Former U.S. President, Barack Obama released the folowing statement on the release of Brittney Griner via Twitter:
Grateful for the long-overdue release of Brittney Griner today from Russian custody. Kudos to President Biden and his administration for the difficult diplomatic work involved to make it happen. We’re looking forward to having Brittney back home.
During his remarks at the Democracy Forum in New York City, President Obama announced a new program that will expand the Obama Foundation’s efforts to train young leaders across the United States. The Obama Foundation Leaders United States program is a six-month leadership development program for emerging leaders, 24-45 years old, who are passionate about making a positive impact on their communities. The program will serve 100 leaders across the United States in its first year and support their efforts to create change.
“Since its inception, our Foundation’s mission has been to inspire, empower, and connect the next generation of changemakers,” said President Obama. “We now have a global network of thousands of leaders, not only here in the U.S. but in every corner of the globe – Europe, Africa, the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America. They’re entrepreneurs and elected officials, non-profit leaders and grassroots activists, artists and journalists and educators – all of them tackling some of the most vital issues of our time, from climate change to income inequality, from reducing racial and ethnic conflict to expanding opportunity for women and girls.
“The creativity, determination and passion of these leaders are already making an impact — in lives saved, environments restored, children educated. They’re creating new models for clean energy generation and poverty alleviation. It’s remarkable and inspiring — and a little humbling, since I sure wasn’t making such an impact at their age. And the good news is, we’re just scratching the surface of what this next generation is capable of.
Watch Former President Barack Obama's full campaign speech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for US Senate candidate John Fetterman on November 5, 2022, just days before the 2022 midterm elections.
Watch as former President Barack Obama campaigns in Milwaukee for Democratic candidates running in the state’s 2022 midterm elections, including U.S. Senate candidate Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes and incumbent Governor Tony Evers.
In a video shared on Twitter former President Obama endorsed Democrat Cheri Beasley in North Carolina’s Senate race.
Watch the video below:
“Cheri works hard. She’s honest. And most importantly, she always puts the people first… This is going to be a close race, and we can’t afford to get it wrong.”
— Cheri Beasley (@CheriBeasleyNC) October 25, 2022
I’m honored to receive @BarackObama’s endorsement for U.S. Senate. Let’s do this. pic.twitter.com/CJ6hxrAZVj
Former President Barack Obama is heading to Wisconsin later this month to help boost Senate candidate Mandela Barnes, a Democrat challenging GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, as well Gov. Tony Evers' re-election bid.
The joint event, set for Oct. 29 in Milwaukee, will also promote other Democrats on the November ballot, including Attorney General Josh Kaul and Rep. Gwen Moore. NBC News was first to report the news that Obama would campaign in Wisconsin.
“From restoring access to reproductive health care to defending democracy and Wisconsinites’ right to vote, the stakes couldn’t be higher,” the Wisconsin Democratic Party said in a statement on Friday.
The visit from Obama comes as both Barnes and Evers face tough battles against their Republican opponents. According to the latest polling averages from Real Clear Politics, Barnes trails Johnson by around 3 points while Evers is locked in a dead heat with challenger Tim Michels.
Related story: Obama Foundation Expands Programs to Train Emerging Leaders Across the United States at Democracy Forum
With democracy under threat in the United States and around the world, the promise and potential of the next generation of leaders is more important than ever. On November 17 in New York City, President Obama will join pro-democracy thinkers, leaders, and activists from around the world to focus on the biggest challenges democratic institutions face today. The Obama Foundation is hosting the Forum in partnership with Columbia University and the University of Chicago.
The event will showcase democracy in action around the world. It will highlight the young leaders in our programs and advocates who are deeply engaged in revitalizing the institutions that support a healthy democracy, and modeling the values that have always embodied our best.
It will also draw on the core tenets that all strong democracies are built on, with speakers and guests discussing and debating ideas for how we can make sure our democracies and our institutions deliver.
The Obama Foundation believes that the best chance we have to solve our greatest challenges is to solve them together.
Barack and Michelle Obama released the following statement on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II:
From the day of her coronation 70 years ago—the first one ever televised—to this very moment, as countless tributes are being posted online in her honor, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has captivated the world. Today, Michelle and I join so many others who are celebrating her life and mourning her passing.
Her Majesty was just 25 years old when she took on the enormous task of helming one of the world’s great democracies. In the decades that followed, she would go on to make the role of Queen her own—with a reign defined by grace, elegance, and a tireless work ethic, defying the odds and expectations placed on women of her generation.
During World War II, she became the first-ever female royal to serve on active military duty. And through periods of prosperity and stagnation—from the moon landing, to the fall of the Berlin Wall, to the dawn of the digital age—she served as a beacon of hope and stability for the people of the United Kingdom and the world.
Her Majesty worked with 15 Prime Ministers and countless foreign heads of state. She listened deeply, thought strategically, and was responsible for considerable diplomatic achievements. And yet, she wore her lofty titles with a light touch—as willing to act in a comic sketch for the London Olympics as she was to record steadying messages for the people of the UK during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Michelle and I were lucky enough to come to know Her Majesty, and she meant a great deal to us. Back when we were just beginning to navigate life as President and First Lady, she welcomed us to the world stage with open arms and extraordinary generosity. Time and again, we were struck by her warmth, the way she put people at ease, and how she brought her considerable humor and charm to moments of great pomp and circumstance.
Like so many, Michelle and I are grateful to have witnessed Her Majesty’s dedicated leadership, and we are awed by her legacy of tireless, dignified public service. Our thoughts are with her family and the people of the United Kingdom at this difficult time.
The Obamas returned to the presidential residence Wednesday for a ceremony to unveil their official White House portraits, more than five years after moving out of the president's mansion.
Barack Obama's painting was done by Robert McCurdy and Michelle Obama's was done by Sharon Sprung.
Traditionally, the two most recent presidential portraits end up in the Entrance Hall. The first ladies' portraits generally hang on the floor below.
Get a better look at the portarits below:
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Former president Barack Obama won a Creative Emmy Award on Saturday for best narrator for his work on the Netflix documentary series, “Our Great National Parks.”
The five-part show, which features national parks from around the globe, is produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, “Higher Ground.”
Barack Obama is the second president to have an Emmy. Dwight D. Eisenhower was given a special Emmy Award in 1956.
Barack Obama previously won Grammy Awards for his audiobook reading of two of his memoirs, “The Audacity of Hope” and “A Promised Land.”
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration released a statement on Friday rejecting former President Donald Trump's claims that former President Barack Obama took classified documents from the White House:
“The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) assumed exclusive legal and physical custody of Obama Presidential records when President Barack Obama left office in 2017, in accordance with the Presidential Records Act (PRA).”
NARA moved approximately 30 million pages of unclassified records to a NARA facility in the Chicago area where they are maintained exclusively by NARA. Additionally, NARA maintains the classified Obama Presidential records in a NARA facility in the Washington, DC, area. As required by the PRA, former President Obama has no control over where and how NARA stores the Presidential records of his Administration.
The 2022 Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival (MVAAFF) kicked off Friday with great pomp and circumstance — and a few bars of “Hail to the Chief” — as Barack and Michelle Obama made a special appearance for the opening night screening of Netflix documentary “Descendant.”
Former president Barack Obama is now an Emmy nominee.
Obama was nominated for outstanding narrator for the Netflix documentary series "Our Great National Parks." Each episode tells the story of a national park through the lives of its wildest residents while exploring our relationship with the wilderness.
This is the first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Obama, though the "Yes We Can" music video released as a promotional tool for the Obama campaign in 2008 was honored with the first-ever Daytime Emmy Award for Best New Approaches in Daytime Entertainment. Obama was also featured in the documentary David Attenborough Meets President Obama, which was nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy in 2016, but was not for Obama personally. The former president has won a Grammy with a win in 2008 in the Spoken Word Album category as the narrator of The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. He was recently nominated again for a Grammy in the same category for A Promised Land.
Others nominated in the category are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Black Patriots: Heroes of the Civil War), David Attenborough (The Mating Game), W. Kamau Bell (We Need to Talk About Cosby) and Lupita Nyong’o (Serengeti II).
Former US President Barack Obama has shared his virtual reunion with Jacob Philadelphia, the boy who famously touched his head in the 2009 photo Hair Like Mine. Check out that video below:
Jacob Philadelphia was five years old when he visited the Oval Office and asked if his hair was like mine. That photo became one of our favorites – a reminder of the power of seeing yourself in your leaders.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 27, 2022
Today, he's graduating from high school! Check out our recent reunion. pic.twitter.com/gB39hFS3Wp
Former President Barack Obama released the following statement on the Buffalo massacre in which 10 inncocent Black people were gunned down by an 18-year old white supremacist:
This weekend’s shootings in Buffalo offer a tragic reminder of the price we pay for refusing to curb the easy access to guns. It should also serve as a wakeup call for all Americans of goodwill, regardless of party.
We need to repudiate in the strongest terms the politicians and media figures who — whether for political gain or to boost ratings — have used their platforms to promote and normalize “replacement theory” and other starkly racist, anti-Semitic, and nativist conspiracy theories.
It’s despicable, it’s dangerous — and it needs to stop.
Former President Barack Obama released the following statement after the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court:
Congratulations to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for her appointment to the Supreme Court. This is a great day for America, and a proud moment in our history.
A federal judge has dismissed the latest attempt to block construction of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park.
Protect Our Parks filed a second lawsuit last year attempting to stop the presidential center from being built in historic Jackson Park, arguing the years-long federal review of the project's environmental impact on the site was flawed.
They also argued that state and federal regulators should have considered sites other than Jackson Park, which they argued would have been "much less harmful to protected resources."
But U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey on Tuesday ruled the city "did not abdicate control or ownership" of the Obama Center site, and that presidential centers provide clear public benefits, including "furthering human knowledge and understanding, educating and inspiring the public, and expanding recreational and cultural resources and opportunities."
Construction of the Obama Presidential Center began last summer, and is expected to be completed in 2025.
The Obama Foundation has estimated the center will cost approximately $500 million. Once it is built, the city would own the campus, but the center would pay to maintain it. The Obama Presidential Center will be privately funded, and the foundation will pay the city $10 to lease the land for 99 years.
The center will include a 235-foot stone tower housing the site's museum; a Chicago Public Library branch; a multipurpose space on top of the museum, a program, activity, and athletic center for community programs and events; a Great Lawn for social gatherings, barbecues, a nature center; and new walking and biking trails; a children's play area; and a fruit and vegetable garden and teaching kitchen.
The center will not include a formal presidential library operated by the National Archives and Records Administration. Rather, Obama's collection of presidential documents and artifacts will be stored in existing NARA facilities, and non-classified documents will be available online.
Former President Obama released the following statement on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination to the Supreme Court:
I want to congratulate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on her nomination to the Supreme Court. Judge Jackson has already inspired young Black women like my daughters to set their sights higher, and her confirmation will help them believe they can be anything they want to be.
As a protégé of Justice Breyer, Judge Jackson earned a reputation for pragmatism and consensus building. It’s part of why I nominated her twice – first as a district judge, and then to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, where she earned praise from both Democrats and Republicans.
Like Justice Breyer, Judge Jackson understands that the law isn’t just about abstract theory. It’s about people’s lives. @POTUS Biden has made an excellent choice, and I look forward to seeing Judge Jackson confirmed.
Former U.S. President, Barack Obama released the following statement on the passing of the legendary and Oscar winning actor, Sidney Poiter at the age of 94:
"Through his groundbreaking roles and singular talent, Sidney Poitier epitomized dignity and grace, revealing the power of movies to bring us closer together. He also opened doors for a generation of actors. Michelle and I send our love to his family and legion of fans."
Former U.S. President, Barack Obama released the following statement on the 1-year anniversay of the January 6 attempted insurrection:
One year ago, a violent attack on our Capitol made it clear just how fragile the American experiment in democracy really is. And while the broken windows have been repaired and many of the rioters have been brought to justice, the truth is that our democracy is at greater risk today than it was back then.
Although initially rejected by many Republicans, the claims that fanned the flames of violence on January 6th have since been embraced by a sizeable portion of voters and elected officials – many of whom know better. State legislatures across the country have not only made it harder to vote, but some have tried to assert power over core election processes including the ability to certify election results. And those remaining Republican officials and thought leaders who have courageously stood their ground and rejected such anti-democratic efforts have been ostracized, primaried, and driven from the party.
Historically, Americans have been defenders of democracy and freedom around the world – especially when it’s under attack. But we can’t serve that role when leading figures in one of our two major political parties are actively undermining democracy at home. We can’t set an example when our own leaders are willing to fabricate lies and cast doubt on the results of free and fair elections.
Our system of government has never been automatic. If we want our children to grow up in a true democracy – not just one with elections, but one where every voice matters and every vote counts – we need to nurture and protect it. Today, that responsibility falls to all of us. And on this anniversary, nothing is more important.
