Barack Obama: activists need to have patience, waiting on the world to change

Former president Barack Obama urged community organizers and social innovators to be patient in their pursuits of wide-scale community change.

Obama made the plea during a talk Monday at the Obama Foundation summit in Chicago.

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The former president noted that patience is needed because societies are “complex, organic things that you don’t turn (like) switches. They evolve. They shift. They change.”

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Obama talked extensively about his background as a community organizer, his experiences as a politician and writing his book. He joked writing the book is a “brutal” process he says is causing strain in his marriage now that Michelle Obama has launched her book tour.

READ MORE: Obama, Trump give contrasting pitches in final stretch before midterm elections

Obama delivered his remarks from a plush chair, engaging in a conversation with author Dave Eggers.

The Obama summit is a two-day conference that brings together civic innovators and community activists from around the world to network, exchange ideas.