Former president Barack Obama speaks at the inaugural Obama Foundation Summit on October 31, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. Mr Obama has been making a number of key moves in the 500-odd days he has been out of the White House. PHOTO | SCOTT OLSON | AFP
He knows he has grass in his hands, and all former US President Barack Obama has been doing is making as much hay as possible while the sun shines.
For the sun does not shine forever even for someone who was once the most powerful man on earth. Mr Obama has been making a number of key moves in the 500-odd days he has been out of the White House.
A book deal with Penguin Random House, a TV show contract with Netflix and several paid speeches are among the top-dollar engagements the former president has engaged in, and the returns are tidy.
Former American presidents are entitled to a lifelong salary equivalent to what their cabinet secretaries earn — which, according to Timemagazine, is set at $205,700 (Sh20.7 million) a year.
THOUGHTFUL
They also get allowances for paying their office staff, a maximum of $150,000 a year for the first 30 months after leaving office and later a maximum of Sh9.6 million a year.
They also get reimbursed for official trips and are entitled to Secret Service protection for life, same as treatment in military hospitals.
With such perks one might rest easy, but not Mr Obama whom observers describe as a thoughtful man who always acts with the future in mind.
Memoirs are a chance at a windfall for any former US president and the New York Times(NYT)reports that leaders of many publishing houses met Mr Obama and his wife on various occasions to discuss how much they would pay for rights to their books — an auction of sorts.
PAST PRESIDENTS
“Some publishing executives who followed the bidding process said the opening offers for Mr Obama’s book alone were in the $18 million to $20 million range,” reported NYT in February.
Eventually, the Obamas struck a deal with Penguin Random House. They granted the publishing firm worldwide publishing rights, meaning it stands to reap huge returns.
NYT says the Obamas’ deal will likely dwarf those signed by past presidents.
It adds that Mr Bill Clinton, who was president between 1993 and 2001, sold his memoir My Life for more than $10 million while his successor George Bush saw his memoir Decision Points become a huge success, bringing in at least $10 million in sales.
UNUSUALLY POPULAR
Two top media houses place the figure bagged by the Obamas at between $60 and $65 million. So, why all the interest in a Mr Obama book that is still being developed?
Some observers say it is because he left office with high ratings. The Obamas are still young and unusually popular for a post-White House couple,” wrote the Independent in March.
“He may have been the 44th US commander-in-chief, but he will always be the first African- American president,” the Guardian reported last year.
That appeal has also seen him deliver speeches and paid top dollar for it.
September 2017 was among his busiest months, where NYT counted three speeches to business people. “His speaking fees have gone as high as $400,000 per speech,” the publication reported. “That is all in addition to a spate of unpaid speeches, including one to at-risk youths in Chicago.”
CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
Asked about his paid speeches, whose fees had raised eyebrows in some quarters, Mr Kevin Lewis, the former spokesman of Mr Obama, said they were out of his work ethic and that they enabled him to get money to fund charitable activities.
“Since leaving office, President Obama has spent his time doing public and private events, both paid and unpaid, that are true to his values and his record,” he told NYT.
The speech he will be delivering at the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture on Tuesday will add to that list. South Africa’s “News 24 says about 4,000 people are expected to attend. Those who have delivered a speech on the same occasion in previous years are Mr Clinton, Mr Thabo Mbeki, Ms Ellen Johnson Sirleaf among others.
NETFLIX CONTRACT
Another lucrative engagement for the Obamas is a contract he entered two months ago with TV streaming service provider Netflix.
“President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have entered into a multiyear agreement to produce films and series for Netflix, potentially including scripted series, unscripted series, docu-series, documentaries, and features,” Netflix USA tweeted on May 21.
The Obamas, it then emerged, had created a company called Higher Ground Productions that will be churning out multimedia content.
But he is not the Jack who is all work and no play. He has had time to trade the steely, knuckle-faced image that is the currency of those in power with the body-soothing, refreshing waters and sceneries in Europe and beyond.
ADVENTURE SPIRIT
In February 2017, a month after he left office, he went to the British Virgin Islands at a private island owned by billionaire Richard Branson.
Among his activities there was kiteboarding, and from photos, one could tell Mr Obama was having the time of his life.
He has also visited Tetiaroa Island, where he first started to pen his memoirs before being joined by his wife Michelle, as reported by NBC News.
Mr Obama’s spirit of adventure also took him to Indonesia in June 2017, taking along his wife and their daughters Malia and Sasha.
A photo shared from the outing showed the whole family in a raft, oars in hand, floating on River Bali.
COGENT INSIGHTS
Amid his holidaying and million-dollar deals, he has also been reading books, a habit he has nurtured for decades.
In a Facebook post in June, he shared a list of the books he was reading and summaries of each.
“I’m often asked what I’m reading, watching, and listening to, so I thought I might share a short list from time to time,” he started. For example, in his short critique of Patrick Deneen’s book Why Liberalism Failed, he shared its pros and cons.
“I don’t agree with most of the author’s conclusions, but the book offers cogent insights into the loss of meaning and community that many in the West feel, issues that liberal democracies ignore at their own peril,” he wrote.
CRITICISE TRUMP
With all the books to read and write, all the songs to savour, one might readily excuse Mr Obama when he keeps off the ramblings of his predecessor Donald Trump.
But being the politician who has won almost every seat he has vied for, Mr Obama has a couple of times raised his voice on issues of the day.
His most recent is a May 8 Facebook post where he argued for the retention of the Iran nuclear deal, which Mr Trump has since ditched.
Eight months earlier, he had taken to the same platform to criticise Mr Trump’s discarding of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca), an action that later saw immigrants separated from their young children.
NEXT LEADERS
Bonded firmly in his retinue of daily activities is his participation in charity and nurturing of young leaders. In May 2017, Mr Obama and his wife released the blueprints for the Obama Presidential Centre, which will be located in Chicago.
Like any other president’s centre, it will have a library; but there will be more. They said it will contribute to the training of the next generation of leadership.
Along that is the Obama Foundation, through which he aims to nurture the spirit of leadership.
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