Along with fatherly advice, such as “I’d advise every one of you to be more circumspect about your selfies,” former President Barack Obama advised finding common ground with people on the opposite side of political arguments. (Pete Souza, The Obama-Biden Transition Project, photo)

Returning to his Chicago roots, former President Barack Obama made his first post-inauguration appearance at University of Chicago in Hyde Park April 24. He gave no fiery speech, there were no rallying cries and there was no mention of the words “Donald Trump.”

“So what’s been going on while I’ve been gone?” the former president asked the packed crowd of students from City Colleges of Chicago as well as several of the local universities. Instead of speechifying, Obama held a 1½-hour conversation with six young Chicagoans, saying he wanted to, “get this next generation to accelerate their move toward leadership.”

“I have been encouraged everywhere I go … to see how sharp and astute and tolerant and thoughtful and entrepreneurial our young people are — A lot more sophisticated than I was at their age,” he said. “ And so the question then becomes what are the ways in which we can create pathways for them to take leadership, for them to get involved?”

Perhaps because he is working on an autobiography, Obama talked about his early days hired in Chicago as a “community organizer” on the South Side of Chicago in the 1980s where the steel mills had just closed.

“I did not really know what that meant or how to do it. But I accepted the job,” he said. “I am the first to acknowledge that I did not set the world on fire. Nor did I transform these communities in any significant way, although we did some good things. But it did change me,” he told the students.

“[Chicago] gave me a lot more than I was able to give in return, because this community taught me that ordinary people, when working together, can do extraordinary things.”

The young people participating in the conversation were Pharmacist Dr. Tiffany Brown, a graduate of Chicago State University; Kenwood Academy high school student Ayanna Watkins and Community organizer and a recent candidate for state representative Harish Patel. There were also three undergraduates: Ramuel Figueroa from Roosevelt University, Max M. Freedman from University of Chicago and Kelsey McClear from Loyola University Chicago.

Along with fatherly advice, such as “I’d advise every one of you to be more circumspect about your selfies,” Obama advised finding common ground with people on the opposite side of political arguments.

This came up with immigration, when Figueroa mentioned his work as a research volunteer with day laborers who had become fearful because of the immigration climate.

“Generally speaking immigration is a good example of an issue that stirs up so much passion and misinformation, it’s hard for us to have a good healthy conversation about it,” Obama said. “Historically, when you look at surveys, the overwhelming majority of Americans believe America is a nation of immigrants who have brought wealth and prosperity for country. But, at the same time, they also believe immigration should be orderly, not haphazard. They’re frustrated that folks are breaking the rules or cutting the line.”

But, he said, certain ideas can alienate people, such as “anybody who has problems [with immigration] is automatically a racist. That’s an example of us being unable to listen,” he said. “Have some respect for the people who you may be able to win over.”

Obama also talked about failure, political and otherwise, when asked by Patel, an immigrant Muslim entrepreneur who lost a 2016 primary challenge against incumbent Jaime Andrade in a Northwest Side district.

Obama said the first race he lost was when he challenged Congressman Bobby Rush.

“That was probably the sole time in my political career that I [ran] just because it was the next thing,” he said.

“Worry less about what you want to be than what you want to do,” he continued. “When you’re more concerned with I want to be a congressman or a senator, or rich, well some people may succeed in chasing that goal, but when they get there they don’t know what to do with it, and if they don’t get there, they don’t have anything to show for it.”

Those words struck home for Figueroa after the event, he said.

“That was a huge takeaway for me,” Figueroa said. “It reaffirms some of the things I was interested in working with and want to get involved in.”

After serving three years as a cavalry scout in the U.S. Army in South Korea and Fort Camel, Tenn., Figueroa said he was helped by a veterans program to enter Roosevelt University. He graduates this summer.

“It’s a good feeling to meet someone you would never meet in your life, and to know [he] could have so much influence over you,” he said.

Other Chicagoans said the conversation brought out Obama’s flaws as well as his strengths.

“He’s called no-drama Obama, and I believe that he wasn’t a good community organizer,” said Anna Marin de Gutierrez, movement politics organizer for Jane Addams Senior Caucus. “While he was in office, that may have made him not able to get as much stuff done. He was unwilling to create tension, which is what [successful] community organizers do. He was trying to go for peace,” she said.

“You have to be able to engage in moments of intense conflict to push sides to achieve any real change,” she said. “I don’t know if he was a very good politician, but he offered something bigger than politics,” she said.

True immigration reform was one of the things missing from the Obama presidency, said Latino Union Executive Director Analía Rodríguez. Deportations of undocumented immigrants rose during Obama’s two terms.

“I think when we ask questions of him, now, there has to be accountability, in terms of what he did during presidency,” she said. “It is the structure [Obama] created that now President Trump is using, to intimidate and criminalize immigrants.”

Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama are at work on the Obama Presidential Center, planned for Hyde Park, and their Obama Foundation.

“The reason I’m always optimistic, even when things are not going the way I want, is because of young people like this,” Obama said at the end of the event. “It gives you a sense of what’s possible for this country. My hope is that working with young leaders and organizations like this … my foundation and presidential center will provide more pathways for young people to get involved.”

— Obama praises young leadership at first post-presidential appearance —