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Michelle Obama says leaders ‘hang on too long’ in America, elders have nowhere to go with dignity

Former first lady Michelle Obama lamented that leaders don’t seem to move on from power when they get older in the latest episode of her podcast posted Wednesday.

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Former first lady Michelle Obama lamented Wednesday that leaders don’t seem to move on from power as they age in the latest episode of her podcast.

Speaking with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper on her "IMO" podcast, Obama observed that many of society’s leaders stay in power for too long and refuse to allow younger generations to take the reins.

"And I think my husband said this recently. I mean, one of the problems with society today is that nobody wants to move on from leadership. People hang on too long, and they hang on beyond their usefulness or even their practicality," she said.

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Former first lady Michelle Obama lamented that many of the country’s leaders don’t give up power as they get older during a recent episode of her podcast. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty)

The point came up as Cooper discussed grieving his late father. He noted that modern society has made it taboo to talk about death and grief. Obama agreed and said that hesitation might explain why some older people avoid retirement because they don’t view it as a stage to anticipate.

"I mean, as we get older, we think a different way," she said. "You know, leaders are supposed to move on to make room for the next generation that has new ideas, new energy. But because there's no place for our senior leaders to go with honor and dignity, I think people hold on too long."

Obama called it one of society’s broader problems, saying Americans have lost the ability to see old age as a meaningful chapter of life.

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Former first lady Michelle Obama speaks during an episode of her podcast, "IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson." ("IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson"/YouTube)

"And I think we suffer as a society, as a nation, as a world, because we haven't figured out how to honor our elders — to give them a space to leave gracefully, to really give them a place of honor so that they feel ready and anxious to go there," Obama continued.?

"It doesn’t feel like the end of the road. It’s the beginning of something new, and we don’t do that well in America or in the world, quite frankly."

Cooper responded that aging makes younger people anxious, so they "shunt it aside."

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Obama and Cooper talked during her latest podcast episode about how society is too anxious about aging, death and grief to process them in healthy ways. (Angela Weiss/Pool/Getty Images)

He returned to grief, noting that people often don’t know how to comfort someone who has lost a loved one.

"Oftentimes when, you know, somebody in your office has lost a loved one, and they come back after, you know, what, two days of bereavement relief or whatever ridiculous — some tiny amount people are given. And people don't know what to say," he said.?

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"And I hear this all the time from listeners of the podcast. You know, people either don’t say anything cause they think, maybe they think, ‘Oh I don’t want to, you know, bring this up and upset the person,’ as if it’s not constantly in that person’s head all the time," Cooper continued.

"But, also, people don’t know what to say."

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