what is the complete sentence?

That is a complete sentence. But if you're asking what it would be like if the stammerings uhs were taken out, this is it:

They don't idealize politicians the way that they did when I was growing up.

In my opinion, what he trys to say may be,
"They don't idealize politicians in the way that we/I did when I grew up". What do you think of it?

That is a poorly written sentence. Dr. Poussaint means, "When my friends and I were growing up, politicians were respected figures."

How can reported speech be "poorly written"? Anyway, Dr Poussaint is not drawing attention to the lack of respect, but lack of idealization, a nuance missing from your suggested sentence.

Contrex--

Admirable criticism. Now, can you answer the poster's question?

Oh! Right! Actually, I made a mistake. I said the quoted sentence in the original post is reported speech. It is not. It is quoted speech.

The meaning of the poster's question is not at all clear. He or she asks,



What does "the complete sentence" mean? Literally, it means "All of the sentence spoken by Dr. Alvin".

Here it is:-



That is an exact transcription, we presume, of the sounds uttered by "Dr. Alvin". ("Dr. Poussaint" would be better.)

If what is desired (and this is by no means clear) is the doctor's utterances rendered into standard English, with hesitations and repetitions removed, then I suggest the following:-

Dr. Alvin Poussaint: They don't idealize politicians in the way that they did when I grew up.

If what is desired is a decent piece of reported speech, then the task becomes more interesting. Some editing will be needed. It will be necessary to consider how to deal with informalities such as "they", and the rather clumsy, colloquial way Dr Poussaint expressed himself. I wonder if Dr Poussaint meant that, at the time he was speaking, politicians were not idealized as much as they were when he was growing up (note tense). I do not think that he meant that politicians were idealized to the same extent but in a different way. However there is not enough evidence for me to feel safe in making such a profound alteration. So I'll suggest:-

Doctor Alvin Poussaint said that politicians were not idealized in the way that they were when he was growing up.

I posted: "In the following passage, what's the complete sentence of what Dr. Alvin says?" Yes, this is not clear. I just want to check out what the Doctor try to say. So I'd like you to tell me how to express my question, thank you.

And Contrex suggested:
Dr. Alvin Poussaint: They don't idealize politicians in the way that they did when I grew up.
Then I feel there is a problem of tense--"They don't idealize" is present tense, but "they did" is past tense.

There is no problem of tense.

Dr. Alvin Poussaint: They don't (present tense) idealize politicians (now) in the way that they did (past tense) when I grew up.












Dr Poussaint is comparing the way "they" idealize politicians