Obama and Mamdani read and sing with New York preschoolers in first meeting | Barack Obama
Barack Obama met Zohran Mamdani for the first time on Saturday at a child care center, where the former Democratic US president and the New York City mayor read to preschoolers and sang songs together.
The meeting comes as Mamdani, a democratic socialist who celebrated his 100th day in office a week ago, is also trying to establish a working relationship with Obama’s Republican presidential successor, Donald Trump.
Obama and Mamdani did not take questions after reading the book Alone and Together to the children and singing along to The Wheels on the Bus.
Obama, one of the standard bearers of the Democratic party, offered to be a sounding board for Mamdani, 34. Mamdani’s star power, youth, and progressive agenda have propelled him to prominence in Democratic politics.
Mamdani took office in January after a campaign focused on making New York City a more affordable place to live and focusing his agenda on refocusing the government’s vast power to help the city’s struggling working class.
Mamdani met with Trump twice at the White House in November and February to discuss issues affecting New York, where the president is originally from.
Despite those friendly meetings, their relationship has shown signs of strain recently, with Trump taking to social media on Thursday to say Mamdani was “DESTROYING New York” with her tax policies and threatening to pull federal funds for the city.
