Barack Obama Says George W. Bush ‘Had a Basic Regard For the Rule of Law’
Former President Barack Obama claimed his predecessor President George W. Bush at least “had a basic regard for the rule of law,” while comparing America under Bush versus America under President Donald Trump during a virtual fundraiser for 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, Tuesday.
“I don’t think I have to reiterate the situation that we find ourselves in right now,” said Obama during the fundraiser (via the Washington Post and The Hill). “Things were tough in 2008, 2009. We were going through the worst recession since the Great Depression, a massive financial crisis. We were still in the midst of two wars.”
“We, I think, were overcoming a decade in which the possibilities of common work and common purpose had been diminished and downgraded and government had been starved of the resources that were needed to make us a more equal and just and compassionate society, and yet, I have to say that the foundation stones, the institutions we had in place were still more or less intact,” he continued.
“My predecessor, who I disagreed with on a whole host of issues, still had a basic regard for the rule of law and the importance of our institutions and democracy,” Obama claimed, adding, “On the world stage, there was still a sense that America needed to lead, and that that leadership meant that as imperfect as we might be, there were certain ideals and values that were going to aspire to and advance.”
President Barack Obama on George W. Bush: “My predecessor, who I disagreed with on a whole host of issues, still had a basic regard for the rule of law.” pic.twitter.com/jRjR9TKTOH
— The Hill (@thehill) June 24, 2020
“That we cared about human rights, we cared about battling against the oppression of peoples in distant lands,” he explained. “And that we try and uphold — both in our own country, but around the world — certain core principles around rule of law, and the universal dignity of people, and the need for us to provide assistance for those who were suffering either from natural catastrophes or because of underdevelopment.”
Obama went on to attack the Trump administration, declaring, “What we have seen over the last couple of years is a White House enabled by Republicans in Congress and a media structure that supports them… that suggests facts don’t matter, science doesn’t matter.”
“That suggests that a deadly disease is fake news. That sees the Justice Department as simply an extension and an arm of the personal concerns of the president. That actively promotes division,” he continued. “And considers some people in this country more real as Americans than others.”
In 2004, then-United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan ruled that the Iraq War — as orchestrated by Bush — was illegal.
“I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN charter. From our point of view and from the charter point of view it was illegal,” he said.
