Imagine the sense of relief that comes after hanging up your eight-years-old, very well-worn political boots, and heading off to kick it with Richard Branson at his private island in the Caribbean.

Barack and Michelle have been enjoying their post POTUS and FLOTUS holiday, spotted on yachts and at lavish parties, but it was only a matter of time until the Obamas came home.

That home is Chicago, which is where Barack made his first public appearance since handing over the reins to the Orange Menace. His time away has done nothing to dull his sense of humour, evident from his wry “so what’s been going on?” chirp right out of the blocks:

Then there was the moment he confronted his age – given that he has a daughter headed to university soon this can’t be too surprising:

On a more serious note, some of what he had to say courtesy of the Guardian:

Obama’s political afterlife – he is still only 55 – has been the subject of much speculation and he has evidently been pondering the issue himself since leaving the White House on 20 January. On Monday he provided an answer: he will concentrate, above all, on trying to fix America’s dysfunctional politics.

“I’m spending a lot of time thinking about what is the most important thing I can do for my next job and what I’m convinced of is that, although there are all kinds of issues that I care about and all kinds of issues that I intend to work on, 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”…

“I want to work with them to knock down those barriers and get this next generation to accelerate their move toward that leadership. If that happens, I think we’re going to be just fine”…

He did not mention Trump by name but did offer a coded attack on his anti-immigration crackdown, saying it was important for critics to understand that foreigners coming to the US were “overwhelmingly families who are just looking for a better life for their children. I would say, sometimes in crowds that didn’t want to hear, it’s not like everyone in Ellis Island had all their papers straight”…

“If you look what what said was about Irish when they were coming here … They talked about them the same way people talk about immigrants today … The realities of seeing immigrants as people, not other, is important.”

But the former president also called on pro-immigration advocates to have “respect” for those who are concerned about the system and not assume they are “automatically racist”. He observed: “That’s an example of us being able to listen.”

Trump and Obama, night and day.

[source:guardian]