Barack Obama shares personal stories & experiences: Family, leadership, sports & marriage |The Pivot

My step-mom, when we did Gayle King, she called me and she was like, y'all have hit the top. Y'all can't get anyone else bigger than Gayle King. I'm going to call her this weekend and say, hey, check out Tuesday. Gentle. Since we started The Pivot, we've always been asked, what's our Mount Rushmore of guests? And there still be Michael Jordan, Lev and Dave Chappelle and Denzel Washington. After today, one of those will be off. Some people call him Michelle's husband, Malia and Sasha's father, philanthropist, author, fashionista. What most people call him is the 44th president of the United States of America. So today, The Pivot knocks off one of those Mount Rushmore guests with President Barack Obama. Gentlemen. Oh, my God. President Obama. How you doing? Good to see you as well. How you doing, sir? Good to see you. It's an honor, brother. So before we start, I got two questions. I know you're supposed to be asking the question. The first is, does RC have a twin? Because I see him in the morning. Then I see him at night. He got this thing. He got that thing. You're working hard, brother. I do work hard. I don't have a twin, though. Although I would have sent him to work today because I'm actually supposed to be there right now. So that's a very special occasion. You know, I have to leave. And so also to before we start, I normally split the room later. OK, but I know you've always been about being everybody's president. So we have to include them. So always split the room by people who have celebrated a Super Bowl. A lot of times it's because the other guy sitting with this has won or maybe it's an NBA championship because only one of us have that experience. You know, you've celebrated a lot of Super Bowl. Matter of fact, the first one you celebrated was with you. It was with us. You know, and I don't know why y'all were scared to walk over to you because you were going to call him fella because you didn't know who he was. I see. This is the one time you get a pass on the split in the room. You get a pass on that. But you get Sean out. They were talking about it early and he's like, yeah, did you get a picture? I was like, no, because I didn't want to walk up on him. And he was like, hey, guy. We got 53 of them. We did not. I was way on. Well, we're going to get one today. And then we are. So now my second question is, I see you got his own style. Yeah, I mean, you're Taylor. I could not pull off what you pull off, man. But but it's looking good on you. And this is what I just want to let you know. I was going to wear the tan suit. You're going to wear the tan suit. The tan suit just in. I was thinking about wearing one of those split ones where it's like half a wrap around the whole thing. That's ridiculous. And I can get you his fashion. Sometimes it bears. You'd be looking good, but sometimes I can get you one. I'll do you right. You can pull off the double breast. You know, it's been a while since I did the double breast. I think when you run for office. Double breast kind of sends a message like you some sort of highfalutin. You know, it's bad enough wearing a suit every day. I, you know, I just go with the basics. I just call me highfalutin. I mean, look at you, man. You got your own personalized, you know, jewelry and whatnot. I see you, man. But welcome to the Pivot. It is good to be here. You guys are doing great. Been enjoying the show. Thank you so much. Fred Taylor, Channing Crowder, Ryan Clark, the Pivot, a part of Fanatics. Thank you for pivoting with us. So this is the question I have. I know 1985 Bears will always be that is special to you, but you've been around to see so many things change in football since that time. That's right. You know, you got to watch what was it? January 31st, 1988, Doug Williams, first black quarterback to win the Super Bowl. And you fast forward that to now, February 11th, 2024. Patrick Mahomes wins. He got three. He got three. How have you seen the perception of the black quarterback change throughout your fandom of the sport? Well, you guys are a lot younger than me. So I'm thinking back to folks like Warren Moon, Vince Evans. It was still a rarity when I was was a young fan. So that any time there was a black quarterback, it didn't matter what team you were rooting for them. Just because it felt like they were representing everybody. And there was still so much bias against black quarterbacks. Then you start getting that generation of Donovan McNabb, Randall Cunningham. It wasn't a rarity, but I think the burden of proof was still on the black quarterback. Can you execute? What's great today is that people don't even think about it anymore. And I think part of it has to do with the change in the quarterback itself in the NFL. Because you had great black quarterbacks in college who, because of their athleticism, a lot of times were running. And they'd be in formations where they weren't going to be the classic pocket passer. And so when they went to the NFL, they didn't have as much reps doing that. And then the teams would just discount them. And what's happening in the NFL, you guys know this better than I do. Everybody understands if you don't have a mobile quarterback these days, you're going to have problems. But look, you know, there are still preconceptions. Think about Lamar, who right now is playing better than just about anybody. And is a two-time MVP. Might win it again this year. And the fact that there were still, as recently as four or five years ago, folks saying, well, maybe we should change him into a receiver. Yeah. So some of those old habits die hard. But I think with Patrick, with Lamar, with Stroud, now I think it is a given who is the best player. And the way that the NFL has changed, you know, you want somebody who's a dual threat. And if you get somebody like that, you look at your LSU man, Daniels, even though he's hurt right now. But, you know, that's a guy who shows you right off the bat what that means to have somebody who can, you know, throw the ball 60 yards, but then might also take off for a 50-yard run. It's the same thing that happens in coaching, right? I mean, we're now getting to the point where it's not unusual to have African-American coaches. And they're even getting second chances, which never used to happen. Right? The problem that it used to be wasn't that there weren't black coaches. It was they have one losing season and then they're gone. And then other folks would get recycled. Didn't matter how many times they lost, right, just because they were a known commodity. So I think the NFL reflects society generally. We have made progress. And when I talk to young people, I always say, you know, don't say nothing's changed because, you know, when I was born in 1961, you know, the South was still basically Jim Crow. Maybe not legally, but operationally, that's how it was. So things have improved. Things have changed. We wouldn't be sitting here if they hadn't. But that doesn't mean things haven't. When you talk about change, I want to talk about your life change, because we're sitting here today, all four of us. We're the only two dimes up here. Me and you. But when I got drafted in the NFL, I got to look cuter. And you and that like you're in the world's sexiest man's talks and all that. You don't say it at a mature age, you know, like that transition, that attention, that just, you know, I don't know. The women be hollering at you and stuff like because of the fact that you are a good looking dude. But now you're president. Good looking dude. You know, so so first of all, I don't know if Michelle's going to be watching this. So I'm going I'm going to I'm scared. Yeah, you should be. Oh, you know, the truth is. You guys, as NFL players and athletes generally, I think it's a lot like musicians. Y'all get famous early. Y'all get famous young at a time when the attention that you're talking about may be flattering, fun, what have you. By the time people really knew who I was, I was 43 years old. You know, I was married, had two kids, you know, had gone, you know, gone grocery shopping, had, you know, washed my car. Right. You know, I was a regular guy in that sense. And so that kind of attention, by the time I got it, I was not tripping on it. There are times where women have acted in somewhat inappropriate ways. There are pictures in the Internet of like women grabbing my butt. And I was president at the time. And I'm like, well, you know, it's like old ladies and stuff. So, I mean, they're not going to wrestle them down on the ground. My wife is such an extraordinary woman, such an amazing partner that you just try to stay focused, stay on the straight and narrow, you know. And also, look, kids change your life. The idea of disappointing your kids and, you know, is something that, you know, that, you know, I ain't going there. That's about as far as I'm going with your question. As long as you tell them, you say, I appreciate the offer, but I'm not going to take advantage of this at the current time. Well, there you go. At the current time. At the current time. That's a dot, dot, dot, Channing. He said at the current time. He don't leave dot, dot, dots. Channing definitely, he's the crazy one. I'm pretty sure. Yeah. He's trying to stir something up. I caught that. Yeah, well, I'll bring it back because just those thoughts you're talking about, Michelle, and the girls, family, you know, being a leader of the of the world, balancing being a leader of the world as well as being a leader at home. Right. How were you able to balance those moments? It wasn't always balanced. And this I'm sure you guys can relate to. Right. If you want to be excellent at anything. Sports, music, business, politics. There are going to be times in your life where you're out of balance, where you're just working and you're single minded and you and for me, you know, when I was running for president. I think I went about a year and a half where I was maybe hope on on weekends and the kids were so small. Michelle was working. We weren't rich. So it wasn't like Michelle could quit her job. You know, so she was carrying a huge load. During that time and which she reminds me continuously and and rightfully so, because because she made a lot of sacrifices. Interestingly, by the time I got to the White House, it was actually better because the thing about being in the White House is people come to you instead of you going to them. I mean, you and you live above the store, right? It was literally a 30 second commute. So I set up a rule where I'd have dinner with the family every night at 630. And even if I had to go back to work, go back down to the office, I'd come up, spend time with the kids, spend time with Michelle and then go back down. But, you know, what you start realizing is that they ground you and they give you perspective. And over time, that makes you better. Right. So I'd be down dealing with some legislative issue trying to pass Obamacare or trying to deal with some international issue, Iraq, Afghanistan. Then I come up and my girls, they don't want to hear any about that. So I'm sitting there eating dinner and they're talking about, you know, this teacher who, you know, is kind of cross eyed or some kid who, you know, acting a fool and they've got their own stories. And it gives you some sense of reality and perspective. And that, I think, for me, at least, was a good way of getting out of my own head. And, you know, I was lucky that Michelle was such an extraordinary mother. And the girls, I think, naturally were just happy spirits that, you know, they still love me after all I put them through. And I will always be grateful for that. Right. Yeah. Yeah. But it's not it's not easy, you know. And sometimes Michelle and I, when we're talking to young people and we talk about, you know, their careers, it's still different, unfortunately, for men and women. You know, I mean, I think women who want to pursue professional careers, it's still harder because people still feel as if the lion's share of the work still falls on them. But in both cases, what we try to say is you can have it all, but you can't have it all at once. And, you know, you you have to recognize there may be times in your life where you are going to be busy and then the other person has to pick up the slack. And then but you have to be willing to do that for the other person as well and try to create some kind of equity inside the inside the family. And I haven't always gotten that perfect, but, you know, I keep trying. We all have children. My son plays at Notre Dame. And recently I read a story about him and they ask him about being my son. Yeah. And he said, well, when I was younger, I used to run from it, he said, because kids would say I only got this opportunity because of my father. And he said, now that I'm older, I embrace it because I understand what it means to represent that name. You know, you talked about kind of getting that fame at 43. Maybe then if you had the girls, it wouldn't have been been President Obama's daughter or Michelle Obama's daughter. But now it is. Yeah. When you're having these conversations about life with your girls, how much do you impress upon them about making sure they make their own way? The challenge for us is letting us give them any help at all. I mean, they they're very sensitive about this stuff. They're very stubborn about it. Malia, she's making movies. So she made her first movie. And, you know, I'll be a dad. I'll brag a little bit. You know, she went to. Right. She's working with them. And, you know, her first film went to Sundance and all these fancy film festivals. And she didn't use Obama on the as director on the credits that said Malia and she used her middle name to put Obama. I was all like, you do know they'll know who you are. Right. And she's all like, you know what? I want them to watch it that first time and not. In any way, have that association. So I think our daughters go out of their way to not try to leverage that. And, you know, growing up that the press was pretty good. I basically made a deal with the press pool at the White House press corps. I said, you can follow me around. You can talk about me. You do whatever you need to do. Leave my children alone because they have the right to grow up. They didn't choose this. Right. Let them grow up. And to to the credit of the press, they did leave them alone. Now, as they've gotten older, there's been some paparazzi stuff going on and it drives them nuts, you know, because their attitude is we, you know, we're not looking for all that. So they're grounded. When Michelle and I were talking about me running, our biggest concern was, will our kids end up weird? Yeah, because it's a weird situation. But I've talked about this. One of the great blessings was a I had we we brought my mother in law who recently passed and who was just an amazing woman I loved. And she was the most down to earth, you know, South Side, you know, straight up. Like if the kids misbehaved, she'd be like, you know, you don't know you haven't done anything right. You know, your parents have you don't don't you guys start acting entitled. And and so everybody was on watch to make sure that they both had a normal childhood and that they did not feel as if they got something that they hadn't learned. They've turned out amazing. I can't brag about them enough to that point, though. You know, you it's weird or, you know, normal, you say, you can't live. They can't live. Michelle can't live normal forever. Like honestly, like we've seen, you know, we've seen these big masses walk in when you walk in. Like if I get up right now, they're going to jump on me like that thought of that. You can you can't go run and grab something to eat if you want. You can't just go on vacation like it's different. But is it is it worth it that the rest of your life is what it's going to be? You know, I talked about this the other day because because somebody asked me, what what do you miss most? Or what would you like to do? And the thing I miss is just walking around and nobody knowing who you are. Like you don't realize. How what a benefit that is until. You know, you try it and suddenly you got 100 people asking you for selfies and all that. But I also have to remind myself that's a that's a high class problem to have. Right. A guy who who's been famous, more famous than me for a long time was Bruce Springsteen. And I've gotten to know him because he's he's been really supportive around a lot of issues and campaigns. And he said to me one time when I mentioned this, he said, Brad, that's that's the price you pay for living your dreams. And he's right. Right. I mean, you know, you pursue something. You end up achieving what you want to achieve and they're going to be some tradeoffs. But but I do miss it. I was joking the other day about there have been times where I thought about, yeah, we'll try a disguise. You know, put some dreadlocks on, get a beard, mustache, walk around. But even then, my daughters and my my wife remind me because sometimes we do. We'll walk in some quiet places and they'll say, don't talk now because it's true. If they hear me, you know, the other thing is the ears are too big. You know, I got to put on a hoodie or a cap or something because they folks say, man, I've seen those ears before. Difference in, you know, your children's upbringing as to yours, where they had both you and your wife. Right. In the home. That wasn't your experience. You know, and you said I've grown up Indonesian, Hawaiian, black, white. How have all those different perspectives and experiences shaped you to be who you are now? You know, it's interesting because, you know, I don't know if you guys have been to Hawaii. It is a blessed place to grow up as a kid because you're outside all the time. It's safe. And there are people from all different parts of the world. You know, everybody's mixed up. So as a kid, when I was young, it was just great because you're not thinking about it. When I became a teenager, it was more challenging because back then there wasn't a big black population in Hawaii. There is now because a lot of the military bases, folks get stationed there. They look around and say, well, I might just stay here. And so now you've got a big black population. When I was a kid, though, like just trying to get a haircut, trying to find a barber was tough. Had to get the fro rank. Yeah. And so you're thinking about it. You're thinking, I wasn't mean to be a black man. You're, you know, a lot of how I define myself came from sports. I came from basketball, came from it, came from movies. You know, you're watching Shaft and Superfly, you know. And it wasn't until I moved to mainland that I think, you know, being in a community where I was in the majority all the time. I think makes you feel like you can take a breath and just be you. But I think now, once I became an adult, the main thing it did was it made me just recognize how people are people, you know. Everybody's got different experiences. Right. So so so we have as African-Americans, we have a specific culture. We have gone through specific things. We can relate to certain experiences, food, music, parties. Right. That that are just different because of that specific culture. But one thing I've come to see and recognize, because as one of the great things, being a president is you go everywhere, you meet people from all walks of life. You see everybody. And what you realize is, you know, the basic stuff about people wanting respect, wanting to be seen. People want to support their families, people wanting to their children do better than them. That kind of stuff is is is more universal than you think. Right. It may play out in different ways. But, you know, I remember when I first started campaigning in Iowa and we're in the middle of cornfields. And we'd go into some counties and it's ninety five percent white. And my name is Barack Hussein Obama. And, you know, I'm from Chicago. And some of my team or staff were worried about how would these people react? And then you go into somebody's house and they got like the jello mold and they got the, you know, the Ritz crackers with the cheese whiz. And, you know, they got the doilies and the, you know, the little figurines. And it's like, oh, that's my grandmother. You know, oh, that's Michelle. We talk about her family, who I love. These are folks originally from South Carolina. Come to Chicago, South Side, never really left that, you know, their little place. But the way they interacted, how important family was, what they cared about really wasn't that different from those folks in downstate Illinois. That people you'd think there's nothing in common, but actually there's a lot in common. And that's the kind of politics I tried to present. Right. Which is, look, we've all got different experiences and things aren't always fair. And let's be honest about that. But but I will come to you believing that I can understand where you're coming from and what your life's like. And I expect you to be able to understand me. I'm not going to assume that we have to be divided or that we're not going to be able to somehow find common ground. You know, in finding common ground, it's I just I remember the night you won. And the older people in my life legitimately shedding tears because I'm sure you've heard it. I never thought I'd live long enough to see a black man be elected president. And also part of that feeling is you weren't just electing a black man. You were electing this great man. And sometimes you put these great men on pedestals that make them hard to touch. Tough to reach. And so now that you've moved out of that presidency and now you're trying to connect with these different communities and teach them different things and sort of hit them to what's going on. Tell me why it is that the black community now, the young black men now should feel that Barack Obama who can't walk into a store, who can't go grocery shop or cut his grass anymore. How could we relate to him? I think one of the blessings of being an African-American, I'm not saying is unique to us, but but I do think it's true for black folks who've been successful is you've got somebody in your family who's not. Yeah. Right. So that's true for everybody. All of us here. Right. And so when we have a barbecue or Thanksgiving at our house, we got folks from all walks of life and friends that we go back 40 years and who are still struggling, still trying to pay the bills, still dealing with, you know, the rent. And so in that sense, I'm lucky. Michelle and I, we didn't come from privilege. And so there's no doubt our lives now are different. But our memories and our relationships have not changed that much. Right. I was paying off student loans until I was 40 because, you know, I know nobody was there to pay for my college education. We were scrapping and scraping together enough money to buy that first condo, you know, after we were married. And so I have some sense of the challenges involved. But what I also want folks to know is that you have power. And the question is, then how can you use it? Because we've all we've all had this experience. This isn't unique to me. And Michelle and I, we always talk about this when we are mentoring young people. We always tell them, do not let people think you do not belong, because I promise you once you sit at these tables. At these fancy places with folks with fancy titles and they got a big bank account and you talk to them and you go, oh, yeah, they ain't all that. Yeah. This idea that somehow they are so special, they're so smart, they're so sophisticated. Not really. They've been exposed. They've been given the confidence of feeling like they belong. But if you sit down and talk to them. Normal people, normal people. What you always say about if you could speak English, we could talk to anybody that speaks English. I don't care what you had, what you know, what money you have, what you own, what this, what that speak English. I can sit down and talk with that. That's my point. And the benefit for Michelle and me, because we came up, you know, and at each stage, you know, you go to Harvard and wow, it's Harvard. And then you find out, oh, Harvard's full of some fools and people that you would not put in charge of anything. But they're there and there's some really amazing, brilliant people, too. And then you go to the U.S. Senate and you look around and, you know, everybody's represented smart people and dumb people, good people and bad people. And then you now suddenly you're meeting at the the group of, you know, seven world leaders are all in a room or the United Nations. Oh, same thing. You know, it turns out that there's some really smart, amazing world leaders and there's some fools running countries. And so part of what I try to do with, I think, the young men that I talk to is just to try to be honest with them about the struggles I went through, the fact that when I was a teenager, I was messing up. I remember meeting with a group of high school boys one time and they were shocked when I started telling them, yeah, man, I was getting high and screwing around, not doing what I was supposed to do. And they're sitting there because, you know, there's a picture of me in their classroom when they were in elementary school. And so for them to hear the fact that, no, I went through the same things you did, that that's the that's the message that I want. And then to say to them, but you know what? You've got the power to make choices and to move in a direction where there's no reason why you can't achieve. You can't empower yourself. You can't pursue the dreams you want. And politics is part of that and voting is part of that. And, you know, you know, that that's your birthright as a citizen. Don't give it away. Right. I brought my book. Well, actually, your book, The Audacity of Hope, Reclaiming the American Dream. I left it in the hotel. So, well, I was going to ask. You're going to send it to me and I'm going to sign it. Thank you. I appreciate it. But you spoke to all people in the book. You spoke about optimism, call to action and really just believing in the people. Right. To us. How can you describe to us the urgency in this election as black men? So I'll be honest. I do not think that Democrats have a monopoly on wisdom and I don't want Democrats to ever take black folks for granted. And I respect every person evaluating both sides in any election, any debate. You should get to know what does this candidate stand for? What does that candidate stand for? You know, the truth is, historically, you know, initially, the Republican Party was the party of Abraham Lincoln and freeing the slaves. And for a long time, Democrats, their base was in the South and the Dixiecrats, they were pro Jim Crow. And then it flipped during the civil rights movement after Lyndon Johnson signed that law for voting rights and and civil rights that changed. And a lot of the South moved into the Republican Party. So my point is that no one party you should take for granted. I will say this right now, that the candidate that I'm campaigning for, Kamala Harris, I think stands for the kinds of inclusive. Opportunity treating everybody with respect, believing that we have some obligations to each other, believing that if there's a poor children, whether they're in inner city or in a rural community, that they deserve the same kinds of opportunities and good education and a chance to get a good job as anybody else. I think Kamala Harris believes in the idea that we don't want to have people out there who don't have health care. So that if they get sick, suddenly they're losing their house or they can't look after their children. I think she believes that the criminal justice system should treat everybody the same and that we should try to eliminate bias from our criminal justice system. And so she's proved that whether it's supporting Obamacare and expanding it, making sure that we're providing entrepreneurial opportunities for and for small businesses. And part of her platform is to build new housing so that we can make housing more affordable. She's proved time and time again that that's her orientation is this is how we can help communities. Donald Trump, he's got the opposite orientation. And this is somebody who has a history of looking down and disparaging people who are not like him. And this is not, this is well documented. I mean, his father built a business not renting to black people and was very explicit about it and was sued for it. And, you know, when Donald Trump wasn't even in politics, you have the case of the Central Park Five, where five young black kids, teenagers, are accused of beating a woman in Central Park. And he's taking out full page ads saying they should be put to death. Turns out they were innocent. When I was president, you know, he essentially got his political lift by suggesting I wasn't born in this country. Didn't matter what birth certificates we have. So you start from the premise that I'm not going to vote for somebody who does not see me as an equal. How is he going to represent me if he does not think that I am worthy of the same kind of representation as his kids are? And then from there, you look at specific issues and you say to yourself, well, you know, this is not a guy who has ever shown that he is particularly interested in communities outside of rich folks and members of his golf country club. And so I say that not just to black men, I'd say that to working people. Here's a guy who built his business where he wouldn't pay workers who built his building. And he'd stiff them knowing that if they tried to sue for their wages, that he'd just throw a bunch of lawyers at them. They couldn't do nothing about it. That's his orientation. That's his starting point. And so now what I'll hear from some brothers is, well, you know, I got a check during the pandemic. And then I've got to explain to him, well, actually, you got to check from. Biden, too, during the pandemic, it's just he didn't put his name on it. He wasn't self-promoting during the financial crisis in 2008, 2009. I gave you guys relief and I just didn't put my name on it. So sometimes it's necessary to clear up information. People will say, well, you know, prices went up. I remember those first two years when Trump was president. It seemed like prices were lower. And so I had more money in my pocket. And I've got to say, yeah, the economy was good because that was my economy that I just handed off to him. So the first two years he was benefiting from all the work we had done for eight years cleaning things up. So don't be fooled by that. So it's a combination of specific issues. But maybe more important is what are the values and the character of the people who are running? And if Kamala Harris knows you, knows your life, went to an HBCU, has, you know, just like we were talking about earlier, family who is middle class, working class, who struggled, who knows how sometimes opportunities are blocked through no fault of the people involved just because they haven't had a chance and wants to do the work to help those folks. And you've got another person who looks down on you and disregards you. Well, you know, to me, that should not be a tough choice. And I'm sure you guys hear hear this from friends of yours. You know, maybe your kids are starting to get to the age where they vote. I think sometimes you also hear folks say, you know what? This just isn't going to make much of a difference because everything seems like the same. It doesn't matter who's up in there. And part of what I try to say to them is real talk. Whoever's president is not going to solve every problem. No president. I was president for eight years. I didn't eliminate racism. I didn't solve poverty. I said that's not the way to think about the way to think about it is who's going to make things a little better for you or a little bit worse. So when I was president, we passed a health care bill that gave 50 million people health care. And Kamala, as part of the Biden administration, helped to make medicine cheaper for seniors. So that's making your family's life a little better. Doesn't solve every problem. It solves some of it. And the flip side is you have a president who doesn't care about you. It can make things worse. So I've been using the example during COVID. We had a whole plan before COVID had happened when I was still president. We anticipated there was going to be a pandemic. We put together a whole playbook. Big thick book. Here's what you do if there's a pandemic. We practiced it. We had all our agencies practice it. Here's how you deal with the schools. Here's how you deal with public health agencies to minimize the disruption. Now, whoever was president, COVID was going to be a dose. People were going to die. Businesses were going to close. It was going to be a problem. It hadn't happened in 100 years. But Canada had a 60% lower death rate than America. 60%. A million people died in the United States. If we had done a better job, that's 600,000 people who might be alive. Disproportionately African American, black people and brown people. Well, you know what? If 100,000, 200,000 of our grandparents, aunties, uncles were alive, that's why you vote. Because things can get worse or they can get better. And I think right now we've got a real stark choice. And I think Kamala Harris will be an excellent president. And I think Donald Trump has already proven he was not a very good president. And that should be enough. And I always tell folks, it takes half an hour. Y'all voting on American Idol. Y'all voting on the NBA All-Star Game. You can't take half an hour? They for sure voting on the Pro Bowl. I know that's right. You know, that brings up something very interesting. Because the one thing, even though we ask the question about black men and voting, you don't get to be just the black president. And I think a lot of times there were people in our community that held a grudge against you because you weren't just the black president. We had Rex Ryan on and he talked about he wished the world was like a locker room. That everybody came together with all their differences because they understood we had one goal. One mission. How would you advise any president, any leader to learn to be our president, our leader? Look, it starts from what we were just talking about. What's your values? And I'm always going to have an affinity for the black community. I've got a black wife, black children, black family. And so I'm going to be sensitive to the particular challenges of my community. But I can't forget that everybody else got their own challenges. There are a bunch of white folks out there struggling. There are a bunch of Hispanic folks struggling. And so part of how I'm thinking about it is, how can I make sure that all those folks who are struggling feel a common cause so we can all solve the problem? We can all be on one team combating a lack of health care, combating poverty, combating low wages, combating rents too high. And I was always trying to find those areas where I can find some common interest and build a majority to get stuff done. Now that doesn't mean that I, as president, I wasn't paying some attention to the particular challenges of some groups. Eric Holder was my attorney general. And he and I talked about the fact that most criminal law is actually at the state level, but federal level, we've got folks in jail mostly for drug stuff. And I said to him, how are we thinking about prosecuting nonviolent drug offenses? And it turned out that when we came into office, every U.S. attorney was instructed, go for the maximum sentence, no matter what. What Eric and I talked about was, why don't we give people an incentive, go for the just and proportional sentence rather than just the maximum. And as a consequence, during my presidency, crime went down and the number of people in federal prisons also went down at the same time. And so that's disproportionately affecting African Americans because we are disproportionately incarcerated. But we didn't think about that as a racial issue per se. We were just saying, let's use some common sense when it comes to how we're dealing with combating drugs. And I think that ended up a lot of times being our strategy. There are times where folks wanted me to be more the activist rather than the president. And part of what I always used to explain to folks is, you know what, we all have a different role to play. The prophetic leader, somebody like a Malcolm X, has a role to play from the outside. But you also want folks on the inside who have a different role to play in terms of moving progress forward. And as long as, and I like to think that over the eight years I proved that I was moving us in the right direction, there's always going to be some folks who want you to do more of this or more of that. And being in politics, look, what y'all do in football is a whole different kind of thing. But in politics, you do get toughened up just like y'all do in football where you just get used to taking some hits. If you're going to play this game, you're going to take some hits. And we used to call folks who weren't on the field of battle on a daily basis, civilians. Somebody hurt their feelings because somebody tweeted something. I was all like, dude, I got a thousand tweets, death threats. Somebody's going to talk about me every day. And you just get a thick skin the same way you guys, you know. If I got hit one time the way you guys get hit, I'd be crying. That's why they always, every time you play basketball, they just let you score. I've seen every video. I know that's not true. Listen, I have a photograph of a split lip. I got 12 stitches right before I was about to speak. I'll show it to you right now. That was Michelle. No, you know what it was? I might have gotten a black eye after the split lip because she saw, she came in. Why are you still playing basketball? You got a president. You're a fool. She was mad at me because I walked in. I was all like, she's all like, why are you covering your mouth like that? I was like, sorry, honey. And the question, the name of the show is The Pivot. Everybody has to make pivots in life. That's right. Your biggest pivot in life, that moment, that situation, that decision you made that made you who you are today. You know, biggest pivot for me in life was probably around the age of 19, 20. I told you, yeah, I didn't know my dad. And in high school, I, you know, I was, I was a good hearted kid, but I, I was chasing girls and partying and playing basketball. Didn't take my work that seriously. And I remember my first, and that continued my freshman year of college, my sophomore year in college. I remember two things happened. What one is my, my, my father passed away and I'd never really knew him. And the second thing that happened was the African National Congress sent a couple of young guys from South Africa to represent their fight against apartheid. And they came to the college campus and they spoke. And I remember watching them and I remember thinking, these guys aren't that much older than me. And they are battling so that the majority of people in their country have just basic rights. And I remember thinking to myself, you know what, I need to, I need to make my life count a little bit more than just enjoying myself. I've, I've, I got to have some purpose. And, and so I transferred schools and I, I got probably too serious. Like I, I started like, you know, I, I, I lived in this little walk up and, and had one plate and one fork, one towel. And, you know, I was, I was like fasting on, you know, on Sundays and I was reading books all the time and didn't go out. And I just, I was no fun for like two years, but I kind of had to go through that kind of, kind of swing in the opposite direction and get, just get real strict about my life just to reorient myself. And that was probably the biggest break in my life, the biggest pivot where, where I just said, you know what, you're in charge of your life. You can do more than you're doing. And, and let's see, you know, where it takes you. Yeah, like I said, I went a little too far. By the time I met Michelle, you know, she started talking about the fact that I only had one pair of shoes and she was all like, man, you need an upgrade. You did. And also to, you know, I'm sure people know, but it takes a lot of heart and gumption to pursue your supervisor at work. You know what? So just for your viewers who don't know the story. So I'm three years older than Michelle, but I had worked as a community organizer in, in, in Chicago before I went to law school. So Michelle had gone straight from college to law school. So she had graduated when I started law school. And so I went to work at this firm as a summer employee, summer associate. And so they assigned her as my summer advisor. She wasn't supervising nothing. She was showing me where the Xerox machine was. She was showing me, you know, how to keep your time sheets. And she was taking me out to lunch because they were trying to recruit me. And so we do it on the firm's dime. So it wasn't that hard. I asked her out after knowing her about two weeks. And she's all like, no, I can't because I'm your supervisor. I said, you're not supervising anything. I said, you know what? I'll quit my job and then you go out with me. And she said, no, I'm not doing that. You know, I'm tired. I'm not concentrating on men right now anyway, because y'all are trifling. And, uh, but I was just charming. And you still are. So I'm just saying, I broke her down after a couple of weeks. We are so grateful for your time. We know how busy you are. We said it before we got here. This has always been a goal of ours. And for you to make that happen and for all of the people to work with you to do that, it means the world to us. Listen, man, I'm fans of you guys. I mean it. I think you guys do a great job. Um, I think these kinds of conversations are the kinds of conversations folks need to have. And you guys, you know, sometimes y'all acting silly, but there's a seriousness to it. You were mentioning men before. One of the things I see is a lot of our men have gotten more isolated. We're not having the same kinds of conversations we used to. Everybody's on their phones. Everybody's playing video games. Sports, you know, I talk to basketball players. They say the locker room's not the same as it used to be. Folks aren't playing cards and stuff. Everybody's just got their headphones on. And I think having these kinds of conversations is helpful because, you know, it helps us sort through what it means for us to, you know, try to do right by the people we love and by our communities. And you guys are representing. You're doing a good job. Don't work too hard now. I'm going to try not to. Thank you so much. Appreciate you, man. Thank you, man. Appreciate you guys. They definitely was giving you over off his defense, though. Man, you see, there ain't no way he that silky. Everybody play off. He ain't got dribbles like that. You know what? I have hung up my sneakers, but I might play you. I wish. Although the only thing is football players. Y'all don't know how to play. All you do is you basically just bang. Yeah, I don't see a lot of finesse coming from our suit. That's all right. Matt, you got nervous, too, huh? I've never seen him before. Arms are sweaty. Hands are sweaty. Knees weak. He just came out. We got it. Come on, bro. Get everybody in. Let me say hi to everybody. Oh, I'm sorry. Dang it. Introduce me to everybody. What's your name? Where are you from? Nigeria. Good to see you, brother. Nice to meet you. You meet the president. You give me a real name? Come on, man.