Back in limelight, Obama goes silent on his successor

: Former US President Barack Obama returned to public stage on Monday with an interactive panel discussion with young people at the University of Chicago with a politically loaded question: “So what's been going on while I was gone?”

A lot has happened since. But the former president left that conversation there, till the filing of this report. He didn’t answer his own question and did not comment on his successor, President Donald Trump, as his aides had said he would not.

Obama looked relaxed, and rested from a vacation with family and friends, and looked ready for a new role.

“What’s the most important thing I can do for my next job? Prepare the next generation of leadership to pick up the baton.”

The panel comprised students, one of whom was of Indian descent, Harish Patel.

Obama, who visited India twice as president said jokingly: “There are more Patels in India than Obamas.” HTC