[van id=”politics/2017/04/24/president-obama-university-of-chicago-sot.cnn”]
By Bill Cameron, WLS-AM 890 News
(CHICAGO) In his first public appearance since leaving the White House, former president Barack Obama hosted a discussion on civic engagement and community organizing with six high-achieving young people at the University of Chicago.
This was a feel good media event that did not produce any new ideas about how to engage people in the political process. But on Chicago street violence, Obama did try to un-demonize the ex-cons he met privately on Sunday as he spoke with his panel of half a dozen high achievers.
“If the six of you had been in that conversation you would have come away not sayin’ (sic) these are some thugs or super predators that I can’t relate to, you’d actually say, “Man, if I had gone through what they went through, I’m not sure how things would have worked out for me, either” said Obama.
Listening to others was a recurring theme that Obama talked up on many levels.
@ 2016 WLS-AM News
