Obama: "We aren't as divided as we seem"

By C-SPAN

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Former President Obama said Monday that Americans are not as divided as they seem, arguing that the country needs a system that can "capture the goodness of people" and translate it into a politics adapted to the times. "Obviously, today, we are rife with divisions, and our democracy seems broken in so many ways — and the tenor and tone of the times feel mean-spirited. We have gone through times like this before. I believe we can get out of them," he said in a discussion with historian Doris Kearns Goodwin at Salem State University. "We aren't as divided as we seem at the ground level. We're not as divided as our politics or our media would indicate. The loud, noisy, polarized dialogue is, in part, manufactured for a variety of interests," he continued. "When you get on the ground, it turns out people are still treating each other decently and with respect, and the progress that's been made on civil rights or women's rights or LGBTQ rights have not been reversed. In most places,