Interview With Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan
BALDWIN: It was November 9. This is the day after the decisive election made Donald Trump President Obama's successor, the day President Obama would sit with "Rolling Stone" publisher Jann Wenner for their fourth interview, an exit interview of sorts that would become the president's first public reaction to Trump's historic win. The piece is entitled "The Day After: Obama on His Legacy, Trump's Win and the Path Forward." You see the cover right here. In part, Wenner writes: "The last time I interviewed the president in 2012, it was a lazy afternoon. I had gone over our time limit by a half-hour. And on leaving the Oval Office, I ran into Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, sitting by the desk with the president's assistant waiting to come in. This time, it was her ghost." Here with me, "Rolling Stone" contributing editor Anthony DeCurtis. And with us, CNN political commentator Bill Press, a Democrat. Welcome to both of you. And, wow, incredible interview. Just totally fascinating interview. Kudos to Jann for doing this. And the way he describes -- I just want to begin with tone, because it almost feels like -- the description is like it's a funeral, a funeral and ambience in the White House.</s>ANTHONY DECURTIS, "ROLLING STONE": Yes. Well, it's a very interesting situation. Jann called him that morning, called President Obama that morning, and just said, look, obviously, we're in a situation we didn't anticipate. And do you need to cancel this and we will do it another time? That's perfectly fine. And Obama said, no, I want to do it.</s>BALDWIN: Wow.</s>DECURTIS: And so it has that feel of right after a cataclysm, really, and it's fascinating. I think Jann has been doing interviews for a long time and you see a lot of his strengths as an interviewer there.</s>BALDWIN: He's very comfortable with the president.</s>DECURTIS: Yes, completely.</s>BALDWIN: He trusts him.</s>DECURTIS: And also he has certain kinds of -- I think the "Rolling Stone" interview, whether it's Mick Jagger or President Obama, always has a kind of feeling, I think, for readers of as if a representative of the readership is there. And Jann had that feel. As informed as he is about politics, you definitely had his sense of, OK, but what happens now? What are we going to do now? That sense that I think a lot of Hillary supporters had the day after the election. You could feel that in his questions very ardently.</s>BALDWIN: Let me just read another piece of this. The president spoke of why Trump's win shouldn't come as a surprise" -- this is what he told Jann -- citing his own massive rallies in '08. He said -- the president said this to "Rolling Stone": "That's the thing about voting. It doesn't mean polls are irrelevant, but there's always a human variable involved in this. So I think the odds of Donald Trump winning were always around 20 percent. Doesn't seem like a lot, but one out of five is not that unusual. It's not a miracle." And, Bill, he chalked up Trump's appeal to voters. He had talked about -- you know he said FOX News is in every bar, in every restaurant in major chunks of the country. Whether that's entirely true or not, would you agree with sort of what the president was saying and what was so missed?</s>BILL PRESS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, first of all, kudos to "Rolling Stone" and Jann Wenner again for keeping our journalistic standards high, Brooke.</s>BALDWIN: No kidding.</s>PRESS: They make us all proud, of course.</s>BALDWIN: Yes.</s>PRESS: I thought I was reading a Shakespearian tragedy reading this article. It's a fascinating interview. And I think the president was in denial on a couple of issues. I think he's in denial about how much of his legacy is going to be wiped out by this new administration across the board. The president sort of was saying, oh, we will keep this, we will keep this. Some things are in place. I think it is going to be a wipeout. And, secondly, I think he's in denial -- now, this gets to your point -- about what a shambles the Democratic Party is in. Under his presidency, the Democratic Party now has lost the White House, the House, the Senate, 900 and some state legislature seats, and over I think 12 or 15 governorships. So, I'm sorry, you can't blame all of that on FOX News. Some of it, you have got to blame on the Democrats not doing their job.</s>BALDWIN: Anthony, just back over to you. One the question that Wenner had asked was, what advice do you have for Trump? What did he share? And what, of this entire wide-ranging interview, just surprised you the most?</s>DECURTIS: Well, I was really struck. You know, the situation was pretty dramatic, obviously, the day after the election. But, you know, this is no-drama Obama.