Where is Obama now after the election. Retiree in search. What is Barack Obama doing now? Social guarantees for the "first person": pension, treatment, security and state funeral
Barack Obama left the White House with decent popularity ratings and could well become Donald Trump's main opponent in his controversial course. However, the ex-president preferred to retire quietly, and, to the dismay of many of his fans, he left big politics. Or not?
Former US President Barack Obama speaks at the Goalkeepers Summit hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on September 20, 2017.Good, but quite predictable news awaited the American artist Chance the Rapper a few days ago: his next comedy song, recorded for the popular US show Saturday Night Live, was nominated for an Emmy Award in the Outstanding Music and Lyrics category. It is noteworthy that last year the rapper also got into this list - with the work "Jingle Barack". This time, the award-nominated song is also dedicated to the ex-President of the United States and is called "Come back, Barack".
And if earlier the success of the composition, in which the performer, among other things, sang that “Barak is still with us,” could be explained by the general reaction of Americans to the change in the leadership of the country, this year there is a full-fledged trend. Especially since this time the idea of Obama's popularity sounds even louder.
“Every night I turn on the TV and cry,” the song says. “I ask myself why?” and I feel that we are all going to die soon. So come back, Barack."
Of course, the composition is humorous and fits perfectly into the format of the Emmy Award, which is extremely rare without humor about politics (which is worth last year's ceremony). But, as the old cliché says, there is only a fraction of a joke in every joke. Public sentiment is not born out of nowhere, and the ideas of the creative class are even more so: a year and a half after the inauguration of Donald Trump, Americans still cannot come to terms with the victory of the Republican, remembering kind word his predecessor.
Miss me?
However, the success of Chance the Rapper only partly reflects the full extent of the mass longing for the Obama era. T-shirts and sweatshirts with the portrait of the 44th president and the inscription "Miss me yet?" are still available in online stores, and similar memes in social networks remain no less popular. "We miss you," Obama says at the launch of his and Michelle's official portraits at the National Portrait Gallery and receives a standing ovation and hundreds of tweets of approval. The ex-president's supporters may not have increased, but their voices definitely sounded louder: even James Comey, a former FBI director who had never previously had particularly good feelings for Obama, once admitted to Der Spiegel that he sometimes the 44th head of the White House is missing.
At the end of 2017, Twitter was quite surprised, which published the statistics of the most “liked” tweets: the first place was occupied by Obama’s message, which he published in connection with the riots at the United Right neo-Nazi march. “No one is born with a hatred of another person because of skin color, ancestry or religion,” former President Nelson Mandela was quoted as saying (the post currently has over 4.5 million likes and over 1.7 million retweets). Tellingly, the profile of Donald Trump, who is known to use Twitter as the main channel for broadcasting his ideas, did not make it to the top of the most popular ones.
“Obama is now very popular in society,” comments the Americanist Victoria Zhuravleva, head of the IMEMO Center for North American Studies. EAT. Primakov RAS. “58% of Americans, according to Gallup, positively evaluate his activities.” Trump, according to the same institute, has a rating of only 45%. And, I think, the current president is seriously concerned about this gap.
The new head of the White House initially chose a very consistent tactic towards the previous president - to dismantle his political legacy and regularly criticize the Democrats, because of whom, in his opinion, America still cannot become great. Here we can recall the US withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, signed under Obama, and the withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and the constant attacks on Obamacare. Finally, Trump's public accusations against his predecessor that he allegedly set up a wiretap at the Republican's campaign headquarters attracted particular attention of the public. At the same time, Trump wanted to initiate some kind of Watergate (but it is not clear for what purpose), but failed.
It is considered bad manners in many countries to criticize predecessors, including in the United States, where the current president's verbal attacks are still seen as his inability to work effectively. However, something else remains much more noticeable: Obama practically does not answer him at all.
Quiet intellectual, retired?
“The US Constitution has the 22nd amendment, according to which a politician can only be in the presidency for two terms. After that, you can't go back to The White house not in 4 years, not in 8 years, - says Victoria Zhuravleva. “The former president traditionally goes into the shadows: he does not hold official posts, does not openly criticize his successor, and demonstrates loyalty to both his party and the political system as a whole.”
Meanwhile, American leaders periodically violate this tradition. So, it is known that at one time Franklin Roosevelt received a flurry of criticism from his predecessor. A similar fate was awarded to Bush Jr. for Iraq (from Clinton and Carter). Former presidents, although they did not aspire to occupy official positions, still remained heroes of the political agenda. The name of Barack Obama also often pops up in the press - but very rarely in connection with criticism of Trump. Always honoring the traditions and sanctity of local institutions of power, the ex-president prefers to simply remain silent and quietly watch Trump destroy everything that he has been building for 8 years. Perhaps the whole point is that his predecessor, Bush Jr., offended by the criticism of other ex-presidents in his address, tried not to act in a similar way with his successor Obama, and the domino effect worked. Or maybe it's all about internal culture.
According to New York Magazine and Vanity Fair sources, in private conversations, Obama repeatedly asked his advisers how the nation came to the fact that it was Trump who should lead it. Periodically, he expresses fears about the erosion of democratic values and chaos in the international arena. But no more: until now, the ex-president very selectively follows the news, and even more so Trump’s attacks on him, paying special attention only to the fate of Obamacare and migration policy.
The ex-president has a lot to do. Having spent his well-deserved vacation, Obama is closely engaged in his own fund, the Obama Foundation, which provides support to young people, gives paid speeches (the average check is $ 300-400 thousand per speech), prepares memoirs for publication, and also develops cooperation with Netflix (yes, yes, Barack and Michelle will be involved in the production of films and series). In general, he does everything that ex-leaders of the States are supposed to do. And yet, many are still worried about the question: is it possible that such a young politician will just go on a typical post-presidential “retirement”?
“Obama is not the first young president. Bill Clinton was also young when he was elected to the White House (he was 46 years old), and just as young when his second term ended (54 years old), the expert notes. “So this is not a unique situation when a young successful politician has to find his place after the end of his political career.”
Unlike the current head of the White House, Obama is very sluggish in his ultra-popular Twitter, and over the past year and a half, he has released only a few statements on his behalf with Michelle. Some of them really touched on the current state of affairs. For example, in a statement released on World Refugee Day, Barak spoke out against the so-called "zero tolerance" policy towards migrants and the practice of separating families at the border. However, neither the name of Trump nor the name of this initiative was ever mentioned in his text.
“The ability to find a way to host refugees and migrants and be smart and open enough to uphold the law and protect our values is what partly makes us Americans,” the former president said.
Similarly, Obama's recent speech on the legacy of Nelson Mandela was constructed, which many regarded as the ex-president's return to public politics. Although Barack criticized the policies of Trump and other right-wing leaders, he did not name a single name.
Obama in general has always been strong in pathos, having a great talent for criticizing opponents without pointing a finger at them. Formally, you can’t even call it criticism: everything looks as if Barak simply defends the values in which he himself firmly believes, and it’s not his fault that the world has set foot on the wrong path.
Godfather of Democrats
On the other hand, perhaps it is precisely the adherence to these very values and a categorical refusal to plunge into the current political chaos that make Obama so popular in society. Moreover, the ex-president himself also does not forget to stir up interest in himself - for example, by traveling not only around the country, but also around the world. In a year and a half, Obama managed to meet both with current political leaders, such as Angela Merkel, Xi Jinping, Justin Trudeau and Jacinda Ardern, and with public figures, say, with his longtime friend Prince Harry.
1 /4
For what? Then he still needs it as a politician. Yes, he is no longer president. But this does not mean that he fell out of the rut.
“If the former president wants and can remain in politics even after the end of his career, then the American political system provides him with a very serious channel of influence,” says Viktoria Zhuravleva. - This is his party, from which he was elected. The political parties and the party establishment are very powerful in the US." The expert also recalls that any political processes in the country - from the formation of the agenda of the authorities to the nomination of candidates for elections - are organized around them.
Barack Obama is still a member of the Democratic Party, within which, as the expert points out, his support exceeds 90%. And the former president actively uses this: for example, the situation around the election of Democrat Doug Jones to the Senate, whose support Obama personally and openly expressed, has become widely known. In the election, Jones managed to get around the Republican Roy Moore, for whom Donald Trump actively campaigned.
The popularity of the 44th head of the White House is so high that in June Vanity Fair even suggested that Obama plans to participate in the 2020 elections - though not as a candidate, but as a kind of "Pygmalion" of the Democrats. As noted by the interlocutors of the publication, the party is now faced with the task of overshadowing Trump's media fame by presenting its own star heroes who could captivate people. Most likely, Obama will be one of them. “He can become the face of the Democratic Party,” Viktoria Zhuravleva believes. – This is especially true now, when the party is going through better times, and for her return, she needs a serious internal transformation, a change of faces and landmarks.
Obama's position in the party is now often compared to the post-presidential period of Bill Clinton, who even after leaving the White House had an influence on internal processes. Now, with the defeat of Hillary, Barack will be much more firmly established in this role. So, according to Politico, the 44th president has already joined the work and recently managed to meet with at least nine potential candidates for the highest office in the United States, including 2016 racer Bernie Sanders, ex-Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick and Senator Elizabeth Warren. Each meeting, according to the publication, lasted about an hour, during which Obama had time to discuss with one or another contender both the future of the party and more philosophical issues.
“The party establishment brings together all the most influential politicians and officials, both current and former. They are directly involved in the selection of candidates for elective posts at all levels,” says Viktoria Zhuravleva, also noting that Obama’s popularity will allow him to openly support a future candidate for the presidency, and this support may well ensure that one or another participant in the race wins the election.
In other words, the ex-president has not disappeared anywhere, and his plans to “educate new leaders” go far beyond the scope of the Obama Foundation. And if you take into account his youth and deep concern about the current state of the United States, it becomes even clearer: Barack Obama is still in the system and plans to stay here for a long time.
Victoria Zhuravleva- Head of the Center for North American Studies IMEMO them. EAT. Primakov RAS.
It has been about a year and a half since Barack Obama handed over the powers of the President of the United States to Donald Trump. So he became the fifth living president of America, who retired along with Bush Sr., Clinton, Carter and Bush Jr. While his predecessors have already crossed the 70 mark, Obama is only 57 years old. We decided to find out what the first black president of the United States and a man in the prime of life is doing after Trump took over the reins.
Getting enough sleep
Barack Obama finally sleeps a lot and soundly. In an interview with former President Prince Harry for BBC Radio 4, Barack admitted that his life has changed a lot since his resignation. For example, now he can get enough sleep, talk for almost an hour in bed with his wife, have a calm breakfast and get down to business. While the president's life is scheduled by the minute.
Buys mansions
In 2016, Barack and Michelle rented a mansion near Kalorama Park, which is a 15-minute drive from the White House. Apparently, Obama was not bored with the landscape, and in 2017 he and his wife still bought this house with an area of almost 800 square meters. On the territory of the mansion there is a garden and a vegetable garden, in which Michelle likes to work, who ennobled the territory of the White House during the presidency of Barack. And Obama's neighbors are interesting - 28 embassies and even the office of the defense attache of the Russian Embassy in the United States.
travels
If you think that no one travels more than the president of any state, visiting every possible country on diplomatic visits every other day, then look at Obama's post-resignation record. It all started with a holiday in Polynesia on an island owned by his billionaire friend Richard Branson, where Barak was kitesurfing, surprising everyone with his physical form. He then traveled to the UK, Germany, Scotland, Italy, South Africa, Kenya, Australia, New Zealand and Bali. These are far from all the countries in which Obama has been noted over the past year and a half.
Make money from speeches
Traveling around countries and cities, Barak willingly agrees to public speaking and does not hesitate to express his opinion at conferences and meetings with politicians and public figures. On average, one speech costs about $400,000. Obama spends money on charity. For example, in 2017, he donated two million dollars he earned from performing to help low-income families in Chicago. Especially often he speaks on the topic of health care programs and the necessary reforms in this area. One of his most talked about speeches took place in July 2018 in South Africa, where Barack arrived for the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nelson Mandela, whom Obama met in 2005. When Mandela died eight years later, the then President of the United States delivered the eulogy at Mandela's memorial service. Performance in South Africa was the largest in the life of Barack after his resignation. He called to fight for democracy, ethnic diversity and human rights.
Friends with Jay-Z
Everyone knows about the mutual love of Donald Trump and Kanye West, but he is not the first president who is friends with the rapper. Barack congratulated Carter on being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and remarked that they have an important thing in common. Neither Obama nor Jay-Z would ever have thought in childhood that they could achieve such results in their careers. Barak believes that he and Carter understand each other perfectly, especially in the crazy love for their daughters. "By the way, I think I'm the only president who ever listened to Jay-Z music in the Oval Office."
Escorting daughter to college
And cries. Yes, Barack Obama is such a sentimental father who, watching his daughters grow up, cannot hold back tears in public. Malia Obama, the eldest daughter of Michelle and Barack, entered Harvard in 2017. At the initiation into students (a ceremony reminiscent of the presentation of student cards in Moscow universities), Barak failed to control his emotions. “I was very proud that I didn’t burst into tears right in front of my daughter. But when the ceremony was already over and we were walking to the car, the security officers tried not to turn to look at me, pretending not to hear my sobs.
Barack Obama is a man you can talk about for hours. Becoming the first black president in the history of the United States of America, this prominent politician gained the status of a legend during his lifetime.Today, the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, is called one of the most popular figures in world politics, because he is one of the few people who managed to maintain a human appearance even when he reached the very heights of world politics.
Childhood of Barack Obama. Education
Barack Hussein Obama II was born in the warm and sunny city of Honolulu, the only metropolis in the Hawaiian Islands. His father, a native of the Kenyan village of Kanyadyang, entered the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1959 to study economics. During his studies, he met an anthropology student, a white American named Stanley Ann Dunham, the mother of the future president. It is noteworthy that the acquaintance took place at optional courses in the Russian language. 
No less interesting is the fact that before his marriage to Denham, he was already married to a Kenyan Keise Aoko, with whom he had two children - a son, Malik, and a daughter, Aumu. In 1959, he left his family and flew to the States.
Barack Hussein Obama Jr was born in August 1961. The new mother decided to drop out of school, while the father, on the contrary, took up his studies, graduated from the University of Hawaii and, when the youngest Obama was not even three years old, left the family to continue his studies at Harvard. For some time, Barack Obama's parents still maintained relations, but some time later, Obama Sr. left the United States of America altogether in order to take a high post in the administrative apparatus of Kenya.
Subsequently, the president recalled that very few memories of his real father were stored in his memory - he spent only one month with him at the age of 10. Then Barack Obama Sr., who briefly visited the States, gave his son the first basketball in his life and took him to the first jazz concert. Both have become an integral part of the boy's hobbies, carried over into adulthood. Many years later, Barack Obama outlined the memories of his childhood in the biographical book Dreams of My Father.
Unfortunately, the life of Barack Obama's father was tragically cut short at the age of 47. Back in the early 70s, he got into an accident, did not die, but lost both legs, and then his job. This knocked the man down; he began to drink and sank into poverty. In 1982, he remarried, the couple had a son, and the life of Obama Sr. began to improve. But six months after the birth of baby George, he again had an accident - this time ending fatally.
Well, Ann Dunham, three years after breaking up with Obama, met a new love - Lolo Sutoro, a student from Indonesia. He replaced Barak's father. As a result of this union, younger sister future president - Maya. Some time later, the whole family moved to the historical homeland of their stepfather - to Jakarta (Indonesia), where most of the childhood of the future leader of America passed.
In the Indonesian capital, Obama Jr. visited one of general education schools up to fourth grade. After that, he again moved to the Hawaiian Islands, to his mother's parents, who sent him to the prestigious Panehou private school. IN school years he was the star of the youth basketball team and was an excellent student. He received a certificate with the highest score in 1979. In 2008, the president publicly admitted that he had abused marijuana at school, tried cocaine and alcohol.
During those years, he, like two other black students at the school, suffered from constant racist comments about him. “Once I suddenly realized that everything in this world was created for whites. Even Santa - and that white one! I stood at the mirror for a long time and thought what was wrong with me, ”Obama shared in his memoirs.
Kenyan family of Barack Obama
After graduating from high school, Barak entered Los Angeles' Occidental College, and two years later transferred to Columbia University, graduating in 1983 with a degree in political science. Until 1985, he worked in the business sector, then moved to Chicago, where he began his career as a lawyer. For several years in a row, he worked with the cases of residents of disadvantaged areas. In 1989, he moved to one of the largest US law firms, Sidley Austin.
In 1988, Barack Obama took up his studies again - he decided to get a second degree at Harvard University. Here he studied law while also heading the university newspaper, the Harvard Law Review. It is quite remarkable that no African American has ever held this position before.
Political career of Barack Obama
Already during this period, Barack Obama has established himself as a notorious fighter for equality. With these ideals, he went into politics. In the early nineties, he joined the ranks of the Democratic Party, and already in 1997 he was elected as an Illinois state senator. After 9/11, Barack Obama was one of the most active opponents of George W. Bush and his decision to send troops to Iraq. He also opposed the creation of the North American Free Trade Area. As for the social sphere, one of the main themes in Obama's political doctrine was support for low-income families and universal health insurance for the population. 
In 2005, after an unsuccessful attempt in 2000, Barack Obama took office in the US federal Senate. From that moment on, he became one of the leading figures in the political structure of the United States of America. In February 2007, Barack Obama announced his intention to run for President of the United States. Hillary Clinton became his main competitor for the title of the main Democratic candidate.
As a result, she gave in to Obama and provided him with possible support throughout his election campaign. Ordinary people supported Obama with the dollar - about $58 million in donations were collected as part of the presidential campaign. Most of the money belonged to middle-class Americans.
The new "People's President" moved forward with the slogan "Yes We Can" and with huge support from the common people. It is noteworthy that his main opponent, John McCain, relied mainly on Americans with high incomes.
In the November 4, 2008 presidential election, Obama defeated Republican candidate John McCain with 52.9% of the popular vote to McCain's 45.7%. 338 out of 538 electors voted for Barack Obama. On January 20, 2009, a Democrat, liberal and the first African-American president in US history occupied the Oval Room of the White House. His associate, Delaware Senator Joe Biden, became vice president.
44th US President Barack Obama
In the first hundred days of his presidency, Obama and his team managed to adopt a number of important innovations. Obama convinced Congress to expand the scope of children's health insurance and pay attention to discrimination against women in pay. $ 787 billion was invested in the short-term US economy, first of all, the banking market and the auto industry received injections. Obama has proposed tax cuts for unions, small businesses, and first-time homebuyers. The President not only lifted the ban on stem cell development, but also allocated $3.5 trillion for further research. 
It was at the suggestion of Obama that the Senate adopted an anti-crisis bill aimed at supporting the American economy, as well as a fateful decision to withdraw troops from Iraq. In addition, Obama passed the Obamacare health care reform, which provided for mandatory health insurance for every US citizen. He ordered the closure of the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison and signed a decree banning crippling interrogation techniques.
Obama tried to improve US foreign policy relations with European countries, China, Russia, and made attempts at dialogue with Iran, Venezuela and Cuba. The thaw in relations with Cuba occurred even before Fidel Castro's death, to the displeasure of Republicans who felt the rapprochement was premature. For all peacekeeping efforts in 2009, Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
By the way, Russia became the 14th country that Obama visited in the first year of his presidency. And, apparently, he started a good relationship with his Russian "colleague" Dmitry Medvedev.
Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama eat hamburgers
In the spring of 2011, Obama announced his desire to be re-elected as leader of the United States of America. This time, the African American president faced off against Mitt Romney and once again secured his seat in the Oval Office for the next 4 years. According to the results of the popular vote, he received 51.1% of the vote, 332 electors gave their votes to Obama.
The biggest mistake in the 8 years of his presidency, Barack Obama considers the invasion of Libya. The greatest merit is the salvation of America from a protracted economic crisis that could result in a new Great Depression.
Barack Obama's personal life
With his charming wife Michelle Obama (nee LaVon Robinson), he met during an internship at the legal agency Sidley Austin in the late 80s. It is noteworthy that at first Michelle, a lively lawyer, was not at all interested in him from a love point of view, although she was never bored with him and always had something to talk about. For several months, Barack sought her favor. Bouquets, sweets, romantic confessions - everything was in vain. But when Michelle heard his fiery speech, which he delivered to black teenagers from the Chicago slums, she realized that she could no longer deny her feelings. 
Barack and Michelle Obama got married on October 3, 1992. After the ceremony, the newlyweds traveled to Kenya to visit the groom's relatives. The next five years, the life of the young spouses was cloudless, until their eldest daughter Malia was born in 1998. As soon as Michelle went on maternity leave, it turned out that Barack's social and political activities did not allow him to support his family at a decent level. “We were as poor as church mice,” Michel recalled these years. Barak refused to work in his specialty, although she would bring a huge income to the family, claiming that she does not see herself anywhere except in politics.
In 2001, the couple had a daughter, Sasha, who almost became the catalyst for the divorce process. She also saved the marriage of the Obama couple - when at 3 months the baby fell ill with meningitis, her parents did not leave her hospital bed for a single step, forgetting about all the differences. When a miracle happened and the girl recovered, the couple intuitively compromised: Michelle became a reliable support for her husband in his political activities, and Barak began to spend more time with his family.
Since then, Barack Obama has never forgotten what comes first in his life. Even in the midst of the election race, even in the most difficult days of the presidency, he was attentive and gentle to his wife and remembered important events in the life of his daughters. During the 8 years of Obama's leadership, his family has been a role model.
By the way, the president instilled responsibility and love for work in his daughters. So, in the summer of 2016, his youngest daughter Sasha found a part-time job ... in a fast food restaurant.
When the 44th President of the United States was asked what he plans to do after the election, he joked that he plans to sleep well, and maybe even get a job as an Uber driver. But when it came to serious plans for the future, he noted that, together with his wife, he would help children from low-income families get a decent education.
Obama: On Trump and Leaving the Presidency
During the first six months of the presidency Donald Trump, which were marked by a series of accusations and revelations threatening the head of the United States with potential impeachment, his predecessor was somewhat forgotten.
Meanwhile, the 44th President of the United States Barack Obama August 4, 2017 celebrated its 56th anniversary. According to the canons of world politics, the age is almost young, however, having spent two terms in the White House, Obama has exhausted the limit of being in the president's chair.
Social guarantees for the "first person": pension, treatment, security and state funeral
Barack Obama became the fifth in the list of living retired US presidents. His "colleagues" are much older - George W. Bush in June 2017 celebrated the 93rd anniversary, Jimmy Carter Turns 93 in October Bill Clinton one of these days "knocks" 71, and George W. Bush celebrated its 71st birthday in July.
Like all his predecessors, Obama is endowed with a whole set of legally guaranteed benefits.
In March 2016, Barack Obama secured a 17.9 percent increase in pension payments to former US presidents from 2017. Thus, Obama's annual pension is about 240 thousand dollars a year, and tax is also collected from this amount.
In addition to the pension, the state pays the ex-president the costs of maintaining administrative and technical staff, transportation and postal expenses, as well as other needs, including food.
During the first 30 months from the date of Obama's resignation, an amount will be paid to support the team of assistants. We are talking about 96 thousand dollars a year.
The retired president is entitled to protection by the Secret Service. The same people are engaged in the protection of the “retirees” as the protection of the current head of state.
Until 1997, the Secret Service was assigned to the ex-president for life, but now this right is reserved for him only during the first 10 years from the date of his resignation.
A former first lady has the same protection rights, but only if she does not change her spouse. The children of the ex-president are considered specially protected persons until the age of majority.
The ex-president and members of his family are entitled to free treatment in military hospitals. They receive this benefit in accordance with a special directive from the US Secretary of Defense. In case of death former first his widow retains the right to medical care.
The funeral of the ex-president is organized at the expense of the state, but 56-year-old Barack Hussein Obama, apparently, is not eager to rush into this.
Vacation in Polynesia and a new house next to the Russian attache
So what has Obama been up to for the past six months?
Handing things over to Trump, the ex-president and his wife left for French Polynesia, where he spent a long vacation. Obama had an active rest - he was engaged in kitesurfing, admiring his friend - a billionaire Richard Branson and a Hollywood star Tom Hanks.
Former President Barack Obama's Vacation
Having swum and sunbathed, Obama got out to New York, where he attended a play on Broadway with his daughter. The ex-president did not make any loud statements on vacation, enjoying the fact that he did not have to express his point of view on any occasion.
After leaving the White House, contrary to expectations, Obama did not return to Chicago, where his career began. Together with his family, he decided to stay in Washington, at least until the youngest daughter Sasha graduated from high school.
In May 2016, Barack Obama rented a mansion near Kalorama Park, a 15-minute drive from the White House. The territory on which the mansion is located is 2800 square meters, and the house itself has an area of 760 square meters. The house has 9 living rooms and 8 bathrooms, on the territory there is a garden, a lawn for grilling and a place for a vegetable garden, which he likes to tinker with Michelle Obama. In the area where the family of the 44th president settled, five former presidents lived before him. Obama pays $22,000 a month to rent the mansion. The only disadvantage of this house is that the office of the defense attache of the Russian Embassy in the United States is located nearby. However, unlike Trump, no one suspects Obama of working for Russia yet.
Barack Obama's new home
Discussion with Merkel and rafting in Indonesia
The first public speech of Barack Obama after the resignation took place on April 24, 2017 - it was a meeting with students at the University of Chicago. The theme of the speech was the involvement of young people in politics.
From that moment on, the ex-president alternates between tourist trips and public speaking.
On May 9, Obama delivered a speech on food security and climate change in Milan, on May 25, along with Angela Merkel took part in a discussion in Berlin, where in the presence of citizens they discussed the migration crisis, the fight against terrorism and disarmament, and on June 6, the ex-president made a report at the Montreal Chamber of Commerce.
In May, Obama also managed to receive the Deutscher Medienpreis (German Media Award) in Baden-Baden, play golf in Scotland, where he also took part in a charity dinner organized by the Hunters' Fund.
In June, taking his wife and daughters, Obama went to Indonesia, where he joined the rafting on the island of Bali, rafting down the Ayung River. The next day, the Obama family visited the ancient temples of Tirta Empul and Borobudur. Also, Obama, who spent four years in Jakarta as a child, visited the city and spoke to the local community.
Barack Obama's post-presidency life
Obama's memoirs expected to set financial record
All these events, however, do not answer the question of how Barack Obama sees his future. Experts have little doubt that the 44th president, following the example of his predecessors, will write memoirs. It is possible that work on them is already underway.
Obama was predicted to work in Silicon Valley and the role of special envoy for the peaceful settlement of conflicts (the role of "peacemaker" was excellently handled by Obama's "colleague" Jimmy Carter, who received the Nobel Peace Prize for this). But so far the 44th president is in no hurry to make a choice.
What is certain is that Barack Obama is not in financial trouble. And it's not just about state pensions.
Experts believe that the memoirs of the 44th President of the United States can beat the record set by Bill Clinton, who earned $ 15 million from such a book. The potential of Obama's memories is estimated at 20-30 million dollars.
Another stable source of income for retired presidents is fees for lectures and speeches. For example, Bill Clinton earned $40 million from lectures in his first six years as the former head of the United States. In his best years, Clinton earned up to 250 thousand dollars for one lecture abroad. The income of George W. Bush is somewhat more modest - he receives from 50 to 75 thousand dollars for one performance.
Considering Obama's popularity in the world and the fact that he became the first African American to hold the presidency of the United States, the 44th owner of the White House is quite capable of surpassing Clinton's results in this category as well.
Summing up the results of the presidential election, announcing to journalists that nothing terrible had happened, and accepting a replacement in the White House, Barack Obama went abroad for the last time at public expense. Despite the historic pivot to Asia under Obama and Clinton, he traveled to the Old World on his last business trip. During a three-day visit to Europe, the 44th US President will visit Greece and Germany, and then return to the American continent, Peru.
Of course, the visit to Europe was planned before the elections, in which Hillary Clinton was given the victory in the White House. However, Donald Trump's victory made Obama's trip to the Old World especially compelling, because that's where the shock of the billionaire's election was greatest. Donald Trump, judging by his election campaign, does not intend to stand on ceremony with anyone, even with Europe. If we add to this Trump’s “special” attitude towards Vladimir Putin, his sharp criticism of the foreign and, of course, not only the foreign policy of his predecessor and views on the economy, as well as the fact that the European continent is waiting for a string of important elections that European populists can win , then it becomes clear why Europe is waiting for Obama so much. Of course, he would have preferred to speak during his farewell visit about the achievements and what America has done for Europe. However, life has made serious adjustments. the main objective Barack Obama's current trip is to reassure Europe about Donald Trump, to show that new president is not as terrible as he claims to be, that he will not abandon America's main strategic ally and that no one and nothing threatens transatlantic ties. And this despite the fact that the last time, in September, when the president was abroad and answered questions from reporters, he called Trump an "unqualified" dealer of "crazy ideas." Before leaving, Obama told reporters at a press conference that Donald Trump had already arrived at a meeting at the White House with changed views and attitudes towards the work of the President of the United States.
On Tuesday at half past 11 a.m. local time, America's first aircraft landed at Eleftherios Athens International Airport. Venizelos. In the Greek capital, Obama was greeted with a red carpet and a guard of honor. On the same day, he met with the President and Prime Minister of Greece. By the way, President Obama couldn't help but touch on his favorite forte - democracy in its birthplace - Greece. Today, for the last time, he will tell abroad about how to build a proper democratic society.
In Germany, Obama will, of course, meet with Angela Merkel, whom he called before flying across the ocean "probably my closest partner abroad in these eight years." After Trump's victory, by the way, Merkel's leadership in the West has grown stronger. After Obama's departure, she will remain the main advocate and supporter of Obama's globalized society, which he supported.
In addition to Merkel, the American president will meet with the leaders of Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain: Theresa May, François Hollande, Matteo Renzi and Mariano Rajoy and express support for a strong and united Europe, which remains America's closest ally.
Barack Obama's last trip abroad will end in Peru, where he will meet with Pacific leaders. At this meeting, he will make one last attempt to cement his eastward pivot in foreign policy, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In Peru, by the way, he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping for the last time. This meeting comes at a very moment when relations between Washington and Beijing have entered a very uncertain phase due to Trump's hawkish attitude towards China.
Partner news
Partner news
Top
-
A decade after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt has returned to its "managed dictatorship" strategy. -
Russian news. At the end of 2019, the Central Bank announced a record influx of private investors to the Moscow Exchange. Over the past year, their number has doubled: 1.9 million people opened accounts on the Moscow Exchange, the figure reached 3.86 million people. Previous annual growth rates for investors were much more modest. But the collapse of the markets due to the coronavirus confused all the cards for both the authorities and the “physicists” who came, the amount of funds “in the market” of which does not exceed 100 thousand rubles. And if we talk about advice to "physicists", then the expert believes that the main thing is not to panic and not try to sell all the papers abruptly. -
The situation in Syria. Türkiye turned to NATO for help, as well as directly to the United States. According to Akkara, she was attacked, which means that the clause of the NATO Charter on collective defense should be activated. Unfortunately for Turkey, they are unlikely to get more from NATO as an organization than moral support. Most likely, Turkey will inflict some kind of strikes on the positions of the Syrian army. The question is, what will be their scale? Will it escalate into a full-scale invasion? And here much will depend on the position of Moscow.
Russian industry
The ruble is not according to the rules
This year, the rigidity of the fiscal rule has been superimposed on the problems of emerging markets and sanctions against Russia. As a result, the budget rule, instead of reducing the volatility of the ruble exchange rate, increased it and has every chance of rocking the foreign exchange market and weakening the ruble further.
