In a soon-to-be released interview Oprah Winfrey, former President Barack Obama opened up about some of the more difficult interpersonal issues he dealt with while in office. The interviewed reached a high point when two trailblazers discussed how the former Illinois Senator transitioned from his home in the Chicago area to constantly seeing his name in lights.
"What I found was that seeing your name up in lights, being on television, speaking to large crowds, et cetera – after a while, like anything else, you become accustomed to it. And what lingers, what lasts, what matters is your own assessment of, 'What good am I doing?'" the former President asked.
"And by the time I entered into the Oval Office ... I had gotten enough external affirmation. I knew what it was like to speak to hundreds of thousands – and then during the inauguration, 2 million people. The ego part of it – the vanity part of service – didn't interest me anymore. What interested me was what could I get done."
Obama did not only address how he felt about moving in to the White House. He later touched on how he worried about how the presidency may affect his family.
"You have to have something in you willing to put yourself through – and your family through – a crazy process," he said.
"But hopefully – and this is where I try to, in the book – to give an honest assessment and to be self-critical about it, hopefully what initially drives you transforms itself into something larger."
Obama's interview centers around his upcoming memoir, A Promised Land. Throughout the book, he will open up about his time in office, the impact it had on him and much more. A Promised Land will be available on November 17. His full interview with Winfrey will also be released on November 17.
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