In light of Obama accepting a $400K engagement to speak at a Wall Street firm on the subject of health care, I went in search of his thoughts from the past.

I found this clip where Obama gave a poignant story to Charlie Rose of how he was talking to so many people in Illinois who had lost their jobs and didn't see any hope. He talks about a town where 20% of the town's jobs moved to Mexico. He says that the men go hunting and the women go to church just to give themselves something to do and commiserate on. He talks about how they feel the brunt of economic insecurity with their pensions and health care about to be pulled from them.

I just saw an interview where a bunch of coal miners were talking about Trump not extending their health care and pension benefits that were promised to them. Those issues are as alive today as ever.

Obama opined, "If we don't have plausible answers on the economic front and we appear to be condescending towards those traditions that are giving their lives some stability, um then, you know, they're going to opt for at least that party that seems to be speaking to the things that still provide them something solid to stand on."

He predicted both his election and Donald Trump's election. Whether either of those elections gave the people something solid to stand on remains to be seen.