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Former President Obama sees his post-presidency role as a guide for future generations of political leaders, he said Monday during his first remarks since leaving office.

At the University of Chicago, Obama said he believes young people are going to be able to solve problems in the world that he wasn't able to tackle as president.

"The single most important thing I can do is to help, in any way I can, the next generation of leadership to take up the baton and take their own crack at changing the world," Obama said, "because the one thing that I'm absolutely convinced of is, yes, we confront a whole bunch of challenges ... they're serious, they're daunting, but they're not insolvable."

Obama spoke for a short period at the university before turning it over to a panel discussion. The focus of Obama's appearance was to discuss civic engagement and community organizing.

Obama spent much of his opening remarks talking about his history in Chicago and what it meant to him to be a community organizer. He said the experiences that shaped his philosophies for the presidency all took place in Chicago.

"This community gave me a lot more than I was able to give in return, because this community taught me that ordinary people when working together can do extraordinary things," he said.

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Obama: The 'most important thing I can do' is prepare next generation of leaders - Washington Examiner

Former President Barack Obama on Monday gave his first public address since leaving office, moderating a panel with young people on community engagement while dancing around the turmoil surrounding his White House successor.

"So, uh, what's been going on while I've been gone?" Obama deadpanned at the beginning of his opening remarks at the University of Chicago.

The former president's re-emergence on the public scene comes just before President Trump's 100-day mark on Saturday. Since leaving office, Obama has taken an extended vacation with former first lady Michelle, attended Broadway performances and began working on his memoirs.

But in moderating the panel of six young civic leaders in the Chicago area, Obama underscored that it's conversations like these he hopes to facilitate in his next act.

"I'm spending a lot of time thinking about what is the most important thing I can do for my next job," Obama said, adding: "The single most important thing I can do is to help in any way I can to prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton and to take their own crack at changing the world."

While his return to the public eye wasn't overtly political in nature or in tone, he did bemoan the divisions in the country. He admitted that his famed comment that there were "not red states and blue states" made during his 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote address was "aspirational" but one he still believes in.

He also reflected on the time he spent in Chicago as a community organizer before going to law school, later returning to the University of Chicago to teach constitutional law before he launched his political career.

"I am the first to acknowledge that I did not set the world on fire" with his work as community organizer, Obama laughed.

But, he continued, the experience he had working for change in the community "taught me that ordinary people, when working together, can do extraordinary things. This community taught me that everybody has a story to tell that is important," and that despite divisions, people have "common hopes and dreams, common aspirations, common values."

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Obama Returns To Public Stage, Encouraging Next Generation To 'Take Up The Baton' - KUOW News and Information

Former President Barack Obama on Monday partly blamed the nation's splintered politics on a media structure that lets people only listen to or read media outlets they agree with, which prevents them from hearing the other side.

"Because of changes in the media, we now have a situation in which everybody is listening to people who already agree with them, and are further and further reinforcing their own realities to the neglect of the common reality that allows us to have a healthy debate, and then try to find common ground and actually move solutions forward," Obama said in his first set of remarks since he left the White House in January.

Obama said other problems include the gerrymandering, money in politics and the control over the government by special interests.

He also seemed to acknowledge that he did less to bring people together than he had hoped.

"When I said in 2004 that there were no red states or blue states, there are the United States of America, that was an aspirational comment," he said.

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Obama slams media that lets people reinforce 'their own realities' - Washington Examiner

Former President Barack Obama made his first public remarks since leaving office, speaking to young people at the University of Chicago.

Obama encouraged young people to get involved, not to become "cynical" and give up on the political process.

He said those negative attitudes toward politics are having a "pernicious" effect, leading to "some of the lowest voting rates of any advanced democracy."

"[That] translates into a further gap between who's governing us and what we believe," he said, not mentioning President Trump specifically.

He emphasized that only young people can solve that problem, saying he wants to focus on "knocking down barriers" which prevent civic engagement.

"If that happens, I think we're gonna be just fine," said Obama.

The 44th president also called out "changes in the media," which he argued are preventing Americans from working together to find common ground and solve problems.

"Everybody's listening to people who already agree with them, further and further reinforcing their own realities to the neglect of a common reality," he said.

He looked back on his 2004 comment in which he said there aren't red or blue states, "only the United States."

Obama said that was an "aspirational" statement, but one that he still believes in, explaining that people tend to have a lot more in common when they speak to each other one-on-one.

In an interview last week, his longtime adviser Valerie Jarrett said that Obama was looking forward to getting involved again.

Jarrett said Obama was eager to get back to his community organizer roots and to focus on helping the Democratic Party identify future leaders.

Watch the remarks above.

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Obama Speaks in Chicago: 'There's a Gap Between Who's Governing Us and What We Believe' - Fox News Insider

New York Times

Vacation's Over: Obama Returns to Public Life Next Week New York Times Even as he witnesses President Trump's relentless and chaotic assault on his legacy, Mr. Obama remains stubbornly committed to the idea that there is only one president at a time. Those closest to him say the former president does not intend to ... Obama to make first post-presidency public appearance in Chicago next weekWashington Post After months of quiet travel, Obama to speak in ChicagoCNN Ex-President Barack Obama to hold first public event since leaving office, in Chicago on MondayChicago Tribune Los Angeles Times -New York Magazine -Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription) (blog) -The Hill all 96 news articles »

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Vacation's Over: Obama Returns to Public Life Next Week - New York Times