Former President Barack Obama continued his book tour Wednesday with a conversation on The Breakfast Club about his record on supporting the Black Community, Joe Biden winning the election and Latinos who voted for President Donald Trump.
While discussing his record-selling memoir “A Promised Land” with hosts Charlamagne Tha God, Angela Yee, and DJ Envy, Obama addressed criticism that he didn’t do enough for African Americans while he was in the White House.
“I understand it because when I got elected, there was so much excitement and hope. And I also think that we generally view the presidency as almost like a monarchy. In the sense of, ‘once the President is there he can just do whatever he needs to get done and if he’s not doing it then it must be because he didn’t want to do it,’” he told the three radio hosts.
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He then said he “had the statistics” to prove his accomplishments.
“By the time I left office, you had seen three million African Americans have health care that didn’t have it before. You had seen the incarceration rate, the number of Black folks in prison, drop for the first time in years… You had seen Black poverty drop to its lowest level since 1968. You had seen Black businesses rise, you had seen Black income go up,” Obama said, adding that “millions of Black folks were better off” when he left office.
Charlamagne tha God continued to press the 44th president on what he did to combat systemic racism.
“The truth of the matter is, Charlamagne, at the end of the day, there is no way in eight years to make up for 200 years,” Obama said.
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The former president added that his administration wasn’t the best at public relations, and didn’t do enough to promote its accomplishments.
Obama also explained that being in the White House meant needing the backing of Congress and a majority in the House of Representatives to get laws passed, but in reality he faced stiff resistance from Republicans on Capitol Hill.
He also took a jab at evangelical Latinos who voted for Trump and mentioned how there are still people of color who staunchly oppose equality for all.
“People were surprised about a lot of Hispanic folks who voted for Trump. But there are a lot of evangelical Hispanics, who the fact that Trump says racist things about Mexicans or puts detainees [undocumented individuals] in cages, they think that’s less important than the fact that he supports their views on gay marriage or abortion,” Obama said.
Watch the full interview below to hear what else Obama said.
He had two years of a democratic majority in the house and senate so that comment was pure hog wash