Former President Barack Obama said President Donald Trump’s antics have driven him back into politics “more than I would have preferred” ― and that time on the campaign trail has caused “genuine tension” with former first lady Michelle Obama.
“She wants to see her husband easing up and spending more time with her, enjoying what remains of our lives,” he told The New Yorker in a profile posted Monday.
“It does create a genuine tension in our household, and it frustrates her,” he continued. “I’m more forgiving of it, in the sense that I understand why people feel that way, because people aren’t looking at me in historical comparison to other Presidents. They don’t care about the fact that no other ex-President was the main surrogate for the Party for four election cycles after they left office.”
The article by Peter Slevin asks in the headline how much of an obligation Obama still has to politics, so the author asked him what more he could do.
“For me to function like Jon Stewart, even once a week, just going off, just ripping what was happening — which, by the way, I’m glad Jon’s doing it — then I’m not a political leader, I’m a commentator,” Obama said.
