Petition calls for Obama to run for office in France
Barack Obama might not be the most popular President among a certain segment of America, but the French are electing a new President in April and many are saying they want to see Obama run.
The Obama17 petition is looking to gather 1 million signatures to convince the former US president to run for office in France.
Approximately 500 posters encouraging people to go and sign the petition have popped up all over Paris recently.
The slogan on the signs say, “Oui on peut”, which is French for “Yes we can.”
According to the website, Obama “has the best resume in the world for the job.”
“We wish to strike a blow by electing a foreign president at the head of our beautiful country,” the website says.
“Barack Obama has completed his second term as president of the United States… why not hire him as president for France?”
— Obama greeted by applause while spotted out in NYC —
There are, of course, some roadblocks to this plan. Obama would have to learn French and become a citizen to be considered for the role.
The creators of the petition have asked to remain anonymous and they told NPR that they set it up as a joke invented out of frustration about French politicians.
“We were thinking about French politics and saying that we were fed up with the fact that we all the time had to vote against someone and how it would be cool to be able to vote for someone we admire. We came up with Obama,” one of the creators said.
“It’s definitely a joke. But it could make people think a little bit about what we could do differently in French politics… the idea was to make people wake up.”