President Obama isn’t sure about what comes next when he leaves the White House, but he does have one plan.
“The first thing I’m probably going to do is catch up on my sleep,” Obama told an audience of young African leaders gathered in Washington for the Mandela Washington Fellowship Presidential Summit. “So I’m going do that for a couple of months,” he said in response to a young woman’s question.
“Since I still have this job for the next 18 months, I haven’t been completely focused on what I’m going to do afterwards,” Obama said before promising to try and “institutionalize” the fellowship program, now in its second year, so that subsequent administrations will continue it after he leaves office.
“One of the things I’m interested in doing is to continue to create these platforms for young leadership across the globe,” Obama said. He wants to help young leaders network and meet so they can learn from each other. “And not just in Africa,” he said, pointing to similar initiatives in Asia and Latin America.
“Eventually I want not only a network of African leaders who know each other and share ideas and best practices” but who know leaders from other continents as well, Obama said. “Ultimately, you’re going to be global leaders,” he said.
“It’s going to be a top priority of mine,” Obama added. “I will definitely continue to be involved in that.”
