President Barack Obama may not have any plans to go into the media business (despite rumours circulating the internet), but he does have some big plans for 21 January.
In a year-end interview with NPR, Obama told the publication that he wants to be a sort of "coach" for new liberal leaders:
"What I am interested in is just developing a whole new generation of talent. There are such incredibly young people who not only worked on my campaign, but I've seen in advocacy groups. I've seen [young people] passionate about issues like climate change, or conservation, criminal justice reform...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 believes that the problem with the Democratic party doesn't lie in its "core argument" but rather in its lack of connection with rural areas:
"I don't think there's something wrong with the core argument that the Democratic Party has made for years. And the reason we know that is because on the individual issues that Democrats talk about there's strong support...There are clearly, though, failures on our part to give people in rural areas or in ex-urban areas, a sense day-to-day that we're fighting for them or connected to them."
And to that we say: We've got high hopes for you, Coach Obama.
(H/T NPR)
