Interview with Barack Obama: Life, Politics, and Legacy

Read an exclusive interview with Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States, and learn about his life, politics, and legacy. Discover his humble upbringing, education, political career, domestic and foreign policies, family, interests, and more.

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Introduction- Barack Hussein Obama Interview
Barack Obama served as the 44th president of the United States. He is a professor of law and a
distinguished lawyer from Chicago, Illinois. He was born in 1961 on August 4th in Honolulu,
Hawaii after the state of Hawaii was pronounced as the 50th state of the United States of
America. he is a son of an American nurse and a Kenyan born Economist Barack Obama
senior who separated years after his birth. Obama has African roots as his father is a Kenyan
by birth and his mother is an American. In January 20th 2009, Obama was elected as the first
African American to serve as the commander in chief of the United States Army. It was the
prophesy from the late activist Martin Luther king. His term ended on January 20th 2017 and
he was succeeded by President Donald Trump, a republican. Obama has been a democrat all
his life having served first as a senator of the Illinois state and a member of the state senate of
Illinois (Agrawal, & Sen, 2016).
From the interview, Obama has had a humble upbringing. He was raised in Honolulu but
sometimes could stay in Washington State with his mother. He had spent four years in
Indonesia also as part of his heritage. Obama likes to be associated with his roots. He is a
proud African and has severally stated that he has Kenyan roots and a Kenyan background. I
recall that his presidency in 2009 was one of the most anticipated events in America and
around the world. Coming from a minority, A black American, interracial, Muslim and
charismatic Obama was seen as the bridge that could bring together the polarizing effects of
the minority and the majority whites. He rode with the mantra of hope and change. It was all
over the media when he trounced the then front runner of the Democratic Party nomination
Hillary Clinton against all odds. No one had ever thought that would happen. It was too good
to be true (Baker & Davis, 2016).
Geography

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The other challenge was running for the main presidential nomination against the GOP or the
Republican Party. Everyone rooted for the underdog in this case it was Obama. The
Democratic Party eventually had won the hearts, minds and soul of the majority of
Americans from every race, creed and color. A lawyer from a minority race had succeeded to
become the most powerful man in the world. During my interview with Former president
Obama, he said he wasn’t surprised (Corsale & Iorio, 2014). He knew that people wanted
change and were yearning for change in every way possible.
School
Obama is a lawyer by profession. He graduated from the University of Colombia in the year
1983 and started working as a community organizer in the city of Chicago. After 5 years of
practicing full time law he enrolled in the law School of Harvard Law School where he
became the first president black president of the Harvard law Review. After his graduation
from the prestigious law school, he started practicing as a professor of law teaching
constitutional law in the university of Chicago law school and as a civil rights lawyer. This
was from the year 1992 to the year 2004. He also became a senator of the state of Illinois
from the year 1997 to the year 2004. This was a duration of three terms. He gained national
attention from the landslide win of the senate seat in 2004 and his keynote address to the
Democratic National convention was received very well. He has been awarded very many
awards as an academician and a scholar.
Politics
Barack Obama has been a star when it comes to politics. He is like the unicorn of American
politics. After winning the senate state of the state of Illinois, he eyed the bigger presidential
seat. In the year 2008, as a democrat, he was nominated for the presidential seat after a
contested primary with the leading candidate and the front runner Hillary Clinton (Fox & Le

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Dantec, 2014,). This was one year after he began his presidential campaign winning in many
states over other democratic candidates. In December of 2008, he was elected over the former
veteran and Republican Party candidate senator John McCain. On 20th January 2009, he was
elected as the 44th president of the United States of America. it was a historic win, one that
signified a change in political tones and the way people viewed minorities after the win.
First 100 days in office
In 2009, during the first 100 days promise, he issued an exeutive order for the closure of
Guantanamo bay detention camp. He also signed a memorandum for planning with the troop
on how they would prepare to withdraw the troops from Iraq. He also [promised to reduce the
secrecy given to presidential records. This were two landmark bills which he signed in his
first term as the president of the United States of America. The affordable care Act came to
be known as the Obama care . Other bills in which President Obama signed in his first term
as the president included the Wall Street reform and the consumer protection act.
Domestic policy
President Obama social policy of his administration was one of the best to be seen. It was
aimed at improving the welfare of the people and the citizens. He signed the relaxing statute
of limitations for equal-pay lawsuits. Obama was very stringet and empathetic towards
gender issues. He has been advocating for equal rights over the years and he was the first
president to appoint two women justices to serve at the supreme court of America. he has
been fighting for the rights of women and girls for long and advocates for equal rights to all
women.
His first term as the president was very hard. He took the presidency when the world was
facing the economic crisis where the economies of major countries were shrinking. The

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housing market in the US had its bubble burst. People were losing jobs and unemployment
rates was at its highest. Major Banks had closed like the Leyman brothers and Obama policy
to revive the economy had to come into effect as first as possible to salvage the economy. His
main reforms were the Affordable care Act and the patient protection Act.
Foreign policy
America’s foreign policy is determined by the person who is power. Obamas administration
foreign policy was first determined by the overseas trip of both Obamas foreign secretary
Hillary Clinton and vice president Joe bidden on Russia, North Korea, Europe, and Africa
and Arab countries. He was particularly hard on Russia, North Korea and Iran. He made
Europe an ally and some of the Arab countries were also brought closer too.
LGBT rights and immigration policy
Obama is a liberal, he is okay with same sex marriage. He publicly supports equality of
gender, race or sexual orientation. He was particularly easy on immigration laws after signing
the law that allowed people with HIV to enter into Europe.
Economic Policy
This were two landmark bills which he signed in his first term as the president of the United
States of America. The affordable care Act came to be known as the Obama care (Graham &
Tunbridge, 2016) . Other bills in which President Obama signed in his first term as the
president included the Wall Street reform and the consumer protection act. The job creation
Act of 2010 which saved a lot of Americans from long periods of unemployment and
returned America into working again. The unemployment insurance reauthorization Act was
also signed in the same year and there was a heated public debate on the national debt limit.
The economic stimulus package that was signed amidst the great recession of 2008 also came

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into effect. He also signed the American taxpayer relief acts and the budget control act. The
foreign policy was marred by major controversies when instead of troops leaving
Afghanistan, he increased the number of troops that were in Afghanistan amidst public outcry
due to increasing the burden to fund the troops to the taxpayer. The republicans were so much
opposed to the idea of increase in the number of troops (Lindbergh & Schwartz, 2016)..
Family
Obama is a family man and is married to Mitchel Obama. The two have been blessed with
two daughters Sasha and Malia. Obama has demystified the Whitehouse when he is seen
dancing and being cozy with his wife. They like chatting and going together in many events.
He has several half brothers and sisters many of them from Kenya, the country of origin of
his father. Most notable is Auma and Malik Obama, who are the brother and sister of Obama
that are well known due to their many engagements. He has visited Kenya severally, as a
young man, as a senator and most importantly as the president of the United States in his last
term. Obama is a liberal and supports the same sex marriage which has been legalized in
many states.
In the second volume, "Cultural heritage of the American" - the language, literature and
culture of the people are carefully studied. Particular attention is paid to the work of
American writers and poets, the spiritual ties of American literature with the literary heritage
of the peoples of the continent (Hope, 2016). The author of this weighty book is the scholar
orientalist, academician, doctor of philological sciences, and the famous representative of the
American people (Obama, 2016).
This work includes the great historical and cultural heritage of the Kurds, carefully examines
the current issues related to the American people. This will allow further wide readership to
make considerable discoveries and will help to make cognitive conclusions about history,

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politics, culture, way of life and habitat, literature and folklore of the American people
(Obama, B. 2017).
This is a significant contribution to highlighting the history, culture and the current state of
the American people in the world community, and it expands the notion of the importance of
the American problem. The book on content and style is in fact a great encyclopedic work of
the author, which is addressed to politicians, specialists in international relations, geopolitics,
political science, history, sociology, philologists, literary scholars, cult urologists, linguists,
as well as a wide range of readers interested in the history and culture of the Kurds - one of
the most ancient peoples of the East (Obama, 2014).
Music and Literature
President Obama is a lover of classical music and hip hop music. He has favorite musician in
Jayz and Kendrick Lamar. He also has a friend in Beyoncé as one of the closest friends to his
wife Michelle. Obama has written three best-selling books. The first book he wrote was in
1995, Dreams from my Father. This is a book on the aspirations of his father Barack Obama
senior and the roots and heritage of his beloved country as written by president Obama. The
second book was the best seller he wrote in 2006, called the Audacity of hope and he narrates
his journey from a simple man to surpassing the dreams of anyone around him and why no
one should ever lose hope. His last book was published in 2010 titled Of Thee I Sing. All this
songs have raked Obama millions of dollars in publishing dealings with major publishers and
distributors. Obama loves reading and writing and in my interview with him, he told me he
was working on another book after life from the public or the post presidency life. After, the
presidency he has basically been giving to charities, having private family time with his wife
and children and friends.
Sports

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Obama is a big basketball fan. He love his home town franchise that is the Chicago bulls. He
confessed to me that he had been playing basketball with friends after leaving the white
house. He loves to play and can shoot perfectly well. He is also a baseball and a football fan.
Having been in a major city with very successful football and baseball teams, Obama said he
may want to attend one of the games just to feel the excitement inside a stadium. I really
think that he misses the time when life was private and he could attend these events alone or
with the family. He is passionate about the team that he is loyal too and feels bad if they lose
or are not on top of their game. Currently, he laments that he feels bad that the Chicago bulls
are struggling to make even the playoffs but hopes that the franchise will start to rebuild in
order to replicate their successive years (Roberts,2014)..
President Obama also loves to play golf and has toured different countries just to play in
some of the world’s best renowned golf causes. He is a good golfer and has been practicing
his swing to perfect it. Although he does not play the sport as much as he would want due to
his busy schedule, he really love playing the sport.
Language
As a charismatic leader and an orator, Obama has perfected his skill of delivery of speech.
His Nelson Mandela speech in July 2018 he delivered during the 100th anniversary of the late
South African president was one that many will not forget any time soon. It was full of
wisdom and quotes from great people who have had a legacy. Other notable speeches he has
given include the 2009 acceptance and inauguration speech, the democratic nomination
acceptance speech, the 2013 presidential speech and the 2017 handover speech at the white
house. He has oratory skills that helps the audience resonate with him during the delivery
(Raj & Griffin, 2015). .
Food

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Although he does not tell me what he likes eating most, he says that he loves coffee very
much. He also loves cakes and would have several at the oval office when it was time to
deliberate on issues that affect Americans. He admits that his wife is a great cook and
although he has cooks at his disposal, he likes sometimes to feel good by cooking and
personal chefs now at his disposal he likes to help in the preparation of the same.
Gender
Obama was very stringent and empathetic towards gender issues. He has been advocating for
equal rights over the years and he was the first president to appoint two women justices to
serve at the supreme court of America. He has been fighting for the rights of women and girls
for long and advocates for equal rights to all women (Willett, 2018)..
Conclusion
Obama has had a great life and career as the president. He has seen terrorism defeated albeit a
little by the killing of Osama bin laden and destroying the isis. His culture and policies on
many issues have affected Americans and the world in general either positively or negatively.
He remains a great leader and a mentor to many.
Bibliography
Agrawal, P., Gokarn, S., Mishra, V., Parikh, K., & Sen, K. (2016). Economic Restructuring
in East Asia and India: Perspectives on Policy Reform. Springer.

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Baker, S. R., Bloom, N., & Davis, S. J. (2016). Measuring economic policy uncertainty. The
Quarterly Journal of Economics, 131(4), 1593-1636.
Corsale, A., & Iorio, M. (2014). Transylvanian saxon culture as heritage: insights from
Viscri, Romania. Geoforum, 52, 22-31.
Fox, S., & Le Dantec, C. (2014, June). Community historians: scaffolding community
engagement through culture and heritage. In Proceedings of the 2014 conference on
Designing interactive systems (pp. 785-794). ACM.
Graham, B., Ashworth, G., & Tunbridge, J. (2016). A geography of heritage: Power, culture
and economy. Routledge.
Hope Sr, K. R. (2016). Development in the Third World: From Policy Failure to Policy
Reform: From Policy Failure to Policy Reform. Routledge.
Lindbergh, J., & Schwartz, B. (2016). Using food culture and heritage in a new context: a
study on immigrating food entrepreneurs. In 2016 NAFS conference, Oslo, Norway,
November 28-29, 2016.
Moyer, W., & Josling, T. (2017). Agricultural Policy Reform: Politics and Process in the EU
and US in the 1990s. Routledge.
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steps. Jama, 316(5), 525-532.
Obama, B. (2017). The irreversible momentum of clean energy. Science, 355(6321), 126-129.
Obama, B. (2014). Remarks by President Obama in Address to the United Nations General
Assembly. Speech, United Nations General Assembly Hall, New York City, New York.

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Obama, B. H. (2017). Repealing the ACA without a replacement—the risks to American
health care. New England Journal of Medicine, 376(4), 297-299.
Raj, R., & Griffin, K. A. (Eds.). (2015). Religious tourism and pilgrimage management: An
international perspective. Cabi.
Roberts, L. (2014). Talkin bout my generation: popular music and the culture of
heritage. International journal of heritage studies, 20(3), 262-280.
Willett, J. (2018). Culture, Heritage, and the Politics of Becoming. The Oxford Handbook of
Public Heritage Theory and Practice, 79.