In an interview released by the New York Times Tuesday, former President Barack Obama said that he believes President Joe Biden is "essentially finishing the job" of his presidency, and that his policies are building on those set forth by the Obama administration.
"I think that what we’re seeing now is Joe Biden and the administration are essentially finishing the job, and I think it’ll be an interesting test. Ninety percent of the folks who are there were there in my administration," said Obama.
Obama said that Biden was building on the policies that he set forth during his two terms as president.
"They are continuing and building on the policies we talked about, whether it’s the Affordable Care Act, or our climate change agenda, and the Paris Peace Accords, and figuring out how do we improve the ladders to mobility through things like community colleges," said Obama.
Obama went on to state that if the Biden administration is successful, there would be a "lasting impact" seen in the country.
He added that the impact would effect the youth of the country, who are developing increasingly progressive views of politics.
"Most importantly, I think it does have an impact for young people as they are forming their ideas about politics and who they are," said Obama. "And I was both a manifestation of the more progressive views that young people brought to politics in 2008, and 2009, 2010. And I think my presidency helped to solidify a huge tilt in the direction of progressive politics among young people that is now continuing into their 30s."
"As millennials and even the Gen Z-ers are starting to marry and have families, that their political identity has been shaped and changed in pretty significant ways," Obama continued.
He had prefaced his comments on the Biden administration by talking about the interruption former President Donald Trump’s time in office had posed on Obama’s policies.
"And the truth is that if Donald Trump doesn’t get elected, let’s say, a Joe Biden or the person who was running, Hillary Clinton, had immediately succeeded me, and the economy suddenly has three percent unemployment, I think we would have consolidated the sense that, oh, actually, these policies that Obama put in place worked," said Obama. "The fact that Trump interrupts, essentially, the continuation of our policies but still benefits from the economic stability and growth that we had initiated means people aren’t sure."
Obama stated that numbers, like unemployment, improving under the Trump administration had "nothing to do with Trump’s policies."
"Well, gosh, unemployment’s three and a half percent under Donald Trump," Obama stated. "Now, I would argue, and I think a lot of economists that you know and I know would suggest that, mostly, that had nothing to do with Donald Trump’s policies. And mostly had to do with we had put the economy on a footing, where he essentially just continued the longest peacetime recovery in American history and sustained job growth in American history."
"So that clouds what I think would have been a more impactful shift in political views towards Democrats as a result of my presidency," Obama continued.
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