LSU President F. King Alexander, freshman forward Ben Simmons and a host of various community and political figures packed into the McKinley Senior High School gymnasium Thursday morning to see President Barack Obama for a town hall style talk in the capital city.
Levity permeated the gymnasium as Obama joked with the crowd, receiving big laughs and booming applause. His speech lasted around 10 minutes, then he opened the floor up for a much longer “conversation,” taking individual questions from the crowd.
This visit was Obama’s first to Baton Rouge, and 10th to Louisiana during his presidency. Most of his other visits focused on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill and Hurricane Katrina’s fifth and 10th anniversaries respectively, which included a visit to New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward last year.
One young Baton Rouge man asked Obama about the biggest regret of his presidency.
“It’s a great question, although, had you been watching my State of the Union on Tuesday,” Obama joked, “he might have known that I already answered that question.”
But the president repeated his answer from Tuesday’s address, saying he regrets that America has gotten more “rancorous” and “polarized” during his seven years in office.
Three hours before Obama’s remarks, a line spanned multiple blocks in the neighborhood surrounding McKinley, as people talked about “camping out” earlier in the week for tickets to see the president. Hundreds lined the highway to see Obama’s motorcade pass through on the way from the hotel to the high school.
McKinley students filed into the bleachers as a buzz filled the gymnasium while the high school band played music for more than two hours before the president spoke. The packed crowd included hundreds of McKinley students, as well as LSU, Tulane University and Southern University students.
Obama lauded Gov. John Bel Edwards for his “bold and wise” move in expanding Medicaid. Edwards campaigned on the promise to expand Medicaid, saying former Gov. Bobby Jindal missed out on millions in federal money for Louisiana, instead letting the money go to other states that did expand the program.
“And by the way, it will actually help the state’s finances, and it shows you why elections matter,” Obama said. “Right now we’re hoping to encourage more states to do the right thing.”
A White House statement released Thursday outlined a legislative proposal for the upcoming year that would allow states like Louisiana to gain back some of the federal dollars it missed out on before Medicaid expansion.
As Edwards looks down the barrel of mounting budget issues this year, Obama said Edwards assumes the governorship much in the same way Obama took over the oval office, having to “clean up some stuff.”
Obama also reiterated his desire for positivity from his State of the Union address Tuesday, indirectly chiding Republicans’ negative, doomsday rhetoric. His talk included encouraging everyone in the room to vote in the next elections, especially to shore up support for policies like Medicaid expansion.
He added that times of “extraordinary change,” such as now, are unsettling, but that America is the strongest nation on Earth.
“It can seem, sometimes, especially during political season, when everyone is running around saying everything is terrible, and let’s find somebody to blame, that our politics won’t meet the moment,” he said.
Obama’s itinerary for the last year of his presidency includes many “fun trips,” and he said he may come back to Baton Rouge for LSU football.
Obama dismissed the possibility of first lady Michelle Obama running for president, after a member of the crowd posed the question.
“There are three things that are certain in life: Death, taxes and Michelle is not running for president,” he said.

Gallery • 12 Photos

Nicholas Martino

Students and fans gather outside to see President Barack Obama addresses the public on Thursday, January 14, 2016 at Mckinley High School in Baton Rouge.