By YouTube Originals
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President Barack Obama joins our close community of readers to reflect on the experiences documented in his new memoir, A Promised Land. In this special episode of BookTube, President Obama responds to questions from creators Mark Rober, LaGuardia Cross, Marques Brownlee, Team2Moms, and Twins the New Trend on topics ranging from science, music, leadership, fatherhood, and more.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
00:04
– Ready? Do we have speed? – We got speed everywhere.
00:07
We’re speeding? Do I need to clap or anything?
00:09
Maybe one clap, yes, sir.
00:10
( theme music plays )
00:41
Hey, BookTubers, this is Barack Obama.
00:43
As some of you may know, I wrote a book about my political life,
00:48
my campaign, and the first part of my presidency
00:52
called “A Promised Land.”
00:54
We’ve got some people that have some questions for me
00:58
and have some thoughts about how it relates to their own lives,
01:01
so let’s get started.
01:03
Hello, President Obama. My name is Mark Rober.
01:06
I am a former NASA and Apple mechanical engineer,
01:09
and now I make monthly YouTube videos
01:11
ranging anywhere from an automatic bull’s-eye dartboard
01:15
to a rocket-powered golf club,
01:17
which does wonders for your long game, by the way.
01:19
I’d be super happy to lend it to you.
01:21
And off the top, I just want to mention
01:23
that most of my nine years at NASA
01:25
were during your administration.
01:27
In fact, I spent seven years
01:28
working on the Curiosity rover,
01:30
and I remember when you called us from Air Force One
01:32
to congratulate us on the successful landing.
01:35
In your book, you talk about your fascination with space as a kid.
01:38
And I can’t imagine what it must have been like
01:40
when you were 8 years old during the moon landing,
01:42
witnessing the first time a fellow human being
01:45
left behind a footprint on something other than our planet.
01:49
And I know so much of what I love about teaching science to the young folk
01:53
is watching their world open up and encouraging them to think big.
01:56
So I’m curious to hear about young Barack Obama’s
01:59
8-year-old fascination with space
02:01
and how that impacted you
02:02
when you became President Barack Obama.
02:05
Hey, Mark.
02:07
First of all, I really want that rocket-powered golf club–
02:11
that driver, ’cause my drives have been a little bit short,
02:15
although Secret Service may want to investigate how safe it is.
02:18
So that’s point number one.
02:19
Point number two,
02:20
thanks for your service at NASA.
02:22
That rover was spectacular.
02:25
It’s great that you were a part of it.
02:27
I write about in the book,
02:28
I lived in Hawaii till I was 6 years old,
02:31
and the Apollo program was going on then.
02:35
Man on radio: Apollo 15, this is “Recovery,” over.
02:38
And the capsules would land in the middle Pacific…
02:41
Splashdown. Mark splashdown.
02:43
…and then get brought into Hawaii.
02:46
And we were part of a crowd that was there to greet them,
02:50
me sitting on my grandfather’s shoulders
02:53
waving a little American flag
02:55
as one of the capsules were recovered.
02:57
And the astronauts, you could see through the porthole waving.
03:01
You know, it’s one of my favorite memories of my childhood
03:05
because it sparked in me
03:09
that sense of anything being possible.
03:13
That was part of my idea of America.
03:16
When I was President, I had the chance
03:20
to take Malia and Sasha to Cape Canaveral
03:23
to see one of the launches of a space shuttle there.
03:28
And to see my daughters listen to this woman
03:31
who herself was one of the pioneers,
03:35
back in the ’60s wouldn’t have had a chance to be an astronaut,
03:38
who was now in charge of the launch,
03:41
it was a matter of coming full circle
03:43
and reminding me and them
03:47
of what I think is best in this country.
03:52
When we pull together, when we unify,
03:55
when we’re pulling talents
03:57
from all different kinds of people
04:00
from all different walks of life,
04:02
it’s that optimism that I think drove me
04:05
even through some pretty difficult times during the presidency.
04:10
I can trace my passion for science and creativity
04:13
back to when I was just six years old.
04:15
I remember my mom asking me
04:16
to help prepare dinner by cutting some onions,
04:18
and I went outside and grabbed our swim goggles
04:22
to keep me from crying.
04:23
And I just remember her laughing
04:25
and getting out the camera
04:26
and just making such a big deal
04:28
about me trying to come up with a creative solution
04:30
to this really common problem.
04:32
And that moment made such an impression on me,
04:34
and it just really motivated me to want to continue
04:37
coming up with even more ideas.
04:40
And as mention in your book, as President you hosted the White House Science Fair.
04:43
Seeing you engaged with those kids,
04:45
fostering their interests in science and innovation,
04:48
reminded me of that moment with my mom.
04:51
You were the first president to institute the White House Science Fair.
04:54
What was it about that symbolic gesture
04:56
that was so important to you?
04:58
Those science fairs I loved.
05:01
We got the idea because there was a long tradition
05:04
of bringing championship athletic teams to the White House.
05:08
And that’s great, but, you know,
05:10
if all we’re doing is celebrating athletes,
05:12
and we’re not celebrating
05:15
the amazing work that scientists and engineers
05:18
and innovators are doing, then kids aren’t gonna see that
05:22
for them to get passionate about.
05:24
So, we said let’s host a science fair.
05:28
We’d have kids who weren’t expected
05:32
to be fascinated or engaged in science.
05:35
Girls who so often were finding themselves discouraged
05:41
from pursuing STEM and math and science,
05:45
suddenly they had a forum where they could see
05:48
that there’s no one way that a scientist
05:51
or an engineer has to look,
05:52
that anybody can do it.
05:54
and just some of the stuff was cool.
05:56
When you were showing that little clip,
05:57
a guy shot a marshmallow.
06:02
This is great!
06:04
That was one of my favorite moments
06:06
in the White House.
06:07
Oh!
06:10
Let’s go look at the marshmallow, see what happened.
06:12
I think there may still be a marshmallow mark
06:14
somewhere on the wall in the State Room.
06:17
But that’s okay. It was worth it.
06:20
My name is LaGuardia Cross,
06:22
and this is where my journey began–
06:25
as a new father, my wife and I both
06:28
not really being sure how everything was gonna play out.
06:31
But it’s something we both wanted to start,
06:34
and I had to document it because I knew it was gonna be funny.
06:39
Girls, do you understand who’s looking at us right now?
06:41
( blows raspberry )
06:42
– Barack Obama. – What?
06:45
– What’s Barack Obama? – You don’t know who Barack Obama is?
06:49
– No. – What’s rock-abama?
06:51
Not rock– no, I’m not going to let them
06:54
act like they haven’t heard about you before.
06:56
That’s– I have proof.
06:58
Who is this?
07:01
Okay, but for real, something that caught me
07:04
was the promise that you made to yourself after Malia was born.
07:17
The same way that you capture life in a book
07:19
is what I’ve really been trying to do with my life with them on YouTube.
07:25
And so since I’m only six years in,
07:28
father to father, uh…
07:33
what do I do to prepare for them,
07:38
uh, when they’re teenagers?
07:40
I need all the help,
07:42
and I’m willing to receive any notes.
07:46
Because whatever I do,
07:47
I can say this is what Obama told me to do,
07:51
and they should be able to respect that.
07:53
LaGuardia, let me first of all just say
07:56
you are in trouble, brother.
07:58
Because if you’ve got two daughters
08:02
who are already that cute, you are putty in their hands,
08:05
they’re already smarter than you
08:07
and they’re already thinking about how they are going to play their dad.
08:12
But I’ll offer a few pieces of advice.
08:17
First and foremost, treat your wife right,
08:22
because they’re going to be watching how you treat your wife.
08:27
And if you treat her with love and respect,
08:30
that’s what they will expect when they’re teenagers.
08:33
They’ll know not to be treated any differently that that.
08:37
Point number two, your daughters are going to have different temperaments.
08:42
They may end up at some point shutting the door
08:48
and only speaking in one syllable over dinner,
08:53
and you can’t take it personally.
08:55
That’s very hard to do, because you’re used to them
08:58
cuddling you and loving you and all that,
09:00
and then suddenly, sometimes if they’re not talking to you,
09:04
you feel hurt and spurned.
09:07
But them come out of it.
09:11
Of course, it may take five years before they come out of it,
09:14
but they do eventually come out of it, all right?
09:16
I hope those tips help. Next.
09:20
Amalah ran for president of the world.
09:24
This one right here is…
09:28
They actually have a question for you
09:30
that I’m going to let them ask right now.
09:32
Mr. Obama, what does it take
09:35
to be a good leader?
09:39
The most important thing about being a good leader
09:43
is treat everybody with kindness and respect
09:48
and to listen to people.
09:51
People want to be heard.
09:52
And if people feel you’re hearing them
09:55
and you care about their ideas,
09:58
they’re more likely to want to work with you
09:59
and be your teammate.
10:02
And, you know, a lot of being a good leader
10:04
really is just figuring out
10:07
how you can get a team to work together.
10:10
It’s hard to do great things just by yourself.
10:14
It’s better when you’re working with others.
10:17
That make sense? Hope so. All right.
10:22
Mr. President, my name is Marques Brownlee.
10:25
I run a YouTube channel called MKBHD.
10:27
And that’s where I get to be a huge nerd
10:29
and basically I talk all kinds of tech products,
10:31
review tech.
10:32
I started my YouTube channel in 2009,
10:35
so a year after your inauguration,
10:37
which I was at, by the way.
10:39
And I also happen to be a professional
10:41
Ultimate Frisbee player, and avid golfer,
10:44
and a pretty big NBA basketball fan.
10:46
A lot of the worlds that I run in
10:48
haven’t been incredibly diverse.
10:51
I mentioned golf, Ultimate Frisbee, technology.
10:55
And what I can say is at a youth level
10:58
and I think at a lot of the beginner levels,
11:00
these spaces are more diverse than ever, which is awesome.
11:03
But you’ll notice at a high level,
11:06
Ultimate Frisbee, golf, technology– not very diverse.
11:10
And I feel like that makes the spotlight
11:12
just a little bit hotter as a black man
11:15
moving through these spaces.
11:17
So from your book, it’s clear that you felt
11:19
that spotlight over time as well.
11:23
So that got me super curious,
11:26
just how did that make you feel?
11:29
That’s Marques.
11:31
Unbelievable hops on that clip of you in Ultimate Frisbee.
11:36
You’re absolutely right.
11:38
I write about the fact that there were occasions
11:41
where I would have to deal with
11:44
expectations or stereotypes
11:46
or attitudes that perhaps if I had been white,
11:51
I would not have had to deal with.
11:54
Not just me, but a lot of the African-Americans
11:57
or Hispanics, Asian-Americans, or in some cases women,
12:03
were the first in their positions in my administration.
12:06
All of them had to navigate spaces
12:09
where traditionally there hadn’t been a lot of folks
12:12
who looked like them in those situations.
12:16
And it is an extra burden,
12:19
but my attitude always was that it was also a privilege
12:25
to be in these environments
12:27
where you can actually help these spaces
12:30
where you’re one of the firsts to do better
12:35
and build a better culture.
12:37
All right?
12:38
Hello, President Obama.
12:41
– I am Denise. – And I’m her wife Ebony.
12:44
– This is… – Our family.
12:46
And we are Team2Moms!
12:50
Mr. President, it’s been very important to us
12:53
to show diversity and representation on social media.
12:57
It’s important to us for the LGBTQ+ community
13:00
to know that having a family is very possible.
13:05
In 2012, you were the first sitting president
13:08
to publically, outwardly support same-sex marriage.
13:12
And there was so much at stake for you politically,
13:15
but you still did it, and, damn, did that feel good.
13:20
My question to you is were you afraid
13:23
and despite all that was at risk,
13:26
what made you still do it?
13:30
Well, Denise and Ebony,
13:31
it is so good to hear from you guys.
13:34
And I have to say, though,
13:36
watching you with those three gorgeous kids,
13:39
it brought flashbacks of when our kids were that old
13:43
and it looked kind of exhausting,
13:45
even though they looked pretty well-behaved.
13:47
So kudos to you for keeping up with them.
13:51
And thanks for the kind words.
13:54
Look, I’ll be honest with you, when I made the announcement
13:57
of my support for same-sex marriage,
13:59
I didn’t feel at that point that, uh,
14:04
it was somehow politically dangerous to me.
14:09
If anything, in retrospect I probably should’ve announced
14:13
my support for same-sex marriage earlier.
14:16
And I always give credit to those folks
14:21
in the LGBTQ+ community
14:25
who raised awareness just saying,
14:27
“This is who I am and I’m not going to hide it
14:31
and I want to be accepted
14:33
as a full-fledged member of the American community.”
14:36
That’s really what changed attitudes.
14:39
It’s an example of the power of ordinary people
14:43
when they let their voices be heard
14:45
and they’re living out their values.
14:48
That changes culture.
14:49
That’s why I’m such a believer
14:51
in grass-roots, small “D” democracy.
14:55
Usually change comes from the bottom up.
14:57
I really think that’s more of a reflection
15:00
of your courage and couples like you
15:05
that compelled not just me but the country
15:08
to really ask themselves what are you about,
15:11
what do you believe in.
15:12
Kudos to you for that, too.
15:15
As a team of two moms, we were really touched
15:17
reading about the important role
15:20
women have played throughout the book,
15:22
from you talking about your mother, your grandmother,
15:25
Michelle, and your mother-in-law.
15:28
We have three kids,
15:30
and we’re striving to be the best role models
15:33
for all of our kids.
15:34
Can you speak to the importance
15:36
female role models have played and still play in your life?
15:41
Well, I could go on forever
15:44
when it comes to female role models
15:47
because the two people who initially were most influential in my life
15:50
were my mom and my grandmother.
15:53
My mother was basically a single mom,
15:57
but she was the constant in my life and my sister’s life.
16:00
And my grandmother ended up working her way up
16:03
to being vice-president of a bank
16:05
and really was sort of the foundation stone for our family.
16:09
I do think that I was lucky
16:12
to have some really strong female figures
16:17
early on in my life who I saw were professionals
16:22
and earning their own money
16:24
and not letting their lives be determined
16:27
by what the men in their lives were telling them
16:30
they should be or they should do.
16:32
There’s something, by the way,
16:33
about being a parent now having raised two girls,
16:37
that I would be infuriated
16:39
if anybody told me that there was something
16:41
Malia and Sasha could or could not do.
16:43
I’m doing everything I can to create a world
16:48
in which not just my daughters but anybody’s daughters
16:52
are experiencing the freedom and opportunity
16:57
that we afford our boys and our men.
17:00
We’re not going to hold girls back.
17:03
We can’t afford to.
17:07
Hey, President Obama.
17:09
– I’m Tim. – And I’m Fred.
17:10
And we are TwinsthenewTrend.
17:13
We’re from Gary, Indiana, and we are 22 years old.
17:16
Tim: On our YouTube channel,
17:17
we listen to music for the first time
17:19
we’ve never heard before and share our thoughts.
17:22
We thought we’d ask you a couple questions about music in your book.
17:25
( ringing )
17:27
What’s happening, twins?
17:28
I decided I’m just going to go ahead
17:31
and come here live.
17:35
– Oh, what’s up, man? – You’re pretty close to Chicago, right?
17:38
Yeah.
17:40
– Down in Gary? – Yeah.
17:42
Listen, it’s a little surprising that I just bounced in here.
17:44
You guys got some questions for me?
17:47
Yeah, we noticed you talk a lot about music in your book.
17:50
Can you tell us why music is so important to you?
17:52
You know, I probably started listening to music seriously
17:56
when I was around ten years old.
17:59
I still remember my first album that I bought with my own money,
18:03
which was Stevie Wonder’s “Talking Book”
18:07
and Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”
18:10
So by the time I’m running for president,
18:12
I’d have my own playlist that I was listening to
18:16
if I was wanting to get hyped.
18:17
You know, I had, like, a big debate
18:20
and I’d be listening to Jay-Z or Eminem
18:26
or Frank Sinatra just to get my mind right
18:29
or sometimes just to cool out, right?
18:31
Because there’s a lot of stress, obviously.
18:48
When you were our age, did you think you would become president?
18:51
You know, when I was 22, I had graduated from college
18:54
and I decided I wanted to be part
18:56
of building social movements around justice issues.
19:01
That’s how I ended up moving to Chicago.
19:03
All the steel plants from Gary going into Chicago
19:08
used to have tens of thousands of people working there.
19:10
Suddenly, those plants started closing.
19:14
Folks were losing their jobs.
19:16
So there were a group of churches on the south side.
19:19
These churches hired me to see if I could start organizing in some of those areas.
19:25
So I drove out there.
19:26
I didn’t know anybody in Chicago.
19:28
In fact, I drove through Gary.
19:30
And that’s really how my career got started.
19:33
Yeah, and that’s how I met Michelle.
19:36
Mm-hmm.
19:37
What advice do you have for us as young people
19:39
that’s watching this now?
19:41
Listen, you guys are living large
19:42
on YouTube already at 22.
19:45
The country’s so divided right now,
19:48
what you guys are doing, which is being open
19:51
to new ideas, new experiences, that’s America at its best.
19:55
And I think you guys sending that message is powerful.
20:01
So keep on doing what you’re doing.
20:02
Thank you. Thank you.
20:05
And I appreciate you allowing me to crash your party.
20:08
( laughing )
20:10
And tell your folks I said hi.
20:12
– Okay. – Okay, sure.
20:13
Be well, guys. Stay healthy.
20:14
– All right, you, too. – You, too.
20:15
– Thank you. – Bye-bye.
20:17
What do you– what kind of questions
20:18
are you supposed to ask a president?
20:20
Hey, Mr. Oh-mama.
20:22
Mama?
—
This post was previously published on YouTube.
***
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