Jeffrey Keeten asked Barack Obama:

In the prologue of his book The World as It Is, which is also a chapter in your book, (Did Rhodes poach that title from you? :-) ), Ben Rhodes shares this scene where you both muse about the implications of the successful election of Donald Trump. ”’I don’t know,’ [you] said. ‘Sometimes I wonder whether I was ten or twenty years too early.’” Do you still believe that to be true?

Barack Obama Your first question is easy: Ben did poach that title from me. As for your second, I do still believe that. It’s not that I considered waiting longer to run, but rather that this young generation coming up is more engaged, more open to diversity and inclusiveness, and more passionate about solving problems like climate change and gun violence and remaking an unequal economy that gives everybody an equal shot than some older generations. I did say in 2008 that I was running because I didn’t want to see America kick the can down the road another four years, or eight years, on those issues, so having them fully in the fight would have made my presidency easier, that’s for sure. Some of my staff, however, argue that I was right on time – that even if it was uncomfortable, my presidency accelerated a long overdue grappling with issues that we’ve left buried too long, that even if it was disruptive, it accelerated some of the changes we need. It’s not lost on me that some of them are the oldest millennials now, a transition to that younger generation coming up.

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