(Photo Source: cbc.ca)

Former president favors women as world leaders

The United States is one of few Western nations to never have a female leader. Former President Barack Obama says that’s a shame, because women make better world leaders than men.

“Now women, I just want you to know; you are not perfect, but what I can say pretty indisputably is that you’re better than us [men],” Obama said during a speech in Singapore for the Obama Foundation, the charitable group he founded after leaving office in 2017. “I’m absolutely confident that for two years if every nation on earth was run by women, you would see significant improvement across the board on just about everything… living standards and outcomes.”

During the speech, Obama dodged questions about whether he would ever get back into politics, saying that established politicians need to “get out of the way” and make room for young, dynamic new leaders.

“If you look at the world and look at the problems it’s usually old people, usually old men, not getting out of the way,” he said. “It is important for political leaders to try and remind themselves that you are there to do a job, but you are not there for life, you are not there in order to prop up your own sense of self-importance or your own power.”

After leaving the White House, Barack Obama and his wife, former First Lady Michelle Obama, set up the Obama Foundation to mentor emerging leaders worldwide.