Former President Barack Obama reported for jury duty this morning in Chicago, and, incredibly, he seemed to actually enjoy it.
Just watch this video of Obama following his arrival at the Daley Center. He’s shaking hands, making small talk ... he’s having a lot of fun for a person asked to perform his civic duty on a midweek morning.
“Good to see you. ... This looks like Chicago right here,” the 44th president is heard telling the crowd in a video shared by an eyewitness on Twitter.
He must have taken a cue from his White House predecessor, former President George W. Bush, who was more than happy to chat with fellow potential jurors when he reported for jury duty in Dallas two years ago.
The bottom line is, jury duty is way more fun when a former president shows up.
Perhaps the only thing that could’ve soured Obama’s mood on Wednesday: a request to pose for a selfie. As he recently made clear at an event in Chicago, selfies aren’t his thing.
During a speech at his Obama Foundation Summit last week, DNAInfo Chicago reported, he said he encountered so many selfie takers during his presidency that “people were no longer looking me in the eye.”
"To see young people organizing in states all over the country through social media is amazing," he added. "But blocking yourself from having a conversation or seeing somebody and recognizing them and listening to them because you are so busy trying to get a picture ... then you are, I think, in some ways, contributing to what separates us rather than trying to break through."
He didn’t seem to have any troubles breaking through at the courthouse on Wednesday.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Obama was not tapped to serve on a jury and dismissed sometime before noon.