Speaking to FOX News’s Chris Wallace, Obama didn’t specify any incidents in his own administration. He added that if people are “respectful” of the democratic process, the government can fix its own shortcomings to at least the lukewarm reception of Americans.
Wallace asked Obama what he would’ve told himself 12 years ago about the workings of the world, leading to this exchange:
OBAMA: Well, first of all, that law professors back then would think I was crazy saying that somehow you might end up being president. You know what? What I would tell him is what I was telling some of those law students downstairs, that for all the frustrations of democracy and all the contention, it is not always a straight line, but if you put your shoulder to the wheel and you have faith in our democracy and our system, it works. WALLACE: So it’s more complicated than people would have understood then? OBAMA: Absolutely. And, you know, I think that when you’re outside of the system, you are properly outraged at this ineptitude of the government or this corruption or this issue that you feel deeply about. When you’re in it, what you realize is, is that if you follow this process, if you’re respectful of this process, then we can sort it out. And not everybody’s going to be completely happy with it. But it will beat any other system given that we are human and given original sin. You know, this is going to work about as well as it can.
In a “lightning round” of questioning during the interview, Obama mentioned his best and worst moments as president. His biggest mistake, he said, stemmed from the fallout in Libya.
“Probably failing to plan for the day after what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya,” Obama told Wallace.
