Barack and Michelle Obama, along with their two daughters, spent a total of eight years living in the White House while Barack served two terms as the 44th president of the United States. With Donald Trump having taken over as president, what are Barack and Michelle up to and what are their plans for the future?
Barack Obama
Barack admitted in an interview that Trump’s win over Hillary Clinton forced him to rethink his post-presidency plans. If Clinton had won, Obama would have simply just ‘turned over the keys’ to her and let get on with running things, but since the Democrats have lost, he feels he has a duty to help the party reestablish itself. The party doesn’t have a clear nominee for the 2020 election as of yet, and Obama has stated that he, along with Michelle, wants to help find ‘the next Barack or Michelle Obama’ to give the party a chance of winning in 2020. He wants to create ‘platforms that train, empower, network, boost the generation of leadership’. Had Clinton won, Obama would have taken more of a backstage role out of the public eye, but with Trump having won, it appears Obama will continue to have some public presence as he attempts to repair the reputation of the Democratic Party. Aside from politics, Obama plans to write a memoir, with reports suggesting he’ll receive a huge advance of anything between £8-12 million.
Michelle Obama
Like her husband, it seems former First Lady Michelle will work to rebuild the Democratic Party and find a new presidential hopeful to take on Trump in the 2020 election. The family will continue living in Washington, D.C., until 2019 when their youngest daughter Sasha is due to finish school. Michelle has stated that after leaving the White House, she wants to continue working on promoting healthy eating and helping adolescent girls’ education. Michelle received very favourable ratings while in the White House and many have questioned whether she would consider running for president herself, though she’s made it clear she never wants to run for president.
