Obama suggests Colbert consider presidency, notes 'bar has changed'

• Former President Barack Obama joked with Stephen Colbert about the talk show host running for president.
• He stated the attorney general should be the people's lawyer, not the president's personal lawyer.
• Obama believes norms that prevent the expansion of executive power may need to be codified into law.
• The former president expressed concern about the politicization of the Justice Department and the military.

Former President Barack Obama jokingly encouraged late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert to consider a new job he once held.

An otherwise feel-good interview during the May 5 episode of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago turned somewhat serious when Colbert talked about his possible plans.

"I’m looking for a new gig soon," Colbert said, alluding to his long-running CBS talk show, which airs its final episode on May 21. "And a lot of people tell me I should run for president."

In response, Obama chuckled and told Colbert that he has "the look" to be president, and added, "You have the hair."

Colbert replied, "For the record, I think it’s a stupid idea. How dumb do you think it is for people to say that I should run for president?"

"The bar has changed," the former president said. He did not mention President Donald Trump by name, though his implication was clear.

Colbert, whom Trump cheered when the Late Show cancellation was announced, quipped that the bar to be president is "at times subterranean." The talk show host then said, "I don’t have to limbo so low?"

Laughing, Obama added, "Let me put it this way: I think that you could perform significantly better than some folks that we’ve seen. I have great confidence in that."

Colbert thanked Obama and then asked if that was a formal endorsement. The 44th president clarified: "It was not."

In an emailed statement to USA TODAY on May 6, White House spokesman Davis Ingle called Obama "a classless moron who clearly suffers from a severe and debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his brain."

"He is a total disgrace for all the division he has sowed upon this country and history will not judge him well," Ingle said. "The only special interest guiding the Trump Administration’s decision-making is the best interest of the American people. Only pathetic trainwrecks like Stephen Colbert would waste their time interviewing one of the worst presidents in history on his failing show.”

Obama expresses concerns about expanding executive branch powers

During their nearly half-hour pre-taped interview at the Obama Center, which opens next month, Obama said the United States would have some work to do regarding the expanded executive branch powers once the current administration leaves office. He raised concerns about the White House using the Justice Department for political means, although he did not mention Trump by name.

"We can survive a lot, bad policy, funky elections, there's a bunch of stuff that, you know, we can overcome," Obama, a former constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago, told Colbert. "We can't overcome the politicization of our justice system, the awesome power of the state. You can't have a situation in which whoever is in charge of the government starts using that to go after their political enemies or reward their friends.

"Although this isn't in the Constitution, maybe don't pardon people who've given you a bunch of campaign contributions," Obama said.

When Colbert asked Obama about the need to restrict executive powers and what powers he believes the president should not have, Obama said there were a couple of guidelines he "followed even though they weren't law."

"We're going to have to do some basic work to return to this basic norm, and now we probably have to codify it," Obama said. "The White House shouldn't be able to direct the attorney general to go around prosecuting whoever the president wants to prosecute.

"The norm is, the idea is that the attorney general is the people's lawyer," Obama continued. "It's not the president's consigliere." 

Obama added that the Justice Department needs to be "independent in making judgments about specific cases and prosecutions." 

The former president also expressed concern about possible politicization of the U.S. military, but didn't mention the war in Iran that began Feb. 28. Amid a ceasefire, the president said the war could end if Iran agreed to U.S. terms and allowed commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

However, Trump said in a May 6 post on Truth Social that if Tehran didn't agree, the U.S. bombing would resume "at a much higher level and intensity." 

Obama touched on the president's role during international conflicts in the interview, telling Colbert it was a mistake to "politicize" the military.

"There had been a whole series of norms that were in place to ensure that you weren't trying to make the military loyal to you, as opposed to the Constitution, and the people of the United States," Obama said. "We're going to have to find mechanisms to restore that."