Barack Obama

Read the latest post-presidency news about President Barack Obama on Newser.com

Stories 21 - 40 | << Prev   Next >>

Obama Says He's 'Feeling Fine' After Positive Test

Former president reports his only COVID symptom so far is 'a scratchy throat'

(Newser) - Former President Barack Obama announced Sunday that he tested positive for COVID-19 but so far has just one symptom. "I've had a scratchy throat for a couple days," he tweeted , "but am feeling fine otherwise." The former president said he and his wife, Michelle, are...

Growing Consensus on Russia: Should've Listened to Mitt

A look back at Romney's 2012 remarks on Russia being 'without question, our No. 1 geopolitical foe'

(Newser) - As the world waits anxiously for his next move on Ukraine, Vladimir Putin continues to make demands over the crisis, exacerbated this week by his ordering of Russian troops into eastern Ukraine. Now, comments made about Russia a decade ago by Sen. Mitt Romney, then a presidential contender against incumbent...

Obama: Nix the Filibuster, Pass Voting Rights Legislation

In first op-ed since leaving office, former president calls on Senate to 'do the right thing'

(Newser) - President Biden recently called for altering Senate rules if necessary to remove the obstacle of the filibuster so that voting rights legislation can be passed. Now, a big voice is joining in that same chorus. In what USA Today says is his first op-ed since leaving office in 2017, former...

Bezos Makes 2 Big Donations
Bezos Makes 2 Big Donations
Nov 22, 2021 1:00 PM CST

Bezos Makes 2 Big Donations

$100M donation from Amazon founder is largest Obama foundation has ever received

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s foundation announced Monday that it has received a $100 million donation from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, which it says is the largest individual contribution it has received to date. The former president's foundation said in a statement that the gift from Bezos is intended "to...

Obama Concedes Doubts About Climate Action Progress

'We can't afford hopelessness,' former president says as he pressures Russia, China

(Newser) - Former President Barack Obama expressed confidence at UN climate talks Monday that the Biden administration will ultimately get its $555 billion climate package through Congress, and faulted China and Russia for what he called a "dangerous lack of urgency" in cutting their own climate-wrecking emissions. As nations complained of...

Obama Comes Out Swinging In Race for Virginia Gov

Terry McAuliffe wants to be governor again

(Newser) - Former President Barack Obama offered a sharp rebuke of the Republican candidate for Virginia governor, Glenn Youngkin, as he encouraged voters on Saturday to support Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the closely watched race. Obama accused Youngkin of portraying himself as a friendly everyman while encouraging what Obama called “lies...

After 5 Years, Obamas Break Ground on Presidential Center

Former president say it's his way of giving back to Chicago's South Side

(Newser) - After five years of legal battles, gentrification concerns, and a federal review, Barack and Michelle Obama dug shovels into the ground Tuesday during a celebratory groundbreaking on their legacy project in a lakefront Chicago park. Construction on the Obama Presidential Center along Lake Michigan, near the Obama family home and...

Three Presidents to Mark Anniversary of 9/11 Attacks

Biden will go to each site, while Obama and Bush also plan to take part in commemorations

(Newser) - President Biden will visit all three 9/11 memorial sites to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and pay his respects to the nearly 3,000 people killed that day. Biden will visit Ground Zero in New York City, the Pentagon, and the memorial outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where...

Group Asks SCOTUS to Halt Obama Library Construction

They say it will wreck Chicago's Jackson Park

(Newser) - Work on Barack Obama's presidential library finally began this week—but the project's opponents want the Supreme Court to order an immediate halt. The Protect Our Parks group has filed an emergency request with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, arguing that the project will do irreparable harm to Jackson...

Obama's Mega Birthday Bash Dashed by Delta

Ex-president to 'scale back' Mass. event with hundreds of invitees due to variant spread

(Newser) - Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, and George Clooney were supposed to come. Pearl Jam was set to entertain the guests. Now, Barack Obama, who turns 60 on Wednesday, will have to settle instead for celebrating his milestone birthday with Michelle and a much smaller crowd. A huge outdoor bash for the...

Obama Guests: Spielberg, Pearl Jam, a 'COVID Coordinator'

President hosting birthday bash on Martha's Vineyard amid delta surge

(Newser) - Barack Obama is turning 60 on Wednesday, and he plans to celebrate with a bash on his 30-acre property this weekend on Martha's Vineyard, reports Axios . The site says nearly 500 guests are expected, in addition to about 200 staff to serve them, a total that's raising eyebrows...

Podcast By a Couple of Bosses Becomes a Book

Print version of 'Renegades,' from Obama and Springsteen, will have a few additions

(Newser) - There's a new chapter in the collaboration of Barack and the Boss. Renegades: Born in the USA is a bound edition of the popular Renegades podcast featuring conversations between former President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen on topics such as fame, cars—and the country itself. Penguin Random House...

Tulsa Witness: 'They Were Killing All the Black People'

City marks centennial of attack whose destruction is still felt today

(Newser) - For decades, many Americans knew little of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Events and news media coverage marking the centennial this weekend are trying to change that, partly by assessing the lasting pain and depth of the horrific attack on the city's Black people—including an examination of how...

Kid Reporter Who Interviewed Obama at 11 Dies at 23

Damon Weaver was on his way to a journalism career

(Newser) - Getting to tell the president what you want in your school lunch is a dream come true for a kid. And landing an interview with a sitting president is a dream come true for a young reporter. Damon Weaver did both at the same time in 2009 , when he was...

Oldest Supreme Court Justice Under Pressure to Retire
Oldest Supreme Court Justice
Under Pressure to Retire
in case you missed it
May 8, 2021 2:30 PM CDT

Oldest Supreme Court Justice Under Pressure to Retire

Some want Stephen Breyer, 82, to clear way for younger liberal

(Newser) - President Biden could have a Supreme Court seat to fill come summer. There is "immense urgency" among progressive Democrats for liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, who was nominated to the court by President Clinton in 1994, to retire after the court wraps up its current term around the end of...

Obama's Gift to McRaven After Bin Laden Raid: Tape Measure

Ex-president, retired Navy admiral who led raid 10 years ago that killed al-Qaeda chief revisit mission

(Newser) - This weekend marks the 10-year anniversary of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, and two key players at the center of it all sat down this week to talk about the mission. Monday's conversation between former President Obama and retired Navy Adm. William McRaven was recorded...

Lawmakers From Both Parties Praise Guilty Verdict

'Today, a jury did the right thing,' Obama says

(Newser) - Lawmakers from both parties are expressing satisfaction with Tuesday’s guilty verdict of former police officer Derek Chauvin for murder and manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd, the AP reports. Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters says: “I’m not celebrating, I’m relieved." Sen. Tim Scott, the chamber’...

Board Votes Against Renaming School to Honor Obama

John Lewis' name will now replace that of Jefferson

(Newser) - A middle school in Illinois is ditching the name of the third president—but it won't be taking the name of the 44th one. At a meeting Tuesday, the Waukegan Board of Education voted 5-2 in favor of renaming Thomas Jefferson Middle School after late civil rights icon Rep....

Chappelle: I Saw Celebs Leave 'Dirty Notes' for Trump Aides

Comedian describes mischief during one of President Obama's last White House parties

(Newser) - In 2019, then-White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham claimed aides of former President Obama had left disparaging notes around the White House for members of former President Trump's administration to find. At Inauguration Day, "Every office was filled with Obama books, and we had notes left behind that...

Obama Mourns His &#39;Mama Sarah&#39;
Obama Mourns
His 'Mama Sarah'
obituary
Mar 29, 2021 10:55 AM CDT

Obama Mourns His 'Mama Sarah'

Former president's stepgrandmother dies in Kenya

(Newser) - Sarah Obama, the matriarch of former President Obama's Kenyan family, has died, per the AP . She was at least 99 years old. Mama Sarah, as the stepgrandmother of the former president was fondly called, promoted education for girls and orphans in her rural Kogelo village. She died at the...

Stories 21 - 40 | << Prev   Next >>