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The Axe Files with David Axelrod

Ep. 356 – Samantha Power

The Axe Files with David Axelrod

CNN

News

4.67.7K Ratings

🗓️ 18 November 2019

⏱️ 73 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Samantha Power, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, joins David to talk about the journey from her childhood in Ireland to the halls of the U.N. — and the trials she faced along the way. She shares the experiences that compelled her to become a Balkan War correspondent, how what she saw there inspired her to author a Pulitzer-prize winning book on genocide, and the human rights causes that drew her to then-senator Barack Obama. She also shares her thoughts on the hollowing out of the State Department, Trump’s attempt to politicize service officers and institutions, U.S. credibility and the state of our global alliances, and what an emboldened Putin and Erdogan means for the global order. Her new memoir, The Education of an Idealist, documents this journey—and the lessons she picked up along the way. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Music

0:06.0

And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN Audio, the Axe Files with

0:12.6

your host, David Axelrod.

0:19.6

Before she was a diplomat and the US ambassador to the United Nations under President Obama,

0:25.0

Samantha Power was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and an authority on genocide around

0:32.0

the world.

0:33.0

Before that, she was a crusading journalist who was shining a bright light in dark corners

0:38.9

to expose genocide and bring stories from Bosnia and elsewhere to the world.

0:45.4

Now she's the author of a riveting memoir called The Education of an Idealist and she

0:52.4

dropped by the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago recently to talk about

0:57.6

her work, her journey, including an extraordinarily interesting life.

1:02.4

I sat down with her in front of a live audience at the Institute and here is that conversation.

1:08.4

Music

1:14.4

Samantha Power.

1:19.4

So good to have you here on a chilly winter night.

1:22.0

I know you're from Boston.

1:23.0

You're used to that.

1:24.0

Absolutely.

1:25.0

Great to be here.

1:26.0

So, before we get to your story, which is so beautifully told in your new book, The Education

1:34.5

of an Idealist, I want to talk to you about what's going on right now because

1:38.4

you must have very strong feelings.

...

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