--- title: President Obama Knows What He Wants to Do After White House description: "What I am interested in is just developing a whole new generation of talent," he said canonical: https://time.com/4606711/president-obama-democrats-coach/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-19T18:06:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:23:15.315Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama Knows What He Wants to Do After He Leaves Office og:description: He'll be a "coach" og:url: https://time.com/4606711/president-obama-democrats-coach/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt724ea59044eb328a/6988b373ab6d777e3f6ac4d7/gettyimages-630111238.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Obama Holds Year-End Press Conference og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Knows What He Wants to Do After He Leaves Office twitter:description: He'll be a "coach" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt724ea59044eb328a/6988b373ab6d777e3f6ac4d7/gettyimages-630111238.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Knows What He Wants to Do After He Leaves Office by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 19, 2016 6:06 PM UTC  President Obama holds a year-end press conference addressing email hacking and cyber security at The White House on December 16, 2016 in Washington, DC. Leigh Vogel—WireImage President Obama holds a year-end press conference addressing email hacking and cyber security at The White House on December 16, 2016 in Washington, DC. Leigh Vogel—WireImageLeigh Vogel—WireImage by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 19, 2016 6:06 PM UTC [President Obama ](http://time.com/the-obamas-family-album/)has begun outlining the role he’ll play in politics after he leaves office next month. In his annual year-end interview with [NPR](http://www.npr.org/2016/12/19/505549311/to-rehabilitate-democratic-party-obama-plans-to-coach-young-talent), the President said he wants to serve as a “coach” for up-and-coming liberal leaders once [Donald Trump](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/) replaces him in the White House. “What I am interested in is just developing a whole new generation of talent,”Obama said. “And making sure that whatever resources, credibility, spotlight that I can bring to help them rise up. That’s something that I think I can do well, I think Michelle can do well.” Obama also criticized suggestions that Democrats should rethink their party’s policies and platform after [Hillary Clinton](http://time.com/tag/hillary-clinton/)‘s 2016 loss. The president thinks the messaging strategy was flawed, not the message itself. “I don’t think there’s something wrong with the core argument that the Democratic Party has made for years,” he told [NPR](http://www.npr.org/2016/12/19/505549311/to-rehabilitate-democratic-party-obama-plans-to-coach-young-talent). Over the years, he said, Democrats have “ceded too much territory” to Republicans on the local level. After he leaves office, the president also plans to join former Attorney General Eric Holder in [leading a redistricting campaign.](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/obama-holder-redistricting-gerrymandering-229868) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4606711/president-obama-democrats-coach/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4606711/president-obama-democrats-coach/"},"headline":"President Obama Knows What He Wants to Do After He Leaves Office","datePublished":"2016-12-19T18:06:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:23:15.315Z","description":"\"What I am interested in is just developing a whole new generation of talent,\" he said","url":"https://time.com/4606711/president-obama-democrats-coach/","keywords":["White House","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic","Barack Obama","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt724ea59044eb328a/6988b373ab6d777e3f6ac4d7/gettyimages-630111238.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt724ea59044eb328a/6988b373ab6d777e3f6ac4d7/gettyimages-630111238.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Holds Year-End Press Conference","caption":"President Obama Holds Year-End Press Conference","creditText":"Leigh Vogel—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4606711/president-obama-democrats-coach/","name":"President Obama Knows What He Wants to Do After He Leaves Office"}}]}] ```