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Remember when we had a president that cared about sneakers? Obviously they were not as important as his political leanings, but important, nonetheless, to folks like me. Though the occasion was rare, seeing Barack Obama in a pair of cool sneakers engaged an area of my mind that I dont think I expected a politician to ever touch. It didnt seem forced.

It wasnt an effort by a politician to make it seem like he fit in with the cool crowd. Obamas appreciation for sneakers seemed to be an authentic part of his nature. While some might assume it was him alone, some of the ease with which he was able to break these invisible barriers was due to the people around him. He had a team of like-minded individuals that were masters in their respective fields surrounding him.

One of those people was Chris Holliday. A hard man to find and one of the most low-key people I have ever had the pleasure of speaking with, Holliday is a man of many connections. In fact, it was Holliday that helped Complex secure then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris for an appearance on Sneaker Shopping. When it came to Obama and sneakers, Holliday was the go-between. He says he sourced a lot of sneakers for the former president. However, he is more than just a sneaker guy.

Looking through Hollidays social media accountswell, accountthe first thing you notice is that he has some very influential friends. From the professional world of basketball to the White House, Holliday keeps company with those at the top of their game. The second thing you notice is that his sneaker collection runs pretty thick. And unlike most sneakerheads, hell rock a fresh pair while dressed in the usual political uniform of a suit and tie. Its a bit jarring and refreshing, but also speaks to the role he plays in connecting the dots between Black men and the political process that so often adversely affects them.

Lets be honest, when we think of politics, a Black man in a suit in a fresh pair of Jordans isnt the image that comes to mind. For Holliday, the sneakers are just a part of who he is. And as he navigates the world of politics, he is slowly changing the expectation and perception of a larger community that is now starting to understand their power.

As you grow up and you see different types of people from where youre from, he says, you realize who are the authentic people and who are not the authentic people.

Holliday was most recently the adviser to surrogate outreach for the Biden campaign. While the title sounds vague, the position helped the Biden campaign listen and connect to Black men. As Holliday describes it, his role was to curate the culture to translate and become a bridge for African-American men. With 2020 disrupted by the COVID pandemic, the job of connecting anyone to anyone was hard enough, let alone to a very specific group of people. Banking on his experience in marketing and promotions at iHeartRadio, Holliday developed a sense of how important the role of media can be in shaping the conversation. He also knows how individual voices can be more important than any media conglomerate.

One thing I realized is with athletes and entertainers, especially athletes right now, they are their own media companies, Holliday says. You wake up in the morning, you scroll to your feed. Me and my nephews, my cousins, my friends, we dont get up in the morning and turn on CNN, ABC, or NBC.

One of those athletes is Chris Paul, who Holliday stood next to on the campaign trail in one of the few photos I could find of him.

Chris is an essential piece in connecting politics, sports, and culture, which gave us a chance to ask our own questions and tell our own stories to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, the NBA veteran says of Holliday. What makes it even cooler is the fact he looks like us, speaks our language, and dresses the way we dressJs and all.

While Holliday didnt know it at the time, his start at iHeartRadio and front row view of the process of turning artists into stars would be the prep work needed to take on his role as a surrogate during the Obama administration. Starting out as a deputy press secretary in Florida for the 2008 campaign, Holliday began learning the ins and outs of the world of politics and how he could step in and help. During that initial campaign, he started to realize the power of telling stories and being true to yourself.

You just woke up in the morning, you tried to give something, give all that you have, but also trying to interject your own piece of who you really are. Obama, the campaign, was all about telling your story, he says.

That authenticity and storytelling often came through the eyes of Hollidays athlete friends. Back in the Obama administration, Steph Curry became a vocal advocate of the president, speaking against gun violence and appearing as part of the Malaria Initiative. Curry and Obama also came together on sneakers when Under Armour created the super-limited Under Armour Curry 3 sneaker that honored Obamas back-to-back terms as president. Holliday was the connector.

We all trust Chris, Curry says. He always tells it straight with a real feel for how we can make the biggest difference while still staying true to who we are, like we did together for the Democratic National Convention. And hes got that special personality that bridges and connects with people of every background while staying true to who he is, which is really rare. Its just dope to see a brother like Chris moving in these circles, representing the culture, and just trying to do right for people.

With the Biden administration leaning heavily on the world of social media, Holliday was able to connect the campaign with culture in a way that the Obama administration didnt need to. How athletes use their voice has changed tremendously since 2008. From podcasts, to YouTube vlogs, to full-on media and production companies, athletes and celebrities alike are telling their own stories, their own way. And with the NBA relaxing rules on footwear, weve seen a ton of messages in support of all types of causes across the sneakers we see on court. For Holliday, that voice and perspective is important. He believes that everyone needs to see people that look like people they know.

While there is an audience for the larger networks to reach, Holliday believes that there is a far greater impact when seeing someone from your own neighborhood, where the most help is needed, interacting with and championing the causes that are important to those communities.

When asked about his role in past administrations and how he got there, Holliday is quick to keep it as authentic as you can get.

For me, as a young Black man, I didnt grow up saying, Hey, I want to go work at the White House, Holliday explains while laughing under his breath. I didnt grow up doing that.

Through his experience working in politics, Holliday started his own company, Swing State Strategies. In addition to advising political campaigns and presidents on being inclusive, he is also tapped by CEOs and other executives to advise on how their companies can be more diverse. As an adviser, Chris is often sharing what seems all too obvious to most of us.

I tell people: How you can be inclusive of Black people is hire Black people, he says. Put them in these rooms.

In addition to advising politicians and CEOs, part of Hollidays job is to educate. For many, the world of politics and big business seem daunting and out of reach. He looks at it a different way. As he helps change the narrative around Black men, he also uses his platform to let people know that Harvard, Yale, and Princeton arent the only roads that lead to success. He believes that intelligence goes beyond what you score on an exam and extends to how you are able to feel a room and respond accordingly so that everyone leaves happy.

The smartest executives aint the guy that got on the shoes and tie, Holliday says.

Holliday believes the smartest executives that come to him for counsel extend a hand to the younger executives that look, speak, and think differently than they themselves do. He also feels that the more inclusive your surroundings, the more inclusive the result. Its this style of thinking that has led to a more inclusive sneaker world for us all. Big brands like Adidas are partnering with designers like Jerry Lorenzo to run entire divisions; Foot Locker named Melody Ehsani to run its womens business. It is these companies that wind up succeeding, according to Chris.

Holliday has witnessed these ideas in practice from within his own family. His cousin Victor, a video game designer and executive at Universal, wears Jordans to work. He notes that this distinction separates Victor from the majority of executives in a way that makes the rooms he is in more diverse. Holliday doesnt believe that the neighborhood you come from, or how you dress, disqualifies you from being an executive.

As part of his job, Holliday fields calls from executives asking about the latest footweara sign he believes comes from a genuine place of interest to understand sneaker culture. It is this new clashing of cool and smart that is bringing a different voice to the world, and CEOs are starting to recognize the value it has in creating a more diverse and inclusive business. Evidence of this can be seen in the release of the Air Jordan 11 Jubilee that brought in over $175 million over the holiday season. Holliday became the resource for many of the executives he works with when it came to securing their pairs.

You have to create dialogue, context, and open communication to figure out how to make everybody feel inclusive in this environment, Holliday says. To him, this is important because if it isnt done, those same people will continue to make laws and policies that dont pertain to the larger audience. Not just for African-American men, but also their kids.

The unresolved issues that exist in BIPOC communities arent always a priority in the world of politics, and, yet, in the past 12 months weve again realized how important the conversation can be to making us all feel like we have a part in the direction of this country. For Holliday, this connection is more important than ever. From CEOs of venture capital firms and tech companies, to some of the best basketball players in the world, to presidents, senators, and city councilmen, Holliday is bringing together people in a way that politics hasnt been able to do for as long as we can remember, all while teaching and being authentic to himself and his community.

Introduced to me as Obamas sneaker guy, it is clear that Hollidays role is much larger and more impactful than that. He serves as a bridge. He speaks and connects the world to young Black men and lets them know they dont have to fit in a box to change the world, they can just be themselves, fresh Js and all.

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From Obama to Kamala, Meet the Presidential Connect to Sneakers, Athletes, and CEOs - Complex

There is an awful lot going on in the State Capitol in these waning days of the elongated 2021 session yes kids, we are just over three weeks away from a legislative hard stop and much of it is horrifying to one degree or another, depending on your particular ox and how much of a priority has been made of goring it. Meanwhile, there is also an awful lot going on beyond our shores, and the new administrations reactions to those could ultimately prove at least as consequential, and probably more so, as what transpires under the local dome.

The middle east is as good a place to start as anywhere, given that it cannot quite give up its hold over dominating the center of the world stage.

The primary concern, on the foreign policy front, of a Biden administration was that it adumbrated a return to the chronically feckless foreign policy meandering of the Obama administration. That fear is on the verge of being realized in the current conflict between Israel and Hamas. First, while it is unreasonable to suggest that Biden and his policies were in any way directly responsible for Hamas and Islamic Jihads attack of Israel, the concurrent circumstances cannot be ignored. The Iranian government is nothing if not opportunistic well, brutal too and is fully cognizant of how eager Biden is to resurrect the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Tehran sees the change in administrations as a chance to fray the Abraham Accords struck last year between Israel and several Arab states, gauge the commitment of the United States to Israeli security, and maximize their bargaining position when America comes running back to the table.

So far, the Biden administration hasnt exactly shown the steadfastness of Rolands defense of Roncevaux, but hasnt caved to demands from the left to pressure Israel into an unwise cease-fire either. Those mistakes have come from Congress, where the fringier types have denounced Israel as an undemocratic, apartheid state, betraying a profound confusion over the meaning of both of those words Israel is among the only functioning democracies in the region, one in which Arab-Israelis can and do fully participate; while Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian State, is 15 years into a four-year term and are, among other things, demanding an end to arms sales to Israel and blocking sanctions against foreign supporters of Hamas. So the question is how long the Biden administration can hold off the pressure from the left to condemn Israel for defending herself? If I were living under the Iron Dome in Tel Aviv, I would not place an exorbitant amount of hope in the fortitude of Joe Biden.

Turning north, we see this week a hint of how the Biden administration will interact with Putins Russia. One of the bewildering ironies of the Trump years was the overnight flip-flop by both parties concerning Russia before 2016, the Democrats were the party of Russian (decades earlier, Soviet) appeasement, the Republicans Cold War-nostalgic hardliners. After attempts by Russia to interfere with the 2016 election (which, incidentally, they had been doing since at least 1917), the narrative mysteriously flipped, and Biden tried sounding absolutely Nixonian in his jingoistic denunciations of Putin and Russia.

At least before the election. Now he is again looking as though he is prepared to pick up right where Obama left off. His decision to not levy sanctions against the company running the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will pour Russian natural gas into Europe, is riddled with ironies, not the least of which is that it demonstrates a greater commitment by this administration to a pipeline that would benefit Russia, than to one the Keystone XL that would benefit the U.S. But it also demonstrates a disconcerting weakness and a misunderstanding of the weight of geopolitics.

All of this is compounded by Bidens earlier decision to suspend already weak intellectual property protections for U.S. vaccine makers, which sets a terrifying precedent would the same administration be as willing to share details of, say, the Joint Strike Fighter, in the name of an international security emergency?

Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, the Chinese Communist Party has all but solidified its takeover of Hong Kong, this week seizing the equity assets of an owner in a publicly traded company under the aegis of the new national security law. One can safely assume that the Chinese rulers are closely watching how the new American administration responds to Iran and Russia as their gaze turns over the South China Sea towards Taiwan.

Kelly Sloan is a political and public affairs consultant and a recovering journalist based in Denver.

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SLOAN | Will Biden abroad be Obama in redux? - coloradopolitics.com

In December, Donald Trump signed the coronavirus relief and government funding bill into law. This meantthat US intelligence services, from the FBI to the CIA, would later be forced to tell Congress everything they know aboutUnidentified Flying Objects (UFOs).

Ok, those two sentences don't necessarily follow on from each other if you're unfamiliar with US politics, but stay with us. Within the spending bill wastheIntelligence Authorization Act for 2021, and hidden in the depths of that was a clause that calls for intelligence chiefs to submit a report "to the congressional intelligence and armed services committees on unidentified aerial phenomena(also known as "anomalous aerial vehicles''), includingobserved airborne objects that have not been identified", within 180 days.

They will also be required to identify "potential aerospace or otherthreats posed by the unidentified aerial phenomena tonational security, and an assessment of whether thisunidentified aerial phenomena activity may be attributed to one or more foreign adversaries," which all sounds quite spicy.

In the run up to the release, expected in just a few short weeks, the US has been going through UFO fever. As well as new leaked footage from the US Navy showing a strange blob moving in an unusual pattern, several high-ranking US officials have been a lot more chatty than usual about objects going whoosh in the sky, including President Obama.

In an interview with theLate Late Show,the former president was asked by band leaderReggie Watts if he had any theories about UFOs or unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAPs).

When it comes to aliens, there are some things I just cant tell you on air, he replied. The truth is that when I came into office, I asked. I was like, Is there a lab somewhere where were keeping the alien specimens and space ships?'

They did a little bit of research and the answer was no."

But what is true, and Im actually being serious here... there's footage and records of objects in the skies that we dont know exactly what they are,we cant explain how they moved, their trajectory. They did not have an easily explainable pattern.

I think people still take seriouslytrying to investigate and figure out what [UFOs are], but I have nothing to report to you today.

Elsewhere, military intelligence officerLuis Elizondo, who spent time working at the Pentagon'sAdvanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, teased what they had found which will soon be released to congress.

"Imagine a technology that can do 6-to-700 g-forces, that can fly at 13,000 miles an hour, that can evade radar and that can fly through air and water and possibly space," he told CBS, in an interview where he said, for most cases, there are simple explanations.

"And oh, by the way, has no obvious signs of propulsion, no wings, no control surfaces and yet still can defy the natural effects of Earth's gravity. That's precisely what we're seeing."

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Obama: 'There's Footage And Records Of Objects In The Skies That We Don't Know Exactly What They Are' - IFLScience

Former First Lady Michelle Obama opened up about the strategies that help her cope with depression, during an interview with CBS' "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" Tuesday.

"Over the course of your adulthood, you develop your own tools," Obama, 57, said. "And for me, it's turning off the noise that is upsetting." She said she takes breaks from "reading all the feeds that are fueling my anxiety."

"I surround myself with things that make me feel good: family, friends, walks [and] exercise," she told Colbert.

In August, Obama shared that she was experiencing "low-grade depression" on an episode of her podcast, "The Michelle Obama Podcast."

Particularly during the pandemic when everyone's lives are disrupted, keeping a consistent schedule is also helpful, Obama said. "I woke up, I took a shower, I worked out, I got dressed every day," she said. "There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't do that, because it's just the doing that gets you out of the funk."

Obama said it's important that young people understand that it's very common to experience highs and lows in life, but they are temporary. This is something she teaches her own adult children, Malia, 22, and Sasha, 19.

"They have to be prepared to handle the highs and the lows," she said. "I'm trying to get them and other young people to start thinking about what are your tools, the things that bring you joy, the things that bring you calm and peace."

Patience and self-care is also key in tumultuous times: "There are moments in all of our lives, particularly in the middle of a pandemic and racial unrest, you're going to feel kind of way about it so give yourself a break," she said.

On her podcast, Obama said her depression was due to just the pandemic, "but because of the racial strife, and just seeing [the Trump] administration, watching the hypocrisy of it, day in and day out, is dispiriting."

Low-grade depression, also called "dysthymia," is characterized by loss of interest in normal daily activities, feeling hopeless, lacking productivity and sleep problems, according to the Mayo Clinic.

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, anxiety and depression rates among Black Americans spiked in the weeks following the circulation of the video of George Floyd's death at the hands of police. Hearing news about Black people "being dehumanized or hurt or killed or falsely accused of something" contributed to the weight of her feelings, Obama said.

In the interview Tuesday, Obama reiterated that depression and mental health "is a part of life," she said. "Nobody rides, life on a high."

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Michelle Obama's advice for coping with depression: 'Develop your own tools' and give yourself a break - CNBC

Former President Barack Obama's family dog, Bo, who spent two terms in the Obama White House, has died of cancer, Barack and Michelle Obama announced on Saturday.

The Obamas posted a series of photos of Bo on social media on Saturday, paying tribute to the role the dog had in their family. On Instagram, former first lady Michelle Obama said they had to say goodbye to their "best friend" after his battle with cancer.

She said that Bo, who was gifted to the Obama's in 2009 from the late senator Ted Kennedy, was originally adopted as a companion for their daughters. The Obama's other Portuguese water dog, Sunny, moved into the White House in 2013.

"On the campaign trail in 2008, we promised our daughters that we would get a puppy after the election," the former first lady wrote. "At the time, Bo was supposed to be a companion for the girls. We had no idea how much he would mean to all of us."

She described Bo's presence in their lives, noting that he greeted their daughters with a wag when they came home from school.

"He was there when Barack and I needed a break, sauntering into one of our offices like he owned the place, a ball clamped firmly in his teeth," she wrote. "He was there when we flew on Air Force One, when tens of thousands flocked to the South Lawn for the Easter Egg Roll, and when the Pope came to visit. And when our lives slowed down, he was there, too helping us see the girls off to college and adjust to life as empty nesters."

And when the pandemic hit, forcing everyone back home, Mrs. Obama said, "no one was happier than Bo."

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"All his people were under one roof again just like the day we got him. I will always be grateful that Bo and the girls got to spend so much time together at the end."

Mr. Obama posted a similar tribute on his social media accounts, saying that, for more than a decade, Bo "was a constant, gentle presence in our lives happy to see us on our good days, our bad days, and everyday in between."

"He tolerated all the fuss that came with being in the White House, had a big bark but no bite, loved to jump in the pool in the summer, was unflappable with children, lived for scraps around the dinner table, and had great hair," Mr. Obama wrote. "He was exactly what we needed and more than we ever expected. We will miss him dearly."

The day Bo made his press debut on the South Lawn of the White House, Mr. Obama said Bo had "star quality."

"You know what they say about if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog?" Mr. Obama joked. "Well, I'm finally going to have a friend."

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Obama family announces death of family dog Bo, the "loyal companion" who spent two terms in the White House - CBS News