if they are able to as lazarus was expressing, if they can find words to tell their story and talk out, they can succeed and thats part of what i think made this conversation wonderful is yeah, these kids arent like sort of one in a million. This is what you just heard was young black men all across this country. Thats who they are. Its not the stereo type. These are not prodigies. They are brimming with potential. If we have a society thats afraid of them, we need to listen and hear them because theyre no different than you or i in so many ways except for the opportunities they have or dont have. Mr. Obama will be writing another book about his final years in the white house and what happened after, but in a promise land the president writes about the beginnings of the changes he witnessed in the Republican Party when john mccain selected sarah palin to his running mate. Dark spirits lurking on the edges of the Republican Party coming center stage. Did you ever think it would get this dark . [sfx revving trucks] Pilot Over Radio here we go, lets do this. Pilot over radio right there, right there. [sfx revving trucks] Pilot Over Radio g complete. How do you introduce the largerthanlife gmc yukon . With the worlds biggest tweet. The next generation gmc yukon. Premium thats made to be used. This is the greatest idea youll ever hear. Okay, its an app that compares Hundreds Of Travel Sites for hotels and cars and Vacation Rentals like kayak does for flights. So its kayak. Yeah, like kayak. Why dont you just call it kayak. Im calling it. Canoe. Compare Hundreds Of Travel Sites for thousands of trips. Kayak. Search one and done. Another day, another chance. C it could be the day youl sit break the sales record,s. Or the day theres appointments nonstop. With comcast business, you get the network that can deliver gig speeds to the most businesses, and you can get the advanced Cybersecurity Solutions you need with comcast business securityedge. Every day in business is a big day. Well keep you ready for whats next. Get started with a great offer, and ask how you can add comcast business securityedge. Plus, for a limited time, ask how to get a 500 prepaid card when you upgrade. Call today. Its been more than four years since the obamas left the white house and a moment the former president describes as bittersweet in his book. Hello, everybody. Partly because they were leaving and partly because of what he thought might happen to the country. You wrote about sarah palin. You wrote about dark spirits and had long been lurking on the edge of the Republican Party coming center stage. Did you ever thing it would get this dark . No, i thought there were guard rails institutionally after trump was elected that you would have the socalled republican establishment who would say okay, you know, its a problem if the white house isnt doesnt seem to be concerned about russian meddling or its a problem if we have a president who is saying that, you know, neonazis marching in charlottesville, there are good people on both sides. Thats a little beyond the pale. And the degree to which we did not see that republican establishment say hold on timeout, thats not acceptable. Thats not who we are but be cowed into accepting it and january 6th what originally was dont worry, this isnt going anywhere, were just letting trump and others vent and then suddenly you now have large portions of an elected Congress Going along with the falsehood that there were problems with the election. And the leadership of the gop briefly for, you know, one night when they still had this sort of scent of fear in them going against the president then poof. Suddenly, everybody was back in line. What the reason for that is because the base believed it. The base believed it because this had been told to them not just by the president but by the media that they watch and nobody stood up and said stop. This is enough. This is not true. I wont say nobody, let me correct it. There were some very brave people who did their jobs like the Secretary Of State in georgia who was then viciously attacked for it and all these congressman said you know what . Ill lose my job. Ill get voted out of office. Another way of saying this is i didnt expect that there would be so few people who would say well, i dont mind losing my office because this is too important. America is too important. Some things are more important our democracy is more important. We didnt see that. Now, you know, im still the Hope And Change guy and so my hope is that the tides will turn but that does require each of us to understand that this experiment in democracy is not selfexecuting. It doesnt happen automatically. These values and trues we hold selfevident, this is important. Were going to sacrifice for it and stand up for it even when its not politically convenient. You write we need to explain to each other who we are and where were going. As somebody who has dedicated myself to Story Telling that resonates with me. Are we as a country still willing to listen to each others stories . This is the biggest challenge we have is that we dont have the kinds of shared stories we used to. There has always been a division along the lines of race. We have 400 years of whites and blacks not being able to have shared experiences because of slavery and segregation and so forth but within the white community, the stories of kids growing up in manhattan and the stories of kidding grows up in abilene, texas and the stories of the kid who is growing up in montana, those stories no longer meet, partly because of the segment, the siloing of the media, the internet, entertainment. We occupy different worlds and it becomes that much more difficult for us to hear each other, see each other. The thing i learned first as an organizer and then as an elected official as a politician was when you start hearing peoples stories, you always find a thread of your own story in somebody else. And the minute that recognition happens, thats the basis for a community. It seems like something has changed so that its become so extreme that were not even allowing ourselves to get into a position where we can see that commonality. I heard in the past you talk about when you were starting out in politics, you go to Southern Illinois to very conservative districts. They gave me a hearing. Yeah. I think thats changed. Part of it is the nationalization of media, the nationalization of politics. The fact is that you used to have a bunch of local newspapers and tv stations. People werent having highly ideological debates but focused on what is happening day to day and part of it is the structure of the economy and community. It used to be a high school, the average high school in america, the average public high school, you would have the bankers kid and janitors kid in the same school and they would interact and their parents would be going to the same Football Game and would have to know each other and if it turned out there was a talented kid of a janitor who also happened to be on the football team, the banker president might say hey, why dont you come work at the bank here because he knew that person. Now, we have more economic stratification and you have the media, not just Walter Cronkite but 1,000 different venues. That contributed to the sense that we dont have anything in common so so much work is going to have to involve not just policy but its also how do we create institutions and occasions in which we can come together and have a conversation . In promise land you say democracy seems to be teetering. The big lie pushed by not only the former president but republicans in congress. Are we still just teetering on the brink or in crisis . Well, i think we have to worry when one of our Major Political parties is willing to embrace a way of thinking about our democracy that would be unrecognizable and unacceptable even five years ago or a decade ago. When you look at some of the laws that are being passed at the state legislative level where legislators are basically saying were going to take away the certification of election processes from civil servants, secretaries of state,