--- title: Barack Obama: Read His First Remarks Since Leaving Office description: President Obama spoke to a group of young people at the University of Chicago during his first public appearance since leaving office canonical: https://time.com/4753027/barack-obama-university-of-chicago-speech-transcript/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-24T19:41:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T08:47:13.372Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Barack Obama's First Public Remarks Since Leaving Office og:description: Obama said he's thought a lot about his "next job" og:url: https://time.com/4753027/barack-obama-university-of-chicago-speech-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt828968b3759cad4c/6988ca6d7cdbac0180d580c7/gettyimages-672356520.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Former President Obama Speaks On Civic Engagement At The University Of Chicago og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Barack Obama's First Public Remarks Since Leaving Office twitter:description: Obama said he's thought a lot about his "next job" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt828968b3759cad4c/6988ca6d7cdbac0180d580c7/gettyimages-672356520.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Barack Obama's First Public Remarks Since Leaving Office > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=261aa8ae-e6fd-4bb0-9937-dd02cfc78c3c&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Barack Obama To Young Leaders: It's Time To 'Take Up The Baton" [Watch (HLS stream): Barack Obama To Young Leaders: It's Time To 'Take Up The Baton"](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6DZuxHKb.m3u8) (1:29)  _Published 2017-04-24. Former President Barack Obama said Monday that while there are lots of issues on his radar, the most important thing he believes he can do in his next job is help the next generation of leaders._ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Apr 24, 2017 7:41 PM UTC Former President Barack Obama said Monday that while there are lots of issues on his radar, the most important thing he believes he can do in his next job is help the next generation of leaders. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Apr 24, 2017 7:41 PM UTC [Former president Barack Obama](http://time.com/4752768/barack-obama-speech-university-of-chicago-young-leaders/?xid=homepage) made his first public appearance since leaving office on Monday, hosting a discussion at the University of Chicago with [students from across the city](http://time.com/4752253/barack-obama-speech-watch-online/). He said the work he did in Chicago as a community organizer laid the groundwork for his life in politics. “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,” Obama said. In his opening remarks, before chatting with students from all over the city about civic engagement and leadership, Obama said he’d thought a lot about what he wants to do for his “next job.” “And what I’m convinced of 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,” Obama said. Read the full remarks here: --- > “” --- ## Transcript [00:03] So, what's been going on while I've been gone? [00:04] [ LAUGH ] On the back end now of my presidency, [00:09] not that it's completed, I'm spending [00:13] a lot of time thinking about what is the most important [00:16] thing I can do for my next job. [ LAUGH ] [00:23] And what I am convinced [00:27] of is that, although there are all [00:31] kinds of issues that I care about, and all kinds of [00:35] issues that I intend to work on, the [00:39] single most important thing I can do is To help, [00:44] in any way I can, prepare the next generation of [00:48] leadership to take up the baton and [00:52] to [00:54] take their own crack at change in the world. Because of [00:57] changes in the media, we now have a situation [01:02] in which Everybody's listening to people who [01:06] already agree with them, and are further and further [01:09] reinforcing their own realities to [01:14] the neglect of a common reality that allows us [01:19] to have a healthy debate, And then [01:23] try to find common ground and actually move solutions [01:28] forward. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4753027/barack-obama-university-of-chicago-speech-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4753027/barack-obama-university-of-chicago-speech-transcript/"},"headline":"Read Barack Obama's First Public Remarks Since Leaving Office","datePublished":"2017-04-24T19:41:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T08:47:13.372Z","description":"Obama said he's thought a lot about his \"next job\"","url":"https://time.com/4753027/barack-obama-university-of-chicago-speech-transcript/","keywords":["Barack Obama","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt828968b3759cad4c/6988ca6d7cdbac0180d580c7/gettyimages-672356520.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/blt828968b3759cad4c/6988ca6d7cdbac0180d580c7/gettyimages-672356520.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Former President Obama Speaks On Civic Engagement At The University Of Chicago","caption":"Former President Obama Speaks On Civic Engagement At The University Of Chicago","creditText":"Scott Olson—Getty Images","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":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4753027/barack-obama-university-of-chicago-speech-transcript/","name":"Read Barack Obama's First Public Remarks Since Leaving Office"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Barack Obama To Young Leaders: It's Time To 'Take Up The Baton\"","description":"Former President Barack Obama said Monday that while there are lots of issues on his radar, the most important thing he believes he can do in his next job is help the next generation of leaders.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/6DZuxHKb/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-04-24T17:53:35.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6DZuxHKb.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4753027/barack-obama-university-of-chicago-speech-transcript/","duration":"PT1M29S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4753027/barack-obama-university-of-chicago-speech-transcript/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```