Obama: Colbert Would be a Better President Than "Some Folks We Have Seen"

Barack Obama declined to endorse Stephen Colbert for president in 2028, though the former Commander-in-Chief did admit that the soon-to-be-former late-night host might perform the job reasonably well by current standards.

The new interview took place at the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, which opens to the public next month on June 19th, and which boasts gardens, a public library, and sledding hills.

Colbert introduced the topic of his presidential campaign with his usual mix of pomp and deprecation: “I’m looking for a new gig soon and a lot of people tell me I should run for president.” While he added that, “for the record, I think it’s a stupid idea,” he asked what Obama thought about a Colbert run. “Well, the bar has changed,” Obama said, struggling to keep a straight face. “I think that you could perform significantly better than some folks we have seen.”

“Was that an endorsement?” Colbert asked.

“It was not,” Obama said.

In the second part of the interview, Colbert asked Obama about his recent comments regarding alien life. Obama had asserted that aliens are real but “I haven’t seen them,” then later attempted to walk it back, suggesting in more general terms that the near-infinite universe must possess other forms of life. “I thought it was so obvious what I meant,” he explained to Colbert, while Colbert played the part of everyone in the public who didn’t quite believe him.

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Obama followed it with a pitch of his own. “First contact: I think I would be a good emissary for the planet,” he said, offering that he had “some experience with statecraft” and adding, “I’m friendly.”

But on humans meeting aliens, he was definitive: “It hasn’t happened yet .” Check out both parts of the interview below.

While Colbert may joke around, his next gig has already been announced: he’s writing a movie set in the world of Lord of the Rings.

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_Originally reported by [Consequence](https://consequence.net/2026/05/barack-obama-stephen-colbert-president/)._