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Obama Speaks In Chicago

Barack Obama was back in Chicago today for his first big appearance since leaving the White House three months ago.  Obama sat on a University of Chicago stage with six young people to talk about issues he’d like to address now that he’s no longer president.

Obama lamented how gerrymandered legislative districts are, the amount of money in politics, and how so much media discourse aligns people with either Fox News or MSNBC.

"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 also said he’s working on a book about his own journey in politics.  He told a crowd at the University of Chicago he’s been thinking about his 2000 campaign against incumbent South Side Congressman Bobby Rush.  The only campaign Obama lost.

"That was probably the sole time in my political career where I think I ran more just because it was the next thing rather than running because I had a good theory of what it is that I wanted to do."