Former U.S. President Barack Obama will jet into Glasgow, Scotland, on Monday for a lightning visit to the COP26 climate conference. While there he will tell “old folks” to clear the way for the younger generation one week after 78-year-old President Joe Biden addressed the same gathering.
It will be Obama’s first visit to Scotland since 2017 when the 60-year-old spoke to a selection of local business leaders and politicians before heading off to play a round golf at St Andrews, the Daily Record reports.
The visit was announced on social media where Obama detailed his hopes for a renewal of “the fight against climate change.”
The ex-U.S. leader has also recorded a video message saying he was looking forward to joining youth activists in the city and helping them make their voices heard about the state of the environment. He said:
From the perspective of the Obama Foundation, one of the things I’m most excited about is to see the young activists from around the world who are taking up the baton and not just working in their own countries, but now forming a collective movement across borders to tell the older generation that has gotten us into this mess that we all have an obligation to dig our way out of it.
And if old folks won’t do it, get out of the way, because these young folks are coming and they’re ready to make sure that we have a sustainable planet and a better future for our kids and our grandkids.
Obama’s plea for “old folks” to give way in politics is not new.
He had the same message in 2019 when he attributed many of the world’s problems to “old people … not getting out of the way” at a leadership event in Singapore, the BBC Asia reported.
When asked if he would consider stepping back into public life or politics, Obama emphasized he believes in passing the torch to a younger generation of leaders.
“If you look at the world and look at the problems it’s usually old people, usually old men, not getting out of the way,” Obama said at the Singapore event.
As Breitbart News reported, President Joe Biden struggled to stay awake when he watched the opening speeches at the COP26 climate event.
The president, wearing a mask, sat listening to the addresses with his arms folded as his eyes began to droop. As his eyes closed for several seconds and his breathing changed, a White House aide approached to speak to him.
Video of Biden was shared on social media by Washington Post reporter Zach Purser Brown.
Biden also used his time in Glasgow to set out his climate plans and apologized for former President Donald Trump withdrawing from the Paris Climate agreement, promising to get the United States back on track.
“I guess I shouldn’t apologize, but I do apologize for the fact the United States, in the last administration, pulled out of the Paris Accords and put us sort of behind the eight ball a little bit.”
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