Obama ‘wants to get his agenda done,’ and would ‘be furious’ at Republicans if they vote against his nominee to the Supreme Court, according to an interview with former President Barack Obama, who said the Senate should not move forward with his nominee.
In a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times, Obama also defended his use of drones to attack terrorists overseas and said he believed the U.S. would prevail against ISIL even if the Senate did not approve his nominee, Merrick Garland, on Tuesday.
“I think if the Republicans don’t get their act together, then I think that’s what it’s going to be,” he said.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt about it.”
The president also said he thought he had a good shot at winning the election and that the country had a new president.
“You know, I don’t know how many people believe I’ve got a good chance of winning this election, but I think I do,” he told the Times.
“And I think the American people have a very good idea.
The American people are sick and tired of Washington, D.C., and that’s not what they want.”
In the interview, the former president also told the paper that he believes the U .
S. will win in the midterm elections, which begin next year.
“There’s a very clear and consistent pattern that the Democrats and Republicans are going to win in midterm elections,” he noted.
“That’s what’s happened historically,” he added.
It’s not the reverse. “
You know the trend is consistent.
It’s not the reverse.
The Republicans are winning, but the Democrats are losing.”
A year ago, Obama said he did not want to take any votes from the Democratic side, but after the GOP controlled the House of Representatives, he said that was no longer a possibility.
“We’re not going to take votes from Democrats, no matter what,” he explained.
“We’re going to put a nominee forward, and I think you’ll see that’s happening. But I don�t want to go through the trouble of doing that.”
“We have a majority in the Senate.
We have a number of votes that we can use to make a decision on who our nominee is going to need,” he continued.
“So the only thing I can do is let the process play out.
If we decide to put forward a nominee, we will do it.”
He also said that the Republican-led Senate would not have to hold hearings on Garland, who was confirmed in January by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Obama told the newspaper he does not have a list of names that he wants to hear, but he told reporters on Friday that he is still looking for someone who has “some experience.”
“I am not going out there and saying, ‘I want to name you the best person in the country,'” he said, according of the White House’s decision.
“If I don?t have a name that I want, then let me know,” he went on.
“That would be my job, would be very simple.
We?ve got to find out who we have.”