Group petitions Barack Obama to run for president of France

Organizers in France are urging former U.S. President Barack Obama to run for president of their country.

The group, dubbed Obama17, put up 500 posters of Obama for French president around Paris and launched a website, hoping to garner 1 million signatures on their petition by March 15.

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"It's totally crazy, but the cool thing is that once you get past that, you start thinking that maybe it's possible," one of the campaign organizers told CNN. "Who cares that he's not French? He's Barack Obama."

While the campaign admittedly started as a "joke," organizers are hoping it will get French voters thinking about different political options. "We want to show that people are fed up with the politicians here," one organizer, who goes by Antoine, told CNN.

Even if Obama considered a presidential run in the European country, he would not qualify because he is not a French citizen.

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