Barack Obama believes the “corrosive nature” of talk radio and fake news is undermining democracy.
(Photo: YouTube screen grab)
During his last interview as president on “60 Minutes,” Obama told Steve Kroft that Americans are cynical because they have lost faith in our existing institutions.
“You had two of the most unpopular presidential candidates selected by the two parties in history,” Kroft said. “Doesn’t that say something’s wrong — something serious is wrong?”
“It indicates that there is a lot of cynicism out there,” Obama said Sunday night. (RELATED: Obama In ’60 Minutes’ Interview: Don’t ‘Underestimate’ Donald Trump)
“It indicates that the corrosive nature of everything from talk radio to fake news to negative advertising has made people lack confidence in a lot of our existing institutions. I think it indicates, at least on the Democratic side, that we’ve got more work to do to strengthen our grassroots networks.”
“In some ways, the Democratic Party hadn’t constructed itself to get that message out to the places it needed to get to,” he continued.
“The Tea Party I have huge disagreements with, obviously. But I give them credit for having activated themselves. And they made a difference in terms of moving the Republican Party, in terms of moving the country in a particular direction. It’s a direction I disagreed with. But it showed that, in fact, you get involved, if your voice is heard it has an impact.”
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