Obama touts grassroots leadership in first post-presidency public remarks

Barack Obama.
(Image credit: Screenshot/Fortune)

At the University of Chicago on Monday, former President Barack Obama offered his first public remarks since leaving office in January. Obama recalled his past as a community organizer in Chicago, and said his "next job" will be to help "prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton."

Obama was at the school to serve as a moderator for a civic engagement discussion panel featuring six Chicago-area students, and he questioned the students about how the country can tackle "the barriers discouraging young people from a life of service." While he avoided mentioning President Trump in his remarks, Obama did begin by joking: "What's been going on while I've been gone?"

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