Barack Obama has a new book coming out. Obama is promoting “A Promised Land” described as Obama’s first volume of his presidential memoirs in an interview taped for 60 Minutes. The interview is set to air on CBS during its Sunday night broadcast. He will also be interviewed for CBS Sunday Morning. To the surprise of no one, he is only too happy to slam President Trump and his supporters in the GOP.

Gayle King, Oprah’s bff and CBS This Morning co-host, interviews him for the morning show and Scott Pelley interviews him for 60 Minutes. During the interview with King, Obama slams Republicans for listening to talk radio and Fox News. He says because of those outlets, Trump voters believe the president’s claims of voter fraud. Then he said that Republican lawmakers who support Trump’s claims are disingenuous as they didn’t make these claims immediately after Election Day.

“They obviously didn’t think there was any fraud going on because they didn’t say anything about it for the first two days,” he told Gayle King for “CBS Sunday Morning.” “But there’s damage to this because what happens is that the peaceful transfer of power, the notion that any of us who attain an elected office, whether it’s dogcatcher or president, are servants of the people. It’s a temporary job.”

Speaking to King, the former world leader said presidents are “not above the rules.”

“We’re not above the law, that’s the essence of our democracy,” he said.

In a preview for “CBS This Morning,” Mr. Obama reflected on the start of his own administration and how his experience was different from the circumstances the current presidential transition.

“When Donald Trump won, I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning and I then called Donald Trump to congratulate him. His margin of victory over Hillary Clinton wasn’t greater than Joe Biden’s margin over him,” he said.

He continued: “But if you are listening to some of the talk radio that Trump voters are listening to, if you’re watching Fox News, if you’re getting these tweets, those allegations are presented as facts. So you’ve got millions of people out there who think, ‘Oh yeah, there must be cheating because the president said so.'”

While Obama is saying how great he is to have congratulated Trump in the wee morning hours after the 2016 election results were called, he also takes the opportunity in his response to trash conservatives over Fox News, the network he told his staff to boycott while president, at least for a while. He was so partisan against Fox that he kicked one of its reporters off Air Force One. The rest of the White House beat reporters objected and he finally allowed Fox back on the presidential jet. Actions like this make Obama’s grousing about Trump’s behavior when he goes outside of the norms a bit much to accept. Obama frequently exhibited petty behavior (“I won, John.”) and is so lacking of self-awareness that he doesn’t understand that his behavior helped pave the way for a Trump administration. I do think he understands, by the way, I think he just doesn’t care. His narcissism rivals Trump’s.

President Trump is entitled to pursue his options on vote counting. There may not be voting fraud in big enough numbers to change the election results but to deny widespread voter fraud, in general, is just a lie. There is always voter fraud in elections, however small it may be, but it’s there. Trump isn’t totally off base in saying so. The 2020 election has a whole new layer of problems because of the massive use of mail-in ballots. There sure looks like some serious ballot harvesting was going on in some locations. I would argue that it strengthens our constitutional republic to let the process play out instead of pointing a finger at Trump and accusing him of having “no legal basis” to question the results.

In the 60 Minutes interview Obama says he is troubled by Republican officials who are “going along with” President Donald Trump’s “baseless” accusations of widespread voter fraud. He accuses Trump of going “one more step in delegitimizing not just the incoming Biden administration, but democracy generally.” He says it puts the U.S. on a “dangerous path.” My, my. That is quite a charge. I thought the election of Joe Biden saved democracy, and the world in general, for that matter. Democrats have repeatedly accused President Trump of destroying democracy for the past four years. Democrats have engaged in gaslighting Americans for the entire Trump term in office.

Barack Obama likes to talk about Trump as a president who acts unpresidential. Obama, and his wife, however, violate the traditional behavior of past presidents over and over. Both have remained on the stage and vocally criticized the current president. Past presidents usually go off and pursue personal interests while saying we have one president at a time. Spare us the lectures on civility and decorum. Just a few days ago, Michelle Obama congratulated Biden by trashing GOP voters.

Joe Biden received 75 million votes, the most of any presidential candidate. President Trump, though, received the second-highest number with more than 70 million votes. The country is divided along party lines. The Obama administration had a role in the evolution of that divisiveness. He promised hope and change but the change he delivered was on a partisan basis. Obamacare, his signature legacy item, was rammed through on a solely partisan vote. Obama doesn’t get to be the wise elder who bloviates about unity and seeking our better angels. Obama even hit the campaign trail to get out the black vote for Biden, though past presidents refrain from becoming involved in presidential campaigns.

The new book from Obama is more than 700 pages. It is part one of his presidential memoirs. Obama would do well to try to show a bit more restraint in interviews and public statements instead of slamming Republicans. If he wants to complain about presidential behavior, he should listen to his own remarks. Obama should lead by example. Our election process isn’t perfect. Voter fraud does exist. Trump is entitled to pursue his options and his supporters, whether in elected office or not, are entitled to show that support without disparaging words from a former president who should know better. Be Best, Barack.