SCHENECTADY, N.Y.-- He spoke for the Obama Administration for more than two years and Monday night, Robert Gibbs spoke at Union College, during his second trip to the area within the last five months.
Gibbs calls his time as White House press secretary a "remarkable privilege" and a packed house at Union College's Memorial Chapel got a chance to experience some of his insight.
During his third public speaking engagement since leaving his White House gig, the former White House spokesman spoke about "Inside Washington: What's Next."
"I thought it was interesting, it was really awesome for him to come to our school," said Amy Sidoti, sophomore at Union College.
Before his official speech, Gibbs told the press that the president has a lot of work on his hands before the 2012 election, such as gas, food and clothing prices continuing to rise.
"I think there's still a tremendous amount of economic anxiety and economic hardship," said Gibbs.
As far as whether the name Trump, Palin or Romney could potentially lead the republican ticket, Gibbs said it's still too early to tell.
"The thing that most surprises me most about 2012 is that republicans are not more involved in the day to day political campaign at this point," said Gibbs.
Some students who watched Gibb's speech said things like a possible Donald Trump presidential campaign run are the wrong things to focus on.
"Environmental issues are going to be a huge problem for our generation and he didn't really touch upon that," said Andrea Grenadier, Union College Junior "Which is kind of weird."
Others simply appreciated the opportunity to hear directly from a man who worked so closely to the commander in chief.
"It's nice to hear his insight because he's one of the fellas in the room," said Robert Perry of Guilderland. "You don't often get a chance to do that, so it was nice to hear him."
Gibbs stepped down as spokesman to head up the president's re-election campaign. However, as far as a prediction for a 2012 republican candidate goes, Gibbs believes Donald trump won't run, that Mitt Romney is a front-runner in a party that usually nominates front runners and said that Mike Huckabee could be the toughest candidate to beat.
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