Obama: U.S. government is "much less corrupt" than ever before
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Former President Barack Obama speaks at the dedication of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago on June 18. Photo: Taylor Hill/Getty Images
Former President Obama says the federal government is less corrupt than at virtually any point in U.S. history, even as Americans' perceptions of government corruption have climbed to a record high.
Why it matters: Obama's comments come as Democrats try to turn corruption into a midterm issue, particularly around President Trump's business dealings and personal profits.
Driving the news: "People are always surprised when I tell them the federal government is so much less corrupt than probably it's ever been, in terms of just pure bribes, or patronage or favors," Obama said in an episode of his newly launched podcast, "A Great Book with Barack Obama."
- The six-episode series, in which Obama sits down with celebrities and public figures to discuss famous books, premiered on Amazon's Audible platform Thursday.
- In the third episode, he speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jill Lepore about Robert Penn Warren's 1946 novel "All the King's Men."
Between the lines: Obama argued that reforms that reduced patronage and other forms of political dealing also stripped away some of the transactional tools lawmakers once used to build coalitions.
- He pointed to former President Lyndon B. Johnson's era, saying reforms before and after Watergate "eliminated or greatly reduced" the ability of political machines to trade votes and favors.
- "It's part of the reason why things got a little harder to get done because that was sort of some lubrication...to help to bridge some of the ideological differences that were out there," he said.
Reality check: Obama was talking specifically about bribery, patronage and favors. Polls asking Americans whether government corruption is "widespread" capture a much broader perception, making the two measures difficult to compare.
Zoom out: Democrats are increasingly trying to make corruption a midterm issue, focusing in particular on Trump's business interests and his family's profits while he is in office.
- 53% of registered voters described Trump as "corrupt" in a September Economist/YouGov poll.
- A Reuters/Ipsos poll found 63% saying Trump and his family have financially benefited in improper ways while he has been president.
Go deeper: Trump considered dangerous, corrupt by majority in new poll
