--- title: Barack Obama: After White House, a Private Citizen description: President Barack Obama has been known to prod his dinner guests with a simple question: What should he do next? canonical: https://time.com/4617422/barack-obama-private-citizen-after-white-house/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-23T15:16:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:49.082Z article:section: Politics og:title: Becoming Citizen Obama og:description: As he prepares to leave the White House, the president ponders his future role. og:url: https://time.com/4617422/barack-obama-private-citizen-after-white-house/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc2dd3dbe821ff26/6988b3ea196cf4098003e5ba/barack-obama-outgoing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Barack Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Becoming Citizen Obama twitter:description: As he prepares to leave the White House, the president ponders his future role. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc2dd3dbe821ff26/6988b3ea196cf4098003e5ba/barack-obama-outgoing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Becoming Citizen Obama: The Outgoing President's Next Job > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=ae3cda4f-5b46-4515-a31f-252717d6fc24&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Obama and Misty Copeland [Watch (HLS stream): President Obama and Misty Copeland](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qUOOs1zo.m3u8) (7:37)  _Published 2016-12-01. The president and the prima ballerina on race, body image and staying humble._ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Dec 23, 2016 3:16 PM UTC  President Barack Obama leaves his news conference in the Brady press briefing room at the White House in Washington, on Dec. 16, 2016. President Barack Obama leaves his news conference in the Brady press briefing room at the White House in Washington, on Dec. 16, 2016. Andrew Harnik—AP by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Dec 23, 2016 3:16 PM UTC _Excerpted from TIME’s_ “Barack Obama: Eight Years,” _a definitive, one-of-kind 96-page, fully illustrated commemorative edition. Available at retailers and at_ [_Amazon.com._](http://amzn.to/2ggjdyo) Over a late-night martini in the White House’s second-floor residence, President Barack Obama has been known to prod his dinner guests with a simple question: What should he do next? After nearly eight years in the confining bubble of the Oval Office, where a president’s most precious asset is time, Obama will soon have an abundance of hours, days and months to forge what he will. So in private dinner parties, often with Silicon Valley executives, Hollywood stars and public intellectuals, the president has kept turning over his guests’ ideas: Marshal the cure to a disease. Promote peace abroad. Foster understanding among a diverse society at home. Obama, at 55, will become one of the youngest ex-presidents in the nation’s his­tory, eclipsed by a handful that includes Theodore Roosevelt, Ulysses S. Grant and Bill Clinton. As his time as the leader of the free world comes to a close, Obama is preparing for reentry. The modern post-presidency has been de­fined by extremes. Bill Clinton launched a high-profile foundation that has had significant impact and has grown exponentially, while also earning many millions of dollars on the speaking circuit. George W. Bush had far fewer appearances and took up water­ color painting. Obama appears ready to chart a course somewhere in between, toggling be­ tween the limelight and a return to the social­ justice issues that sparked his interest in pub­lic service back in the 1980s. In a notable departure from precedent, Obama and his family will stay in Washington after his term is up so that his daughter Sasha can graduate from her high school, which she is scheduled to do in 2019\. The Obamas will live in the Kalorama neighborhood and will become the first First Family to remain in the capital since Woodrow Wilson was president. While the 44th president will surely do his best to give the 45th a free lane to govern, the mere fact that Obama will be in Washington means his comings and goings will very likely be closely chronicled, whether he is out walk­ing the family’s dogs, Bo and Sunny, or ad­dressing a policy group. Given his huge popularity—Obama is exit­ing with ratings that fall just shy of those of Bill Clinton, who left office in the midst of an economic boom-the ex-president will be a “get” on the speaking circuit, where, if his immediate predecessors are any guide, he has the potential to earn tens of mil­lions of dollars. Already a three-time author, Obama is expected to write a memoir, which could fetch an advance rivaling Bill Clinton’s reported $15 million. And despite persistent rumors that the former law professor was open to a Supreme Court nomination, aides say Obama stands by a 2014 statement ruling out the “monastic” lifestyle associated with a seat on the high court. The return to civilian life will also be a time for Obama to burnish his legacy, as is standard for ex-presidents. George W. Bush launched an institute focused on veterans outreach, ex­panding health care in Africa and empowering female leaders across the globe. The Clinton Foundation has morphed into a billion-dollar behemoth with health-care, education, cli­mate and global-development arms. Obama has already kick-started the Obama Foundation, which will take the lead in con­structing Obama’s presidential library in Chi­cago as well as the programs that will ema­nate from it. Longtime Obama friend Marty Nesbitt is overseeing the organization, whose board includes top donors and political ad­visers. Obama aides are reluctant to discuss initial plans for the organization, arguing that they don’t want to distract from his final days in office. But they say tentative ideas include sections devoted to continuing advocacy for Obama’s Affordable Care Act and climate­ change efforts, both signature items of his presidency. The foundation will also seek to defend Obama’s foreign-policy record, in­cluding a rapprochement with Cuba and the Iran nuclear deal. Another topic that America is likely to hear more about from citizen Obama is the com­plex interaction between racial tension, gun control and criminal-justice reform. Although he made history as the first black president, and racial identity was the basis of his best­ selling autobiography _Dreams from My Father_, Obama was wary of discussing race during much of his tenure in the White House. That attitude began to change with the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood-watch guard who killed the unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin. The epi­sode struck a chord with Obama, prompting him to open up about the state of the coun­try’s race relations. In a televised press con­ference following Zimmerman’s acquittal, the president described the experiences of being followed while shopping in a department store and of hearing the locks engage on car doors as he walked down the street. “Tray­von Martin could have been me 35 years ago,” Obama told America. During the remainder of his second ad­ministration, as shootings of black men by police received more attention, Obama began speaking out more frequently about systemic racism and the tension between police and the communities they serve. He is likely to be even more vocal once he leaves office. “These are issues that in a lot of ways have defined his presidency and are unfinished,” says one White House official. Already, Obama has close ties to two non­profits that could help. In 2014, in the after­ math of the Martin killing, Obama kicked off My Brother’s Keeper, a White House initia­tive advocating mentorship for young men of color that became a stand-alone organization. Obama took on his own group of mentees, mostly black and Hispanic high school stu­dents from the Washington area. The presi­dent is planning to assume a substantial role in the organization once he is freed from the fundraising restraints and general responsi­bilities of the White House. There’s also Organizing for Action, a grass­ roots effort formed from the president’s 2012 re-election team to support his legisla­tive agenda. The president has held a steady stream of fundraising events for the nonprofit, which focuses on such matters as climate change and immigration reform. Obama is ex­pected to take on a more formal role with the group after he leaves the White House. The two organizations help bring Obama full circle to what got him started in public service. “I’ll go back to doing the kinds of work that I was doing before, just trying to find ways to help people-help young people get educations, and help people get jobs, and try to bring businesses into neighborhoods that don’t have enough businesses,” Obama told a group of students in Washington in 2015\. “That’s the kind of work that I really love to do.” _From_ [_“Barack Obama: Eight Years.”_](http://amzn.to/2ggjdyo) _In his historic Presidency, Barack Obama led the United States through eight tumultuous and remarkably active years. And in this definitive, one-of-kind Special Edition, TIME’s experts assess the impact his Presidency had on the U.S. economy, foreign policy, health care and so much more Along with spectacular and often moving images, TIME’s unmatched writers and reporters give this Presidency a clear-eyed context through issues of race, inclusion and military approach. This edition delivers sharp, fresh stories and an extra bonus: TIME’s foray into augmented reality, in which the cover and several inside pages spring to life via curated audio and video pieces accessed easily through the free TIME Special Edition app._ ## Transcript [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ MUSIC ] I thought you were gonna say that I'm also a really good dancer. I didn't wanna pancake my skin a lighter color to fit into the Portland Ballet. For those of you who are watching- I feel like my mom pretty much covered everything. Steph Curry is the greater shooter that I've ever seen Hello. [ MUSIC ] You guys have a lot more in common. And I'm sure a lot of people know. You are both born into multi- racial families, you're raised by single mothers and you've risen to the top of your respective fields as African- Americans. Is there a common thread That has allowed you both to succeed? I thought you were gonna say that I'm also a really good dancer. [ LAUGH ] I thought about it, I saw your dancing with a 106 year old. So I was a little let down as you were- It's not the common thread. That wasn't the common thread? That she picked up on. As I am embarking on my first season As a principle dancer, I'm experiencing something that I didn't prepare myself for. I think emotionally and mentally and psychologically, when you have all of these expectations and goals to reach this point that 1 % get to, what do you do when you get. How do you stay grounded, and humble, and striving? I burst out onto the national scene with the Democratic Convention speech in 2004. This is the first time that I had a big national audience, and everybody responded really favorably. My parents shared not only an improbable love They shared an abiding fate in the possibilities of this nation. And so I got a lot of attention, made interviews, magazine pieces and all that stuff. I still remember telling Michelle and my closest friends. I said I'm not any smarter today than I was last week. This is my wife Michelle as you know. This is Sasha. When you've struggled for awhile and you've had the ability to be an ordinary person and you've gone shopping, changed diapers, and tried to figure out how to pay the bills and so forth, then Handling some of these issues ends up being easier because you have a better sense of perspective. And that, for me at least, keeps me grounded. And it's good to have friends who will do that for you. If you start acting word- [ LAUGH ] They're all- Check you. Yeah, it's like what? Suddenly you're some prima ballerina. [ LAUGH ] Please. 18 months ago, y'all didn't know who I was. They called me all sorts of things. They called me Alabama. They called me yo mama. I had to explain, no it's Obama. When I think about the journey I've traveled, there's no doubt that young African American, Latino, Asian, LGBT youth, they have more Role models, the folks that they can immediately identify with. But what we also have to remember is that the barriers that exist for them to pursue their dreams are deep and structural. I hope that there are young men of color who are Looking at me and saying, I can aspire to be the President or a Senator or a community organizer. But if they are in neighborhoods where even if I'm on television, there are no men in their neighborhoods who've got jobs that are able to support a family, then you still got problems. Being the only African American in almost every environment in terms of classical ballet. It weighs on you it wears on you after a while. Something that I fought so hard for throughout the beginning of my career. Do want to pancake my skin a lighter color to fit in to the quarter ballet. I didn't want to wear make- up that made my nose look thinner. Being African American is definitely been a huge Obstacle for me but it's also allowed me to have this fire inside of me that I don't know I would have or have had if I weren't in this field. So, do you find now that you're in a position where you can start pushing the barriers a little bit, the boundaries in terms of what People expect. I think that having a platform and having a voice to be seen by people beyond the classical ballet world has really been a power . Showing that it's possible to have any skin complexion, to have a healthy body image. I think that 's it's forcing a lot of these The top two companies to address the lack of diversity we're seeing the classical ballet. I'll just say it as an outsider. When I hear that your body type is considered more athletic or large-- you're tiny. For those of you who are watching -- you're petite. So the notion that somehow that was really a question is really interesting Interesting. As a father of two daughters, do you see that at all? Do you see that pressure? That pressure, I think, is historically always been harder on African American women. You know, the fact that they got a tall gorgeous mom, who has some curves, and that her father, their father appreciates, I think is helpful. I do think that culture's changing for the younger generation a little bit more, but it's still a challenge. I mean Malia will talk about black girl's hair. And she's pretty opinionated about the fact that it costs a lot, it takes a long time. That sometimes girls can be just as tough on each other about how they're supposed to look. As a parent, that's a constant learning process. And looking back was there anything that someone told either of you about race or didn't tell you about race that you wish they had or that you felt like you had to learn on your own? I feel like my mom pretty much covered everything. With me being biracial she made it very clear to me that yes you are Italian and you are German and you are Black. But you are going to be viewed by the world and by society as a Black woman. And you should You should be prepared for that. What I always try to transmit to my kids is that issues of race, discrimination, all those things are real, and you have to understand them. You have to be knowledgable about them. And recognize that they didn't stop Overnight. Certainly not just when I was elected. I remember people talking about how some how this was going to solve all our racial problems. And I wasn't one of those who subscribed to that notion. If we could decide tomorrow that there was no discrimination at all, that we had some New drug that everybody took, and suddenly nobody would be racially prejudiced. We still have a whole bunch of really poor kids who need help. It is wonderful that a potential dancer can see Misty and say I can do But if there's no dance studio at all in their neighborhood or if their school's chronically underfunded then it's gonna be a problem. We're not gonna eliminate racism and prejudice entirely in this society but what we can do is to greatly lessen how much it determines the life chances. Of people and that should be our goal. Thank you. It's great to see you. Thank you, I enjoyed it. Thank you. All right, all good? Let's cut camera please. Thank you guys. 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