Much has been made of Barack Obama’s “fourth quarter”, during which the president’s administration has ticked off a string of accomplishments that range from negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran and normalizing relations with Cuba to unveiling sweeping executive orders on immigration and commuting dozens of prison sentences for non-violent offenders. Obama also is expected to have an office on the campus of Columbia University in New York City, according to The Times. Obama’s supporters ask the President to not follow in the footsteps of Bill Clinton, as the Clinton’s associates have pushed him to pursue more money from donors in the years to come, despite raising enough money to build a library in Little Rock, Arkansas.
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Thus far, Obama raised $5.4 million from 12 donors who gave between $100,000 to $1 million. Foundation officials said the real push for donations will happen after Obama leaves office.
The president was reportedly left “spellbound” by the director after holding a screening of Lincoln, with Daniel Day-Lewis at the White House in 2012.
Reports in the U.S. claim the politician has been receiving advice from a select group, including Hollywood director Steven Spielberg on how to build his legacy when he leaves office.
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Dinner guests say that postpresidency planning is a big topic of conversation but not the only one. The notable group has recently attended a midnight meeting at the White House to discuss Obama’s post-presidency career plans. And that’s why we should worry about the post-Obama presidency and that of future presidents who will similarly use their positions to create new hybrid institutions that pose as philanthropies while actually performing a very different less exalted non-charitable goal. “He loves those sessions”, a top adviser said. Ideally, one adviser said, a person in Kenya could put on a pair of virtual reality goggles and be transported to Obama’s 2008 speech on race in Philadelphia. How prominent should Obama seek to be, especially in the first few years? The president took more than 30 seconds to respond, in a manner that suggested he had not yet settled on a good answer. Obama says he sees himself on a beach somewhere drinking out of a coconut when the next president is inaugurated.
