President Barack Obama said Thursday his family will be staying in Washington for awhile after he leaves office in January 2017.
At a small lunch in Milwaukee with five people who had written letters about the Affordable Care Act, one of them asked where the first family would live next.
“We haven’t figured that out yet,” Obama said. “We’re going to have to stay a couple of years so Sasha can finish” school, he said. “Transferring someone in the middle of high school – tough.”
The Obamas had hinted before that staying in DC was being considered, but Thursday’s statement appeared to be the strongest indication yet that the choice had been made.
Obama did not, however, comment on where the family might live after Sasha graduates. But he did remark that being in Milwaukee was nice, since it was close to Chicago.
“Hawaii is home for me,” he said, though he suggested his real home was Chicago. “I spent almost 30 years in Chicago.”
Obama’s Milwaukee visit was intended to highlight how his signature health insurance overhaul has helped millions of Americans gain coverage. He would be congratulating local leaders for winning a national enrollment contest.
More than 38,000 Milwaukee-area residents signed up for health coverage. That’s out of about 51,000 uninsured people who were eligible to enroll. The city’s sign-up ratio was the highest among the 20 cities competing in the president’s “Healthy Communities Challenge.” The winning city was promised a visit by the president, who is also using the trip to promote the Affordable Care Act.
Contributing: Associated Press
