Critics attack Obama’s narcissistic comments on progress, making ‘young Barack Obamas’
Former President Barack Obama is under attack after his Sunday remarks on creating or mentoring “a hundred or a thousand or a million young Barack or Michelle Obamas” for the sake of progress.
During the discussion, Obama acknowledged the great potential that young people have in making a difference, pointing to the March for Our Lives anti-gun violence demonstrations, led by high schoolers, in Washington, D.C., and around the globe. He also knocked “old men” in power.
“A lot of our problems are caused by old men. No offense, men, who are old,” he quipped.
“One of the things we’re going to be spending time on, through the Foundation, is finding ways in which we can study this phenomenon of social media and the Internet to see are there ways in which we can bring people from different perspectives to start having a more civil debate and listen to each other more carefully,” Obama said.
Obama noted how he wants to use the online platform where young leaders can discuss ideas together.
“If I could do that effectively, then – you know – I would create a hundred or a thousand or a million young Barack or Michelle Obamas. Or, the next generation of people who could take that baton in the relay race that is human progress,” he said.
Fox’s Greg Gutfeld said it may be better to have a base that instead “reads something.”
“I would prefer a million Thomas Sowells,” he said, referring to the longtime conservative political thinker and theorist.
Radio talk show host Michael Savage took issue with the remarks, calling him narcissistic and a megalomaniac.