Putin Slammed The Door On A Lot Of Things – Former Senior Advisor To Obama

What You Need To Know:

✅ "I see [Obama] as the president who rallied the allies after the invasion of Crimea to put together very tough sanctions against Russia that have brought the Russian economy down;"
✅ Axelrod, who has been critical of both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the current presidential campaign, was advising Obama when Clinton was Secretary of State. At the time, Medvedev was President of Russia;
✅ "Putin, when he returned, slammed the door on a lot of things;"
✅ Given Donald Trump’s "inexplicable fascination with Putin," Axelrod questions the possibility of an American President who has extensive businesses around the world and is not going to divest himself of them.

“America is better respected today then the day when he walked into office,” says David M. Axelrod, Former Senior Advisor to President Obama and Director of the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago. Many people criticize the current American president’s inaction when it comes to foreign policy, but his former advisor sees him in a different light: “I see him as the president who rallied the allies after the invasion of Crimea to put together very tough sanctions against Russia that have brought the Russian economy down.”

Axelrod, who has been critical of both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the current presidential campaign, was advising Obama when Clinton was Secretary of State. At the time, Medvedev was President of Russia, and some criticize Clinton for reaching out to Moscow during the Obama administration’s first term.

Axelrod says, “it was a more hopeful time,” and they were able to work constructively with Medvedev. Defending Clinton he adds ”Putin, when he returned, slammed the door on a lot of things.”

“I don’t think anybody could deny there was fundamental turn in Russia to a darker place when he returned to the presidency,” says Axelrod. American policy before Putin’s return was to “accomplish what you could, always being aware that there would be significant areas of disagreement.”

Given Donald Trump’s “inexplicable fascination with Putin,” Axelrod questions the possibility of an American President who has extensive businesses around the world and is not going to divest himself of them. “That’s an issue in the American campaign.”

Hromadske’s Nataliya Gumenyuk and Kyiv Post’s Josh Kovensky spoke to David M. Axelrod, Director of the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago and Former Senior Advisor to President Obama at the YES Conference on September 15, 2016 in Kyiv.