Obama Speech: $400,000 Payday to Address Wall Street Firm

An upcoming speech for Barack Obama will put $400,000 in the former president’s bank account, adding to the millions he and former first lady Michelle Obama are already worth.

Obama has accepted the $400,000 fee to speak at a healthcare conference held by Cantor Fitzgerald, a Wall Street firm, The Guardian reported.

The speech comes as a surprise to some, considering Obama’s criticisms of Wall Street during his presidency.

In 2009, Obama said he didn't take on the presidency to help “a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street.” And in 2008, Obama blamed the financial crisis on big banks and said the Great Recession was “caused in part by completely irresponsible actions on Wall Street.”

The announcement of Obama’s Cantor Fitzgerald speech comes just days after he returned to his hometown to speak at the University of Chicago in what was his first post-presidency speech.

During his speech there, Obama touched on topics such as economic inequality, the lack of opportunity for many Americans today, and the criminal justice system.

“All those problems are serious, they’re daunting, but they’re not insoluble,” he said, according to The Guardian. “What is preventing us from tackling them and making more progress really has to do with our politics and civic life.”

“The single most important thing I can do is to help in any way I can to prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton and to take their own crack at changing the world,” he added.

Obama's speech at the Cantor Fitzgerald event is set for September.

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