--- title: See How President Obama Has Aged Since His 2009 Address description: Correction appended, Aug. 4, 2016. President Barack Obama has been joking about his job turning his hair gray for so long, it's hard to remember... canonical: https://time.com/4178368/barack-obama-state-of-the-union-age-sotu/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-13T02:50:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T20:36:42.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: See President Obama at his First and Last Address og:description: The White House has aged him og:url: https://time.com/4178368/barack-obama-state-of-the-union-age-sotu/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91e62a0de2f26aeb/698878e3cf40a80804c41731/president-barack-obama-sotu-sate-of-the-union-age-facebook.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1931 og:image:height: 1086 og:image:alt: president-barack-obama-sotu-sate-of-the-union-age-facebook og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See President Obama at his First and Last Address twitter:description: The White House has aged him twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91e62a0de2f26aeb/698878e3cf40a80804c41731/president-barack-obama-sotu-sate-of-the-union-age-facebook.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See How President Obama Has Aged Since His 2009 Address > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:36 PM UTCPublished: Jan 13, 2016 2:50 AM UTC  President Barack Obama in his 2009 address to a joint session of congress, left, and in the 2016 State of the Union address, right. President Barack Obama in his 2009 address to a joint session of congress, left, and in the 2016 State of the Union address, right.Chuck Kennedy—MCT/Getty Images (L), Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images (R) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:36 PM UTCPublished: Jan 13, 2016 2:50 AM UTC **Correction appended,** **Aug. 4, 2016**. [President Barack Obama](http://motto.time.com/4199637/barack-obama-daughters/) has been joking about his job turning his hair gray for so long, it’s hard to remember what he looked like when he took office in 2009. Back then, despite a grueling two year campaign and a collapsing economy, he was still a fresh faced pol from Illinois, promising the country hope. Born on Aug. 4, 1961, the President was 47 years old in 2009\. He is 53 years old today. **Correction:** The original version of this story misstated President Obama’s birthday. 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