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title: Hear Cornel West on Obama: ‘A Drone Presidency’
description: The activist on why he couldn&#x27;t vote for Barack Obama in 2012
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article:published_time: 2014-10-06T16:49:42.000Z
article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:32.171Z
article:section: Ideas
og:title: Hear Cornel West on Obama: ‘A Drone Presidency’
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# Hear Cornel West on Obama: 'A Drone Presidency'

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aWv34iEW.m3u8" -->
## Video: Hear Cornel West on Obama: ‘A Drone Presidency’

[Watch (HLS stream): Hear Cornel West on Obama: ‘A Drone Presidency’](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aWv34iEW.m3u8) (0:42)

![Hear Cornel West on Obama: ‘A Drone Presidency’](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/aWv34iEW/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2014-10-06. In an interview with Time for 10 Questions, Cornel West says he didn’t even vote in 2012. “I couldn’t vote for a war criminal,” he said_


by 

[TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/)


## TIME Staff


Oct 6, 2014 4:49 PM UTC

by 

[TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/)


## TIME Staff


Oct 6, 2014 4:49 PM UTC

In an [interview](http://time.com/3455639/10-questions-with-cornel-west/) with Time for 10 Questions, Cornel West says he didn’t even vote in 2012\. “I couldn’t vote for a war criminal,” he said, calling President Obama’s administration “a Wall Street presidency, a drone presidency, a national surveillance presidency, that violates rights and liberties.”


## Transcript

You don't want the person like Obama to be viewed as somebody that he's not. He takes over this system and he cannot change it by himself. That's why it's not so much, just, it's not so much a, personal attack. It's a critique of the priorities that he had. He ended up with a Wall Street presidency, a drone presidency. A national surveillance presidency that violates rights and liberties vis- a- vis those dissenting voices. Four Americans assassinated, no due process, no accountability. You see, for me that's, that, that, that's movements toward a police state, toward a neo- fascist state. It has to be said.

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