Thanks Obama, one of the greatest presidents of all time

2008 was a historic year in my life for two reasons: I turned 10 years old, and Barack Obama was elected President. Over eight years later, there’s a new sheriff in town. But before we get caught up with Donald Trump, I want to take a moment to reflect on Obama, and to say something so simple, yet so rarely said: thank you.

People often say that “you never know what you have until it’s gone” and it’s definitely easy to idealize someone when you know they’re leaving. Just look at President Obama’s approval ratings – they’ve been rising steadily for the past few months. But I don’t care about approval ratings. And for this article, I won’t even focus on Obama’s policies.

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

In 2008, Barack Obama was just a candidate in the Democratic primaries, with Hillary Clinton once again the favorite to win it. But Obama succeeded, and became not only the Democratic candidate for President, but ultimately won the general election as well. That year, I was only 10 years old. My favourite TV show was probably still Scooby Doo. I kept up with what was going on in the world, or as much as I could understand, but I didn’t know anything about Obama’s policies. But what I did hear, what Obama stood for, represented, and fought for, was hope and change. Hope in the American people. Hope for a better future. A belief, that yes we can. And that message made its way across the Atlantic, into the heart and mind of a 10-year old boy living in Greece. That right there was what made him a great candidate: he was able to get his message across. And that message of hope, change, and most famously, yes we can, was what got across to me.

Something about the 2008 election got me hooked. I started to become more and more interested in politics and current events and I’m convinced that that election was the turning point that motivated me to study politics more. My love for Obama slowly turned into a love for politics. Throughout the 2016 election, Michelle Obama said and then repeated that the President will be a role model for our children. And it’s true. That’s why I admire Obama so much. A young child doesn’t care about policies – he or she can barely understand them, and I can attest to that. What gets across is the message of the campaign. It’s what is shown in the media, day after day. It’s what a candidate’s supporters chant. And for a young child, listening to thousands of people chanting “yes we can” is a much more positive image to remember than thousands chanting “lock her up.”

Throughout his presidency, Obama has also been a role model for many. As a recent GQ article put it: “At a time when we became more polarized, our discourse pettier and more poisoned, Obama always came across as the adult in the room, the one we wanted to be and follow.” I could not have agreed more.

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Obama was always composed and mature, yet able to show a more relaxed and easygoing side (who can forget the world’s greatest bromance?). He was a role model both as a leader, as a father, and as a husband. One needs to only look at how Obama talks about his daughters and compare it to Trump to see why I consider Obama a role model. In his last news conference, he answered a reporter’s question about his daughters: “But man, my daughters are something. And — and they just surprise and enchant and impress me more and more every single day as they grow up. And, so these days when we talk, we talk as parent to child, but also we learn from them.”

Trump on the other hand, has said: “If Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps, I would be dating her.”

One last thing that I truly admire in Obama is his unwavering faith and optimism in the American people. At the same time, one could consider it his fatal flaw: he believed in them so much that he didn’t think they would elect Donald Trump. But regardless of that, that optimism and hope in the future is what made him such a great president. Whether things were going well or not, he believed that in the end, it would all be alright. And what more than that can someone ask for? For a leader who believes that even if things aren’t going as well as we’d like them to, they will get better. Not because of him. But because of the American people. That makes Obama a true patriot.

I’ve consistently believed that if you can’t support Obama’s presidency, at least you can support him as a person. I know I can, and I know that it’s very likely that I wouldn’t be where I am without him. Who knows if I would have become so interested in politics.  If he was able to affect one kid, thousands of miles away, like that, imagine the effect he’s had on children in the US.

So to the man who made politics seem cool to a 10-year old child, thanks Obama.