Obama says meeting with anti-democratic leaders is one of the more complex parts of being president
Former President Barak Obama told CNN Thursday that meeting with dictators or other anti-democratic leaders is just one of the complex facets of the American presidency.
Speaking in an exclusive interview Obama said he dealt with many figures he didn’t agree with during his time in
“Look, it’s complicated,” Obama said in an interview from Greece, where he is discussing issues of democracy. “The president of the United States has a lot of equities. And when I was president, I would deal with figures in some cases who were allies, who, you know, if you pressed me in private, do they run their governments and their political parties in ways that I would say are ideally democratic? I’d have to say no.”
The full interview with Obama airs at 10 p.m. ET on CNN in a hour-long special, “Obama & Amanpour: Will Democracy Win?”
The comments come just hours before the White House rolls out the red carpet for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an official state visit. Modi has been accused by human rights groups of a drift toward authoritarianism but is also the leader of the world’s most populous democracy and is seen by the White House as an important bulwark against China’s growing influence.
Obama cited his work with Chinese President Xi Jinping on climate change as an example of finding common interests, even with leaders with poor human rights records. This week, Biden likened Xi to a dictator in comments to donors in California.
“You had to do business with them, because they’re important for national security reasons. There are, you know, a range of economic interests,” Obama said.
“I do think that it is appropriate for the president of the United States, where he or she can, to uphold those principles and to challenge –whether behind closed doors or in public – trends that are troubling. And so I’m less concerned about labels than I’m concerned about specific practices,” he went on.
Modi, who was being fêted by Biden on Thursday, has demonstrated a drift toward authoritarianism that has worried the West. He’s cracked down on dissent, targeted journalists and introduced policies that human rights groups say discriminate against Muslims.
Obama acknowledged that he also worked with Modi on climate change and other areas. But he said that raising concerns about Indian democracy must also enter into diplomatic conversations.
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