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Obamas might stay in DC after presidency

Posted at 1:02 PM, Nov 29, 2013
and last updated 2013-11-29 15:02:47-05

By Dana Davidsen

(CNN) — After the elections in 2016, President Barack Obama will leave the White House, but he may not leave Washington.

In an interview with ABC, Obama said the decision will revolve around Sasha, the President and First Lady Michelle Obama’s youngest daughter, who will be a sophomore in high school when he leaves office. Malia, the oldest daughter, will be in college.

“‘Cause she’s, you know, obviously they – and Michelle – have made a lot of sacrifices on behalf of my cockamamie ideas, the running for office and things,” Obama told ABC’s Barbara Walters. The interview with the President and First Lady was recorded last week and is scheduled to air Friday evening on the network.

Related: Obama reflects on Kennedy family legacy, own security

“Sasha will have a big say in where we are,” he said, though they have not made a definitive decision on whether to move.

Both daughters attend Sidwell Friends School, a private school in Northwest Washington which President Bill Clinton’s daughter Chelsea also attended during his presidency.

ABC News notes that the last president to stay in Washington after leaving office was Woodrow Wilson. The Obama’s have a home in Hyde Park, a neighborhood south of downtown Chicago along the shore of Lake Michigan. The Obamas lived in Hyde Park for two decades before moving to the White House.

Michelle Obama also said in the interview that she’s weary of social media, specifically Facebook.

“I still am not a big believer in Facebook for young people,” she said, especially for her daughters given that they’re under constant public scrutiny.

“Some of its stuff they don’t need to see and be a part of… So we try to protect them from too much of the public voice.”

Obama said the next president to sit in the Oval Office might be a woman.

“We have some amazing female [public] servants all across the country and there is no doubt that sometime very soon, we’re going to have a female president,” he said.

Related: Obama approval higher than Bush, but lower than Clinton, Reagan

Asked by Walters if he thought the First Lady would make a better president than he is, Obama said, “of course.”

“That’s an easy question,” he said, though “She’s smart enough to know that she might not want to go through the process.”

And despite approval ratings reaching new lows over the last month, Obama maintained that his signature healthcare law is “going be a legacy I am extraordinarily proud of” regardless of the troubled launch of HealthCare.gov, the federal online marketplace where consumers can enroll in an insurance plan, and controversies over insurance policy cancellations.

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