In Chicago, Obama tells young leaders that 'special interests dominate the debates in Washington'

[DonViejo]

By Amber Phillips and Juliet Eilperin April 24 at 4:41 PM

CHICAGO — In his first public appearance since leaving the White House in January, former president Barack Obama told young leaders here Monday that “special interests dominate the debates in Washington” and that getting involved in their communities is the best antidote to the divisiveness dominating the country's politics.

Obama, who has kept a relatively low public profile since the end of his second term, did not mention President Trump once during the 90-minute event at the University of Chicago, but said he was determined to galvanize younger Americans to do more politically because they were the ones best positioned to bridge the current political divide.

“The single most important thing I can do is to help in any way prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton and to take their own crack at changing the world,” said Obama, who sat onstage, wearing a black suit, white button-down shirt and no tie, with a half-dozen Chicago-area activists in their teens and 20s, as dozens more student leaders watched on.

He admitted that he failed to realize his “aspirational” goal of uniting Americans in red and blue states, but said the country is not as divided as it sometimes seems.

“That was an aspirational comment,” the former president said of his famous 2004 Democratic National Convention speech, prompting laughter from the audience at the University of Chicago. He added that when talking to individual Americans from different political backgrounds, you learn that “there’s a lot more that people have in common” than it would appear. “But, obviously, it’s not true when it comes to our politics and our civic life.”

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/04/24/in-chicago-obama-tells-young-leaders-that-special-interests-dominate-the-debates-in-washington/?utm_term=.046e44177f03&wpisrc=nl_politics&wpmm=1

[zipplewrath]

1. Unfortunately, it also became policy

He admitted that he failed to realize his “aspirational” goal of uniting Americans in red and blue states, but said the country is not as divided as it sometimes seems.

“That was an aspirational comment,” the former president said of his famous 2004 Democratic National Convention speech, prompting laughter from the audience at the University of Chicago.

Unfortunately, despite repeated warnings, it also became policy. And one that did not serve him well.