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Obama: I Hope to Create 'A Million Young Barack Obamas'

March 26, 2018

Former President Barack Obama said he hopes to create a "million young Barack Obamas" through his foundation's work in developing progressive leaders.

Obama told an audience in Japan that the most important thing he could in his post-White House life would be to help develop the next generation of leaders, which is one of the main missions of his nonprofit Obama Foundation.

"After I left office, what I realized is that the Obama Foundation could potentially create a platform for young up-and-coming leaders ... to come together, to meet together, create a digital platform where they could exchange information on an ongoing basis about projects they were working on, that if I could do that effectively, then I would create a hundred or a thousand or a million young Barack Obamas or Michelle Obamas, the next group of people who could take that baton in that relay race that is human progress and continue to build on the work that we have done," Obama said.

Obama has largely stayed out of the political fray since leaving office, but he has campaigned for Democrats and tweeted in support of progressive causes, such as the March for Our Lives gun control rallies across the country on Saturday.