Barack Hussein Obama II

#28Icons

“America isn't Congress. America isn't Washington. America is the striving immigrant who starts a business, or the mom who works two low-wage jobs to give her kid a better life. America is the union leader and the CEO who put aside their differences to make the economy stronger.”

The only way to start off our list of 28 Black Icons is with Barack Obama, The United States’ first Black president. His natural charm, wit, and cool-guy persona has taken him to places even his father couldn’t have imagined. So, we dedicate the first day of Black History Month to one of the most important men in America, Barack Hussein Obama.

Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4th, 1961, having what some would call very humble beginnings. His mother, Ann Dunham, was a Anthropologist, and his father, Barack Obama Sr., a governmental economist. They met while attending the University of Hawaii and got married in 1961. Barack’s father was not there for his early life, having relocated to Massachusetts to pursue a PHD program at Harvard University. Dunham and Obama (Sr.) got divorced in March of 1964, soon after he moved back home to Kenya.

As a teenager, Barack Obama attended the esteemed Punahou Academy, where he excelled in basketball and academia, graduating as an honors student. After high school he moved to Los Angeles for two years before transferring to Columbia University in New York. Barack graduated in 1983 with a BS in Political Science. After school, he had a brief career in corporate research but quickly moved to Chicago and began working for the Trinity United Church of Christ as a community organizer. He later referred to this time in his life as, “the best education I ever got, better than anything I learned at Harvard”, where enrolled in 1988.

Obama launched his political career in 1996 when he was elected as a State Senate for Illinois, where he made a lot of good impressions on both sides of politics. He was successfully elected into the House of Representatives in 2004 with 52% of the votes for Democratic primary. During his tenure, Obama focused his work in nuclear non-proliferation and health care. His time in this position is directly responsible for his success in the 2008 presidential campaign. On February 10th, 2007, Obama officially announced that he was running for President of the United States, after the country experienced a rough eight years under George W. Bush, who, some could say, wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer.

On November 4th, 2008, America elected its’ very first black president. It was a monumental moment, hope gleamed on the black community like the gates of heaven opened. Obama’s famous quote still rings in the ears of those who watched the victory speech, “The road ahead will be long, our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there.” Barack was not in for a smooth transition, besides being the first Black President, the country was falling apart. America was in recession, active in two wars, and the carried the lowest international favorability rating in history.

Many accuse Obama of being an all around bad President. The media attacked him throughout his eight years and made him off to be weak. However, in his first 100 days, he expanded health care for all Americans, gave legal protection for women seeking equal pay, passed a $787 billion bill to promote short term economic success, cut taxes for the working class, small businesses and first time homeowners. Obama also loosened bans on stem-cell research and went ahead with a $3.5 trillion budget plan.

While everything wasn’t a success during his presidency, Obama fought to do what was right, but was halted many times by Republicans in Washington. For a two term President, I think it’s safe to say that the good outweighed the bad. He rescued the country from the “Great Recession”, ended the war in Iraq, saved the U.S. auto industry, dropped the veteran homeless rate by 50%, signed the Hate Crime Prevention Bill, won the Nobel Peace Prize, and launched My Brothers Keeper, an organization focused on helping marginalized youth reach their full potential as American citizens.

Throughout his presidency, Obama led the country with love, compassion, and empathy, character traits many Presidents lacked. Obama’s real influence reaches far beyond the oval office, it comes from the kind of person he is. Since he left office in early 2017, we finally got a chance to see the President simply live. We saw him on jet skis, grabbing coffee with Michelle, and spending time with his daughters. It reminded us about how much we miss him (and we miss you more everyday, Obama). Even before being elected he was planning his post-presidency. Obama's plans focus on youth, the teenagers and young adults who will be responsible for this country when the time comes. He also is a heavy advocate for voter registration.

In terms of his business ventures, Barack and his wife Michelle, signed a multi-million dollar deal with Netflix to produce movies and series for the streaming network. According to Variety, the content is expected to be a mix of scripted and unscripted series, docu-series, and documentary films. Barack stated in an interview, “...That’s why Michelle and I are so excited to partner with Netflix — we hope to cultivate and curate the talented, inspiring, creative voices who are able to promote greater empathy and understanding between peoples, and help them share their stories with the entire world.” The content they create for Netflix will all be produce through their recently founded company, Higher Grounds Production. As one of the most inspirational and respected couples in the world, it is expected that the Netflix deal is at least $100 million. Chief Content Officer for Netflix, Ted Sarandos, spoke on the partnership when the news hit the media: “Barack and Michelle Obama are among the world’s most respected and highly-recognized public figures and are uniquely positioned to discover and highlight stories of people who make a difference in their communities and strive to change the world for the better...We are incredibly proud they have chosen to make Netflix the home for their formidable storytelling abilities.”

It is safe to say President Barack Obama is far from retirement. As the 5th youngest President, it can be expected that he will have a very historic and groundbreaking post-presidency career. We are in murky waters in the United States. It seems like everything that was built is being torn down, and if not, it’s under attack. However, we must keep on. We must continue to build and break new grounds. The Obama’s are a symbol that the toughest battles can be won, no matter what the odds. The people of America elected a Black man with a Black wife to run this country for 8 years straight. Obama accomplished this because he spoke with love, dignity, and understood this basic concept: no matter your race, gender, class, sexual orientation or religion, we all wanted to be treated as humans. Barack Obama inspires the world to move with passion, empathy, open-mindedness, and respect. Hats off to you Mr. President, thank you for a great eight years!