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Barack Obama Just Won His First Emmy

Photo credit: Drew Angerer - Getty Images
Photo credit: Drew Angerer - Getty Images


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Times have changed a lot since Obama exited the White House in January of 2017, and while he may have left his career in politics behind, the 44th President of the United States is keeping busy. Here's what he's been up to:

His Books

Like his wife, Michelle, Obama signed a record-setting book deal after leaving the White House in 2017 for his memoir with publisher Penguin Random House. While Michelle's book, Becoming, debuted in November of 2018 to enormous fanfare, selling more than 10 million copies worldwide to become one of the most successful memoirs ever, Obama's own venture, A Promised Land, was first released in 2020. The memoir, which explores his experiences from his early political aspirations to his historic win in the 2008 presidential election, is expected to be the first of multiple volumes covering his political career.

The former president is said to have written the book himself—rather than with a ghost writer—in longhand on legal pads, a method he employed on a number of his presidential speeches and his first book, Dreams from My Father.

The 2020 Election

While Obama chose to hold off on publicly endorsing a candidate in the 2020 election for several months during the primaries, in April 2020 after his former Vice President Joe Biden emerged as the party leader, Obama shared a video where he commended Biden as a leader and offered his official endorsement. He said, in part, that he admired, "The kind of leadership that's guided by knowledge and experience, honesty and humility, empathy and grace. That kind of leadership doesn't just belong in our state capitals and mayors' offices. It belongs in the White House, and that's why I'm so proud to endorse Joe Biden for president of the United States."

In the months leading up to the election, Obama took on an active role in campaigning for his friend and former running mate, appearing in videos and stumping for him at socially-distanced in person events and on social media.

After Biden was announced as the president-elect on November 7, 2020, Obama was one of the first world leaders to take to social media congratulating him on his win. "I could not be prouder to congratulate our next President, Joe Biden, and our next First Lady, Jill Biden," he wrote in part. "I also couldn’t be prouder to congratulate Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff for Kamala’s groundbreaking election as our next Vice President."

Obama Heads to Netflix

Barack and Michelle Obama have been developing a much broader portfolio of projects since leaving the White House. In 2018, they inked a deal with Netflix to produce a set of films and series for the streaming service under their new production company, Higher Ground Productions.

“Touching on issues of race and class, democracy and civil rights and much more, we believe each of these productions won’t just entertain, but will educate, connect and inspire us all,” Obama said in a statement.

The company's first production, American Factory, debuted in 2019. A documentary centered on an abandoned General Motors plant which was reopened in Ohio by a Chinese billionaire, the film took home an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. The following year they debuted Becoming, a documentary following Michelle during the tour for her 2018 book of the same name.

In 2022, he hosted and narrated a docuseries called Our Great National Parks, about famous national parks around the world.

This earned Obama his first Emmy win, in the "outstanding narrator" category against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, David Attenborough, W. Kamau Bell, and Lupita Nyong'o.

Other projects reportedly in the works include a film adaptation of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, David W. Blights's the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography about the famed abolitionist, a drama series set in post-WWII New York, and a children's education program about food.

His Private Life

On May 7, 2017 Obama received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, a prize given to elected officials "who govern for the greater good, even when it is not in their own interest to do so." Specifically, he was honored for his passing of the Affordable Care Act, which secured health coverage for millions of Americans.

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

In August of that year, he was spotted on Harvard University's campus with Michelle, moving their oldest child, Malia, into her dorm room. He later revealed that he got emotional when dropping her off.

“For those of us who have daughters, it just happens fast,” Obama said. “I was proud that I did not cry in front of her but on the way back, the Secret Service was looking straight ahead pretending they weren’t hearing me as I sniffled and blew my nose. It was rough.”

In the first episode of David Letterman's Netflix series, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, he expanded on the story, telling the host he was almost no help at all moving Malia into her dorm room.

"I was basically useless," Obama said. "Everyone had seen me crying and misting up for basically the previous three weeks, so Malia, who's very thoughtful, she goes, 'Dad, you know, I've got this lamp in this box, could you put the desk lamp together?' I said, 'Sure.' It should have taken five minutes or three minutes, and it had one of those little tools. It only had, like, four parts, and I'm just sitting there, toiling at this thing for half an hour."

He also returned to some of the less touching moments of life as a regular citizen, like jury duty. In November of 2017, the former president returned to Chicago to do his civic duty. Like other former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, President Obama was not actually selected for a jury.

In June of 2019, Barack and Michelle watched their youngest daughter, who just turned 18 on the previous week, take part in the graduation ceremony for Sidwell Friends—the exclusive D.C. private school that both Obama children attended. The Obamas met up with their close friends, the Bidens, at the ceremony, as the Biden's granddaughter Maisy, is a good friend and classmate of Sasha's.

Travel

For his first adventure post-White House, the former president had a month-long, star-studded trip to French Polynesia during which he hung out with the likes of Oprah, Bruce Springsteen, and Tom Hanks. He touched down in Tahiti and reportedly checked into the Brando, a resort on the private French Polynesian atoll, Tetiaroa, which was once owned by Marlon Brando. It was a summer residence for Tahitian royalty before the late actor purchased it in 1967 after first visiting to film Mutiny on the Bounty.

He has also spent significant time touring Europe, both for work and pleasure, golfing at prestigious Old Course at St Andrew's in Scotland, appearing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to discuss democracy, vacationing in Italy with Michelle, and even stopping over at Kensington Palace.

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

In 2017, he also took his wife and daughters on trip to Bali. Obama has a deep connection to Indonesia; he lived there as a child starting in 1967, when he and his mother moved to the country's capital, Jakarta. Obama moved back to his birthplace of Honolulu in 1971.

In September 2017, Obama reunited with Prince Harry and the Bidens for the Invictus Games. During the games, Obama was interviewed by the Prince.

Obama addressed life after the White House and said, among other things, that the issues he cared about while in office are still important to him:

"I still care about making sure that the United States and the world is a place where kids get a decent education. Where people who are willing to work hard are able to find a job that pays a living wage. That we’re conserving the amazing resources of our planet so that future generations can enjoy the beauty of this place. Like we did."

Obama and Education

In May of 2017, Obama unveiled plans for his own future presidential center in Chicago. He painted a picture of a buzzing hub for youth and community programs on the city's South Side where he raised his family and launched his political career.

"What we want this to be is the world premiere institution for training young people and leadership to make a difference in their communities, in their countries and in the world," he told the friendly crowd that included Mayor Rahm Emanuel, his one-time chief of staff.

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

The plans revealed that the future 225,000 square foot Obama Presidential Center will feature three structures, including a tower-like museum and tree-lined walkways. The Obama Foundation displayed drawings and a miniature model of the center, which will also include a public plaza and classrooms. The facility was originally anticipated to take about 4 years to build, but it is not yet clear how the COVID-19 pandemic may have altered those plans.

What He Earns

The 44th president is said to command one of the highest rates for speaking engagements among former presidents.

In 2017, news broke that Obama planned to charge as much as $400,000 per speaking engagement. The fee is equal to the salary Obama received as president and twice what former President Bill Clinton has received for speeches, according to the New York Times. Hillary Clinton's fees have varied, but the former first lady and presidential candidate received as much as $325,000 for a single appearance in 2015, the Washington Post reports. Former President George W. Bush is reportedly paid $100,000 to $175,000 for his speaking engagements.

The news of Obama's fee immediately drew criticism from liberals and conservatives alike, and critics have pointed out how often the former president criticized big banks and the growing wealth inequality. While it has not become clear in the subsequent years whether that number is Obama's standard, the former president has not wanted for speaking engagements (a typical method by which many previous commanders in chief have paid their way after their time in office), regardless of the cost.

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