The Fix: Trace Adams’s 2040 presidential bid signs on its first adviser: Barack Obama

By Philip Bump March 6 at 5:27 PM

During his town hall meeting in South Carolina on Friday, President Obama met a 10-year-old named Trace Adams. Trace is thinking about running for president and figured he'd get advice from someone who knows.

During his town hall event in South Carolina, President Obama met Trace Adams, a 10-year-old boy who hopes to one day live in the White House too. (AP)

"I was just wondering when you were interested in being a president," Trace asked. "Well, it wasn't when I was 10," Obama replied.

When he was 10, Obama wanted to be an architect, he said. (He thought the idea of building buildings was "cool.") Then he wanted to play basketball for a while, but "I was too slow and I couldn't jump." Then he wanted to be a lawyer, which is where he settled.

Now we will point out that Obama lied to this child. During the 2008 campaign, Hillary Clinton's campaign criticized Obama for downplaying his interest in the presidency, pointing out that Obama had written an essay in kindergarten titled, "I Want to Become a President." In third grade -- one year in school prior to where Trace is -- Obama wrote that he wanted to be president in yet another essay. Whether he then wrote "or an architect" is unknown.

Obama offered Trace some advice to achieve his goal: Work hard in school, get involved in service projects, and graduate from college. But he also pointed out that Trace will have to wait a bit. The first election for which Trace can run will be in 2040, by which time the country will have seen at least three other presidents. It's not unheard of that a future president should have a one-on-one exchange with a sitting one, as below, but it would be pretty remarkable if Trace were also to do so.

"Who knows?" Obama said. "I might just be warming up the seat for you. And if you become president, I want you to remind everybody how, when you talked to President Obama, he said, 'Go for it.' Don't forget me!" (Seems unlikely.)

We will update this story in 2040 as needed.

Philip Bump writes about politics for The Fix. He is based in New York City.