The three most recent Democratic White House occupants talked politics and old times in a joint appearance on the SmartLess podcast.
President Joe Biden and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton discussed the trappings of being president and what Obama and Clinton miss the most about it during an interview that aired on April 29 but was recorded on March 28. For Obama, it was the music.
“Everybody talks about Air Force One, Marine One. It’s pretty convenient, I won’t lie,” he told hosts Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes. “But I’ll tell you the thing I miss the most is — remember those music concerts I used to do? You could basically invite anybody.”
And Obama did. Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney were two music legends he mentioned by name. Not only would they play for the president, but Obama got to watch practice sessions where stars like Mick Jagger or blues guitarist B.B. King would rehearse their skills.
“I do miss that,” he said.
Clinton picked music as well, though of a different sort.
“I miss the fact they don’t play a song when you walk in the room anymore,” he said. “I was lost for three weeks after I left office.”
Not every president has had the same luck with musicians as Obama. Former President Donald Trump is an Elton John super fan and wanted the British singer to play at his inauguration. John refused, though he later played for President Joe Biden.
Other parts of the triple podcast were more serious in tone. Clinton, for example, said he genuinely missed feeling like he could help people using the powers of the presidency.
“This is one reason that I so badly want President Biden to be reelected,” he said. “What I truly miss is the job. Not doing it, I’m glad — I believe in the two-term limit, strongly. But what I learned was, on the worst day, when nothing was going right, problems were everywhere, there was still something you could do that would make somebody’s life better.”
“There’s no job on earth like that,” Clinton added. “I want somebody that I trust to make the most of that every day.”
All three of the podcast hosts made clear that they are fans of Biden and hope he gets reelected.
“It’s not the first time that you three have combined forces to really kind of do what we all need you guys to do,” Bateman said, “which is keep you in office.”
The hosts lamented the breakdown of older forms of media such as cable news, through which large audiences would gather simultaneously, with Arnett saying “there is so much noise” in today’s environment.
One host suggested that Biden, who does few interviews with journalists from major news outlets, go on Fox News for an hourlong interview with Sean Hannity. “Is it just a matter of just getting on that network?”
Obama agreed with the overall assessment, though he did not weigh in on the Fox News idea.
“Once it’s on social media, and it’s on an algorithm, and everybody’s just getting their news selected essentially to suit their biases, penetrating that is real tough,” he said.
Biden did not do an interview when Fox hosted the Super Bowl last year, and also skipped it during this year’s big game on CBS. He has instead opted for nontraditional media appearances, including an interview last week with radio host Howard Stern.
The trio of presidents agreed that the stakes are high for this year’s presidential election due to the stature of the United States on a global scale.
“There’s not a single country in the world that does not think we’re the single most consequential country in the world,” Biden said. “Not a single one.”
Obama agreed.
“If there’s a natural disaster, if there is a crisis, nobody’s calling Moscow or Beijing expecting them to help,” he said. “Everybody’s looking to Washington.”
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Biden was also asked which president he would resurrect if he could to ask for advice. He said it would be a choice between Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Biden called again for raising taxes on billionaires to 25% annually, which he said could raise $400 billion over the next four years to pay for child care and elder care.
Once the conversation was over, the hosts mentioned historic low unemployment under Biden, saying that “Joe Jobs” should become a new nickname for Biden.
“I feel like I’m in good hands when I’m around those guys,” Bateman said.