Barack Obama was always a generationally gifted storyteller, as I was reminded earlier this month when I sat down to interview him in Chicago—one of the perks of emceeing this year’s Democracy Forum, the annual gathering of the Obama Foundation. The one-day event, timed to coincide with the 15th anniversary of Obama’s 2008 election, was nostalgic at times, recalling a political era of hope and change. But Obama himself was mostly focused on looking forward: to the rapid and destabilizing force of A.I. and the tenuous state of democracy around the world, as well as the exploding war between Israel and Hamas. There was a mix of urgency, humility, and, yes, still some hope in the air. 

In our time together onstage, I asked the former president how he would apply the practice of democracy and citizenship to address the problems of climate, technology, the economy, and our media ecosystem. Not a simple prompt! But in classic Obama fashion, he spoke thoughtfully about the tension and multiple truths of the moment. Perhaps most poignantly, he reframed the question as a challenge: “How do we take the understanding that everybody’s stories matter,” he said, “and then still find the possibility of finding common ground?”