Obama To Run Again? France Petition Wants Former President To Lead The French

Tens of thousands of French voters were hoping former President Barack Obama was ready to get back to work. They've signed a petition urging him to run for president again, but this time, in France, British newspaper the Independent reported Friday.

Four Parisians in their 30s started the movement and have already racked up 30,000 signatures. They created a website and have called for a so-called "sixth Republic," hoping Obama will be the 25th head of state. The creators of the campaign spoke to the Independent but chose to remain anonymous.

"It arose from a conversation with friends," one of the creators told the paper. "We decided that we didn't want to vote for any of the candidates in this election, and that it has been the same for the last few elections. We are fed up of voting against people rather than for someone we actually support every time. So we thought it would be ingenious to give the power to Obama, since he's now available."

The website pushed Obama as an alternative to candidates to the far-right, most notably National Front candidate Marine Le-Pen.

"At a time when France is about to vote massively for the extreme right, we can still give a lesson of democracy to the planet by electing a French President, a foreigner," the website reads. Not to mention, the two-term president has "the best resume in the world for the job," the website pointed out.

The group was in no way connected with Obama.

The former president seemed to be enjoying his brief time away from politics. He even spent some time in the sun with a billionaire pal kite-surfing in the Caribbean.

The creators of the campaign appeared to know how unlikely an Obama presidency in France would be. "It's definitely a joke," one of the co-creators told NPR. "But it could make people think a little bit about what we could do differently in French politics. ... the idea was to make people wake up."