'I Forgot What a Grown-Up President Sounds Like': Obama Gets Lots of Twitter Love as He Makes First Public Speech Since Leaving Office
Many fans on Twitter were missing former President Barack Obama more than ever as he delivered his first public remarks since leaving office during a forum in his adopted hometown of Chicago on Monday.
At the event, which was held at the University of Chicago, Obama reflected on how he got his political start as a community organizer in the city more than 30 years ago, and facilitated a town hall-style forum on community organizing and civic engagement with young leaders from area schools.
He opened his remarks with a joke, asking the crowd: “So uh, what’s been going on while I’ve been gone?”
“On the back end now of my presidency, now that it’s completed, I’m spending a lot of time thinking about what is the most important thing I can do for my next job?” he continued. “And what I’m convinced is that - although there are all kinds of issues that I care about and all kinds of issues that I intend to work on - the single most important thing I can do is to help in any way I can prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton and to take their own crack at changing the world.”
The former president added that he has been “encouraged” by the “tolerant and thoughtful and entrepreneurial” young people he has met in his travels around the country. So the question now, he says, is: “Are there ways in which we can knock down some of the barriers that are discouraging young people about a life of service? And if there are, I want to work with them to knock down those barriers. And to get this next generation and to accelerate their move towards leadership.”
Obama’s first public event of his post-presidency was met with an outpouring of love and support on Twitter, with many comparing him favorably against his successor, President Donald Trump. Here’s what some people are saying:
#MSNBC live with Obama right now. Boy oh boy, I forgot what a grown up president sounds like. PS I bet this has Trumpy-kins all worked up.
- champersAP (@rogerNYC77) April 24, 2017
Complete sentences, sense of humor without insulting others, no lies. I miss President Obama!!!
- Ivan (@pseudo_hunter) April 24, 2017
I MISSED OBAMA.
And having a president with actual empathy.- Zerlina Maxwell (@ZerlinaMaxwell) April 24, 2017
Watching President Obama speak with this brilliant group of people made me realize how much I missed intelligent, comprehensive sentences.
- Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) April 24, 2017
It39;s so strange watching and listening to President Obama right now. It feels like ages ago that this sense of calm I feel was mundane.
- Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) April 24, 2017
Obama39;s first post-White House public speech is at noon EST, in case you39;ve forgotten what an actual president is supposed to sound like.
- Gabe Ortíz (@TUSK81) April 24, 2017
Watching Obama on TV with young panel you see and hear decency, looking and listening to Trump you see a fraudulent scumbag.
- George Hill (@george62122222) April 24, 2017
Watching Obama be his smart, funny, compassionate and engaging self is a great reminder of how completely abnormal everything is now.
- The Resisterhood (@resisterhood) April 24, 2017
Was just watching President Obama39;s talk at The University of Chicago and for a brief moment I forgot Trump existed
- Ariba Siddiqui (@asiddiqui94) April 24, 2017
Though Obama has indirectly criticized Trump since his inauguration, he did not mention his successor during the forum. A source told The Hill earlier this month: “It’s not in anyone’s interest ... for [Obama] to become the face of the resistance or narrate the Trump presidency. He’s acutely aware that when [Trump] speaks, he sucks up all the oxygen, and that suppresses the next generation of leaders from rising.”
Obama’s two-day trip to Chicago marks his reentry into public life and comes after a series of vacations with family and friends - including trips to Palm Springs, California, Richard Branson’s private island in the British Virgin Islands, and an exclusive resort in French Polynesia.
On Sunday, Obama began his Chicago visit by meeting privately with at-risk young men on the South Side to talk about gang violence, jobs skills and employment, a spokesman told the Chicago Tribune. The meeting, which was not open to the media, was with members of a program created by Obama’s longtime friend and former education secretary, Arne Duncan, the newspaper reported.
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Obama’s next public outing will come on May 7, when he will visit Boston to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. The former president will also meet with his one-time “closest ally,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in Berlin next month - on the same day President Trump is set to meet with other NATO leaders in Brussels.
Obama’s wife, former First Lady Michelle Obama, is also returning to the public spotlight soon. She and former President Bill Clinton will both participate in the 2017 Partnership for a Healthier America Summit to end childhood obesity in Washington, D.C. May 10-12.