Politics

The Kickoff To Obama’s Foundation Just As Weird, Culty As You’d Guess

REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski - RC1157C27510

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Jack Crowe Political Reporter
Font Size:

The Obama Foundation Summit offered Democrats a chance to escape the realty of Donald Trump’s presidency but doing yoga and writing down their hopes for the country in sidewalk chalk.

The summit, held in Chicago Wednesday to commemorate the launch of the Obama Foundation, attracted prominent Democratic politicians, fundraisers and celebrities, some of whom told Politico the event was “therapeutic” and represented a “sanity bubble.”

After participating in a morning yoga and meditation session to begin the day, attendees were offered the opportunity to attend break out sessions with titles such as “The Adventure of Civility” and “Who Narrates the World?.” In one such session participants were encouraged to write down what they were hopeful for on a chalk board. Answers included “we speak better and listen,” “Americans will see each other,” “my nephews can escape toxic masculinity,” according to Politico.

After the therapeutic exercises, author Anand Giridharadas regaled the crowd with an opening speech, in which he asked pressing questions such as “Is there space among the woke for the still-waking?” and spoke of the “magic” of connectivity.

The upbeat two-day event included no discussion of contemporary political issues and attendees invoked the phrase “the President” to refer to former President Barack Obama.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama took to the stage Wednesday to provide some specifics regarding the mission of the Obama Presidential Center, a project of the Obama Foundation, explaining that the center will bring art, music and creativity to the residents of Chicago.

The mission of the broader Obama Foundation remains somewhat obscure, and the opening summit included little in the way of concrete details. Rather, Obama told the crowd that he saw the summit as a “big brainstorming session.”

“Our goal is not to present some fixed theory of how change happens,” Obama told participants in his opening address. “Our goal is not … to pump you with a whole bunch of power point, data and a blueprint for how you are going to go back and do the stuff you’re already doing even better. Because, in many ways, we want to learn from you as much as we want to share what we’ve learned.”

Follow Jack on Twitter

 

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel