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Welcome to POLITICOs 2020 Transition Playbook, your guide to one of the most consequential transfers of power in American history.

President-elect JOE BIDENs penchant for recycling key figures from the last Democratic administration has prompted predictions that the Biden government will be Obama 3.0.

But its also shaping up to embody many qualities of a would-be Democratic president who never got her shot: Hillary 1.0.

Four years after HILLARY CLINTON lost the presidential race to DONALD TRUMP, Biden is heading to the White House with a policy nucleus that is almost identical to the one Clinton was preparing to bring to Washington before her shock defeat.

RON KLAIN was a leading contender to be Clintons chief of staff. JAKE SULLIVAN and BRIAN DEESE were essentially locks to serve in the positions they will now fill for Biden: national security adviser and director of the National Economic Council. And NEERA TANDEN, who has been tapped to serve as director of the Office of Management and Budget, was also slated to fill a top policy role.

As Biden fills out the upper ranks of his administration, some longtime Biden aides have privately griped that top jobs in the administration have gone to people who are more loyal to Clinton than to Biden especially given that many people who have worked for Biden for years or at least since the beginning of the campaign have not yet landed jobs.

Tanden and Sullivan are longtime Clinton loyalists; Deese served as economic policy director for Clintons 2008 campaign and then became a top Obama aide; and Klain worked for Biden for decades before decamping his orbit to serve as a top adviser to Clinton on her 2016 campaign. Sullivan also worked directly for Biden in the White House as his national security adviser, but only after serving as Clintons top aide at the State Department.

Klain, in particular, had to work to mend relations with Biden.

Its been a little hard for me to play such a role in the Biden demise, Klain wrote to JOHN PODESTA in October 2015, according to emails released by WikiLeaks. I am definitely dead to thembut Im glad to be on Team HRC.

The Biden transition declined to comment.

Obama and Clinton alums argue Klain, Sullivan, Deese and Tanden are experienced and qualified, and they would be in line for top jobs in any Democratic administration.

"Its only been four years since the last Democratic administration so there are a lot of good people from the Obama administration that are good fits for the Biden administration so its not a surprise here, said JENNIFER PALMIERI, a top aide to both Obama and Clinton. Had another Democratic won, a lot of the same people would have been in contention because theyre the most experienced people, and theres a big premium on experience right now."

PHILIPPE REINES, a longtime Clinton aide, said Biden understands that there is no time for learning on the job, given the scale of the crises the country is facing. He also emphasized Klain and Sullivan are uniquely talented, and they both have deep ties to Biden.

Its a real testament to Ron and Jake, and President-elect Biden deserves credit for knowing this is not the time for experiments, said. Competency is paramount, and thats what he gets with picks like them.

Even with all the overlap, Palmieri said the circumstances Biden and his team are facing are so extreme that the president-elect will have no choice but to set himself apart.

Its hard to draw parallels between what advisers would have faced in a theoretical Clinton Administration versus the incoming Biden Administration because the entire universe has changed, she said. They are facing crises we could not have imagined four years ago.

Are you in touch with Bidens transition team? Do you work in an agency preparing (or not preparing) for the transfer of power? Are you GINA McCARTHY? We want to hear from you and well keep you anonymous: [emailprotected]. You can also reach Alex, Theo, Megan, Alice, Tyler and Daniel individually if you prefer.

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At the Queen Theatre in Wilmington, Del., where he introduced PETE BUTTIGIEG, his pick for Transportation secretary, who spoke about his personal love of transportation since childhood. He later held a Zoom call with governors.

Appearing with Biden at the Queen virtually (due to weather, per Biden) and on the Zoom call with governors.

THE TRADE FIGHTS AWAITING BIDEN The Trump administration is set to impose tariffs on $1 billion of French imports before Inauguration Day, in response to Paris taxes on digital services provided by massive U.S. technology. AARON LORENZO reports on the digital tax fight Biden will inherit, and how he may give negotiations on the matter more momentum, even though he isnt expected to fundamentally alter the U.S. approach.

The remaining articles and infographics in this section are exclusively available to POLITICO Pro subscribers. Pro is a smart, personalized policy intelligence platform from POLITICO. If you are interested in learning more about how POLITICO Pro can support your team through the 2020 transition and beyond, visit this webpage.

BREAKING: Biden will tap BRENDA MALLORY to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality, according to two people familiar with the selection, which would put the veteran environmental lawyer in charge of an office with sweeping purview over how the federal government assesses environmental effects of policies, permits and infrastructure projects, ZACK COLMAN and Tyler report.

PELOSI: HAALAND WOULD BE EXCELLENT CHOICE FOR INTERIOR: House Speaker NANCY PELOSI has given the green light for Biden to pluck another House Democrat Rep. DEB HAALAND of New Mexico out of Congress and into his Cabinet, despite the toothpick-thin majority it would leave her with in January, SARAH FERRIS and Tyler report.

Pelosi released a statement Wednesday extolling Haaland, who is a top contender to lead the Department of the Interior. Biden transition officials had privately told reporters in recent days that House leadership has voiced concerns about pulling another Democrat from the House a suggestion that Pelosi and House Majority Leader STENY HOYER pushed back on Wednesday.

FOR THOSE WORRIED ABOUT PETES EXPERIENCE: If hes confirmed, PETE BUTTIGIEG will arrive at the Department of Transportation's Navy Yard headquarters with little experience dealing with the various appendages of official Washington but hell hardly be the first person in that position, TANYA SNYDER and SAM MINTZ report. The White House could follow the mold set by former Transportation Secretary ANTHONY FOXX, another former mayor, who appointed a savvy chief of staff who knew Washington and helped Foxx hit the ground running.

MEET BIDENS EMISSARY TO CONGRESS: NANCY SCOLA profiled LOUISA TERRELL, who will lead Bidens legislative affairs office. Among the Democrats on the Hill shes close with: Sens. CHRIS COONS (D-Del.), MARK WARNER (D-Va.) and MICHAEL BENNET (D-Colo.).

In her many different capacities over the years, Louisa has been a terrific partner, Bennet wrote in an email. She earned points with Bennet in her most recent Washington job as counselor to TOM WHEELER, then chair of the Federal Communications Commission when she helped wage a long-running fight to bring local programming to a corner of southwest Colorado flooded by New Mexican media.

THE CASE FOR COMITY What does Sen. BOB CASEY (D-Pa.) make of Bidens talk about working with Senate Majority Leader MITCH McCONNELL and other Republicans? I think he will try his best to engage in bipartisan collaboration, and see where it takes him, Casey said during a POLITICO Transition Playbook Live interview this morning.

But Biden, he added, knows how to throw a punch, too, and I think people need to understand that.

WHAT THE LEFT WANTS IN BIDENS ETHICS RULES: Biden isnt expected to put out his administration ethics rules until next month but the Revolving Door Project has drafted a suggested executive order as part of the groups efforts to nudge Bidens appointees in a more progressive direction. The proposed restrictions would go further than either President BARACK OBAMAs executive order or the rules for Biden transition team members.

While Obamas rules barred those who left his administration from lobbying top officials for the remainder of his administration, the Revolving Door Projects proposed rules prohibit those who will leave the Biden administration from communicating with the agencies they worked for with the intent to influence them on behalf of any private company or any nonprofit association that principally exists to advance for-profit interests for five years a broader standard than lobbying as its legally defined.

We think youre more likely to pick a fight with corporate America if you didnt come right from it, but youre certainly more likely to pick that fight if youre barred from returning to the private sector afterward, JEFF HAUSER, the Revolving Door Projects executive director, told reporters on a call this morning.

ATTENDING VIRTUAL INAUGURATION STILL COSTS REAL MONEY Bidens inauguration will be vastly smaller in scale than previous presidents swearing-in celebrations due to the pandemic but Bidens inaugural committee is still seeking big checks to help fund it.

An individual contribution of $500,000 (or $1 million from a company or other organization) will get you invitations to virtual events with Biden, Harris and their spouses, according to a fundraising missive sent out today and obtained by Transition Playbook.

Youll also get preferred virtual viewing for the ceremony, VIP participation in a virtual concert, briefings with inaugural committee honchos and Biden campaign veterans, and four VIP tickets to a future in-person event (date to be determined), among other perks.

Demand Progress and other progressive groups, meanwhile, sent a letter to TONY ALLEN, the inaugural committees chief executive, urging them not to take checks from corporations. (The committee has only sworn off contributions from fossil fuel companies.)

The inaugural committees decision to accept up to $1 million from individual corporations is of particular concern given that this year's inauguration will be predominantly remote, and costs of the event itself will be substantially down, the groups wrote. The drive to raise so much money without a clear use for it is perplexing, and the appearance of doing so is disconcerting.

RICCHETTIS BROTHER ADDS ANOTHER LOBBYING CLIENT: The pharmaceutical company Vaxart has hired JEFF RICCHETTI the brother of top Biden White House adviser STEVE RICCHETTI to lobby on legislative and regulatory policies regarding oral vaccine development and funding, according to a disclosure filing, CAITLIN OPRYSKO reports.

A person familiar with the brothers relationship told Caitlin that Jeff Ricchetti has never and would never lobby his brother on behalf of any of his clients, and that they keep their professional activities separated. Jeff Ricchetti has signed eight new clients since Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee, five of which are pharmaceutical companies.

COVID IN THE PRESS POOL: A member of Bidens transition press corps tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, according to the White House Correspondents Association, QUINT FORGEY reports. The infected individual is experiencing mild symptoms and is now isolating, WHCA President ZEKE MILLER, a reporter for The Associated Press, said in a statement. The individual had previously served in the protective pool on Monday and Tuesday.

In the primary, people would mock [Biden], like, You think you can work with Republicans? Im not saying theyre not a bunch of fuckers. Mitch McConnell is terrible. But this sense that you couldnt wish for that, you couldnt wish for this bipartisan ideal? He rejected that.

JEN OMALLEY DILLON, Biden campaign manager and incoming deputy chief of staff, to Glamour.

Biden considering Diana Taylor to lead Small Business Administration (The New York Times)

Biden might tap Iger, Katzenberg for ambassadorships (The Hollywood Reporter)

Ocasio-Cortez on the Goldman veterans on Bidens agency review teams: Its horrible (The Intercept)

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Obama's third term? Try Hillary's first - POLITICO - Politico

Obama, who shared his list of favourite songs on Twitter, said he had some valuable consultation from the family's music guru, Sasha Obama, to help put it together.

JOHANNESBURG President Barack Obama on Saturday released his favourite songs of 2020 and Prince Kaybees hit, Uwrongo, featuring Shimza, Black Motion, Ami Faku is one of those songs!

Obama, who shared his list of favourite songs on Twitter, said he had some valuable consultation from the family's music guru, Sasha Obama, to help put it together.

The list also includes global hits such as the Savage Remix by new rap sensation Megan Thee Stallion featuring queen of music Beyonc, Summer 2020 by Jhene Aiko and Levitating by Dua Lipa and DaBaby.

WATCH: Prince Kaybee, Shimza, Black Motion, Ami Faku - Uwrongo

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Prince Kaybees Uwrongo one of Barack Obamas fave songs of 2020 - Eyewitness News

Barack Obama former President

The current salary for the president of the United States is $400,000, while the vice president earns an annual salary of $230,700. Although thats not chump change, some of the politicians who have held these esteemed positions have been able to parlay their time in the White House into millions through book deals, paid appearances and consulting gigs. Heres how former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden and other politicians have used their time in office to boost their net worths.

See: How Much Is President Donald Trump Worth?

Last updated: Dec. 15, 2020

Joe Biden began his political career as a senator in 1979 at the age of 29 making him the youngest candidate ever elected to the Senate, Forbes reported. He later served as Delawares attorney general and served as vice president with former President Obama from 2009 to 2017.

Keep reading to find out more about how hes made his millions.

Take a Look: Joe Bidens Political Career and Net Worth

According to Bidens tax returns, he earned $71,000 in royalties and an additional $9,500 for audiobook rights after Random House published his first memoir, Promises to Keep, Forbes reported. And in the 23 months following the end of his turn as vice president, Biden earned $1.8 million from book tour events.

Related: Bestselling Political Memoirs of All Time

During that same time span, Biden earned $2.4 million in speaking fees stemming from 19 separate engagements, Forbes reported. That amounts to an average fee of $126,000 per speech.

Find Out: What a Biden Presidency Means for Your Wallet

In 2017, Biden was named the Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, leading the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. His turn as a professor at the Ivy League school earned him a $775,000 paycheck, Forbes reported.

Story continues

George H.W. Bush served as the 41st president of the United States from 1989 to 1993. He previously served as vice president with Ronald Reagan and also had served as director of the CIA, ambassador to the United Nations, chairman of the Republican National Committee, U.S. envoy to China and U.S. Congressman. Bush died in November 2018.

Here are some ways he made big money thanks to his time in office.

Toward the end of his presidency, George W. Bush told Robert Draper, author of Dead Certain, that his father, George H.W. Bush, commanded more than $50,000 or $75,000 per speech.

Bush authored and co-authored a number of books over the years, including his autobiography, Looking Forward, A World Transformed, and All the Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings. Although the exact amount he earned from his book deals hasnt been released, Money reported that he received significant royalties.

George W. Bush followed in his fathers political footsteps, serving two terms as president from 2001 to 2009. He was president during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, an event that challenged the nation and transformed Bush into a wartime president.

Bush has doubled his fortune since leaving the White House he entered it with a $20 million net worth, according to a report by American University.

Heres how he grew that net worth.

Other Politicians: How Much Is Elizabeth Warren Worth?

In 2015, Politico found that Bush was paid anywhere between $100,000 and $175,000 per speech, earning him tens of millions of dollars in just a few years after leaving political office.

Bush has authored three books: Decision Points (2010), 41: A Portrait of My Father (2014) and an art book, Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chiefs Tribute to Americas Warriors (2017). His deal for his first book alone was valued at $7 million, according to the Daily Beast.

Bill Clinton took office at the end of the Cold War, serving as the 42nd president of the U.S. from 1993 to 2001. He was the first baby-boomer generation president.

According to a report by American University, Clinton has done the most to monetize his post-political career. When he took office in 1993, his net worth was just $1.2 million.

Find out what he did to make all that money.

According to CNN, Clinton along with his wife, 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton have earned an average of $210,795 per speech since they exited the White House in 2001. The couple gave 729 speeches from February 2001 until May 2015, which equals a payday of more than $153 million.

Clinton received a $15 million advance for his 2004 autobiography, My Life, The New York Times reported. In total, hes earned $29.6 million from his autobiography and his other book, Giving.

Post-presidency, Clinton formed a partnership with billionaire investor Ronald Burkle. The New York Times reported that Clinton earned somewhere between $12.6 million and $15.3 million between 2002 and 2007 as an advisor for Burkles Yucaipa Companies.

He also has worked as a consultant for the consumer database company InfoUSA, which has paid him $3.3 million over the years.

Read More: A Look at the Finances of Bernie Sanders

Gerald Ford was the first vice president to take on the role of president after former President Richard Nixon resigned. He took the oath of office in August 1974. Though he won the Republican presidential nomination in 1976, he lost the election to Jimmy Carter.

Even though he only served as president for three years, Ford was able to turn his time in the White House into millions. He entered the White House with a $1.4 million net worth and amassed an additional $5.6 million before he died, according to a report by American University. He was the first former president to monetize his time in the office, according to The Washington Post.

Before Ford, presidents lived simple lives and were not expected to make outside income aside from book royalties. Ford changed all that by getting paid to make speeches, appearing at conventions, meetings and even the opening of a shopping center, The Washington Post reported.

Ford accepted memberships on corporate boards of companies like 20th Century Fox and American Express after leaving office in 1977, according to The New York Times.

Al Gore was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976 and later became a member of the U.S. Senate. He then went on to be inaugurated as the 45th vice president of the United States in 1993 and served eight years. Currently, Gore is the chairman of Generation Investment Management, which he co-founded, and the founder and chairman of the nonprofit The Climate Reality Project.

Read on to find out how he made much of his money.

Gore co-founded the London-based investment firm Generation Investment Management to invest money in businesses that were environmentally responsible. The firm raised profits of almost $218 million between 2008 and 2011, which was split between 26 partners, Forbes reported. If it were an even split, Gore would have made over $8 million during those years.

Gore has also invested $35 million in hedge funds and private partnerships.

In 2013, Gore and his business partner Joel Wyatt sold their cable network Current TV to Al Jazeera. Gore made $70 million off the deal, Forbes reported. Gore had previously been paying himself $1.2 million a year in salary and bonuses as an owner of the network.

Although it hasnt been reported how much hes earned from his book deals, Gore has certainly added to his net worth with his books successes. He has written three New York Times bestsellers An Inconvenient Truth, The Assault on Reason and An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power and three other books.

Gore has also been the subject of two documentary movies.

Barack Obama was elected the 44th U.S. president and served two terms beginning in 2009. He previously served on the Illinois State Senate and the U.S. Senate.

Obama entered the White House with a $1.3 million net worth, and a report by American University speculates that he could earn as much as $242.5 million in post-White House income.

Heres how hes already making millions.

Obama is officially a part of the elite club of former presidents who demand dizzyingly high speaking fees. He agreed to give a speech at a conference run by Wall Street trading and investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald in September 2017 for a whopping $400,000, CNBC reported. The fee is equivalent to the annual salary paid to the commander-in-chief.

A little more than a month out of office, news broke that Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama had signed a book deal with Penguin Random House that likely stretched well into eight figures, The New York Times reported.

Thats money on top of what hes already earned from his previous books. Forbes estimates that he earned $6.8 million from Dreams From My Father and $8.8 million from Audacity of Hope and Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters between 2005 and 2016.

In 2018, the Obamas signed a multiyear production deal with Netflix to produce series and movies for the streaming service, Variety reported. Its unknown how much the Obamas made from the deal, but Netflix is known to pay well. The streaming giant previously struck a deal with Shonda Rhimes valued at $100 million and a deal with Ryan Murphy valued at as much as $300 million.

Originally an actor, Ronald Reagan successfully made the transition to politician and went on to become the 40th president of the U.S. He served two terms, from 1981 to 1989.

Reagan was already well-off when he entered the White House, with a net worth of $10.6 million before starting his first term, according to a report by American University.

See how he grew his income outside of the office.

In 1989, Ronald Reagan served as the main attraction at a Tokyo symposium sponsored by the Japanese media conglomerate Fujisankei Communications Group. His fee for a pair of speeches reportedly totaled $2 million, according to The New York Times.

Reagan signed a reportedly $5 million deal in 1989 to write two books for Simon & Schuster, according to the Los Angeles Times. In addition to those two books An American Life and Speaking My Mind he also penned The Reagan Diaries and The Notes: Ronald Reagans Private Collection of Stories and Wisdom, which were published by HarperCollins.

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Net worths are sourced from Celebrity Net Worth unless otherwise noted. Net worths are accurate as of Jan. 29, 2020.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How Obama, Biden and Other Elected Officials Have Made Millions by Being in Office

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How Obama, Biden and Other Elected Officials Have Made Millions by Being in Office - Yahoo Finance

A Promised Land

By Barack Obama

Crown

Barack Obamas memoir A Promised Land was the most anticipated book in many a year, but since the significantly overpriced volume appeared, reaction to it has been noticeably muted. That could well be because of its length; it could more likely be because some sections of its narrative read like papers drawn directly from the Journal of Policy History. Initial reviews were surprisingly mixed, with a young Black poet sharply critiquing it in Obamas hometown Chicago Tribune and a highly knowledgeable progressive journalist slamming it forcefully in a long essay in The Week.

Yet no commentator to date has even attempted to take the measure of what this book tells us about Obama himself that we did not previously know. As the author of a book about Obamas pre-presidential life that is even longer than his new memoir, I find this is an easier task than most might imagine: A Promised Land does not tell us all that much new about the most widely recognized person on the globe. Yet there are a trio of themes that Obama repeatedly touches on, themes that do shed new light on a supremely guarded public figure. They are his deep, long-standing ambition to be president, his post-election fear that outsized public expectations had inescapably set him up for an underwhelming performance in office, and his painful realization that his administrations acknowledged failures illuminated how neither he nor his deeply devoted wife Michelle had enjoyed the lives the presidency bestowed upon them.

Read more Prospect book reviews

Obama cops early on to possessing a deep self-consciousness, or what the Nigerian American novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, in by far the longest book review in the history of The New York Times, characterized as a man watching himself watch himself. He tells readers nothing new about his childhood, college experiences, or his young adulthood as a community organizer on Chicagos Far South Side in the mid-1980s, but he does expressly confirm how Harold Washington, the citys first African American mayor, whom Obama once met only briefly, served as a profound inspiration for him. Above all, Harold gave people hope, and For me, this planted a seed. It made me think for the first time that I wanted to someday run for public office.

After less than three years as an organizer, I left for Harvard Law School with my motives open to interpretation and my own ambitions very much in mind. By early in his second year, Obama admits knowing even then that the practice of law would be no more than a way station for me. Just before his 1991 graduation, he told his then-fiance, Michelle, I could even see myself running for office. Michelles brother Craig has long told of how Barack volunteered to him that those aspirations included the presidency.

Back in Chicago, Obama began his political career within less than five years by winning election almost unopposed to a seat in the Illinois state Senate. The first two years in the legislature were fine, notwithstanding his wifes intense distaste for how often the job took him away from home, but by the end of my second session, I could feel the atmosphere of the capitol weighing on me, particularly as a junior member of the minority party. In addition, Michelle was increasingly unhappy, for they now had a newborn baby in their young family. This isnt what I signed up for, Barack. I feel like Im doing it all by myself.

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Obama acknowledges that I knew I was falling short, but his response to this conundrum was to run for Congress, challenging the well-known incumbent and onetime Black Panther Rep. Bobby Rush. Almost from the start, the race was a disaster, and the result was a humiliating defeat in which Obama won barely 30 percent of the vote. In its wake, I recognized Id been driven by the need to justify the choices I had already made in pursuing a political career and to satisfy my ego, or to quell my envy of others. In other words, I had become the very thing that, as a younger man, I had warned myself against. I had become a politician.

This is an unforgettable self-critique and confession, as Obama admits that even in the face of his wifes intensifying opposition to his life in politics, he was simply unable to quell his ambition for electoral success. Oddly, he then quickly narrates his decision to undertake a statewide race for a U.S. Senate seat without any similar self-revelation as to how he justified this initially long-shot undertaking in the face of such a daunting self-portrait. In the end, Obama triumphed thanks to self-inflicted wounds on the part of two top-tier opponents and a superb last-minute television advertising campaign. At age 43, following a breakout address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention, he found himself a widely heralded U.S. senator, much to his wifes amazement.

Even in the face of his wifes intensifying opposition to his life in politics, Obama was simply unable to quell his ambition for electoral success.

Ensconced in his new office, I figured I had all the time in the world to ponder a subsequent race for Illinoiss governorship or the presidency some years in the future. Yet within just a years time, Obamas ambition once again surged to the fore. Rather unconvincingly, Obama asserts that a disastrous hurricane and a brief early-2006 trip to an American military quagmire altered his relaxed timetable. Katrina and my Iraq visit put a stop to all that. Change needed to come faster, and so by the spring of 2006, the idea of me running for president in the next election no longer felt outside the realm of possibility.

When Obama first broached the idea with his wife, Michelle was unsurprisingly furious. When is it going to be enough? she asked, and her anger echoed something she had told him years earlier: Its like you have a hole to fill Thats why you cant slow down. Obama concedes the point. Was I still trying to prove myself worthy to a father who had abandoned me and was now long dead? Whatever it was in me that needed healing, whatever kept me reaching for more was the root of his unquenchable ambition, but Obama plumbs the question no further.

Eight months later, on the night of November 6, 2006, Obama returned home after the last of countless campaign appearances on behalf of other Democrats, appearances at which crowds responded far more to him than to the actual candidates. In what is without question the most notable passage in A Promised Land, Obama recounts what he says is a dream that awoke him late that night. I imagined myself stepping toward a portal of some sort And behind me, out of the darkness, I heard a voice, sharp and clear uttering the same word again and again. No. No. No. I jolted out of bed, my heart racing, and went downstairs to pour myself a drink. I sat alone in the dark, sipping vodka, my nerves jangled, my brain in sudden overdrive. My deepest fear, it turned out, was no longer of irrelevance The fear came from my realization that I could win the Democratic nomination and then the presidency, should he indeed declare his candidacy.

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This is an indelible admission for a world-famous figure, yet to date not a single English-language commentator on Obamas memoir has highlighted and quoted this passage, a comprehensive web search confirms. Yet it seems beyond doubt that some part of Obamas brain was attempting to rein in his snowballing ambition, warning himNo. No. No.not to pursue the chalice of which he had long dreamed. But as clearly as Obama remembered that late-night vision, he cast the warning aside and pursued the presidency just as he had long planned.

The experience of the 20072008 campaign weighed heavily on Obama the more popular he became. By the fall of 2008, facing off against the stolid, older Republican nominee, John McCain, Obamas worries mounted. The continuing elevation of me as a symbol ran contrary to my organizers instincts, and he understood the distance between the airbrushed image and the flawed, often uncertain person I was. Even before his actual electoral triumph, he feared the likelihood that it would be impossible to meet the outsized expectations now attached to me.

In retrospect, looking back at the scenes of mass ecstasy that reached from his election night rally to the day of his inauguration, Obama recognizes that we should have done more to tamp down this collective postelection high. He questions whether he erred in the momentous initial decisions he made to confront the calamitous economic crisis he inherited, asking whether I should have been bolder in those early months, willing to exact more economic pain in the short term in pursuit of a permanently altered and more just economic order.

Obama opines that the Senate filibuster, which required a supermajority of 60 votes rather than just 51, would prove to be the most chronic political headache of my presidency, and he at least half-seriously rues how on my very first day in office, I hadnt had the foresight to tell Senate Democrats to revise the chamber rules and get rid of the filibuster. Obama also samples a modest roster of additional regrets, writing that while in 2009 he believed it possible that China would challenge U.S. preeminence on the world stage I was convinced that any such challenge was still decades away. How wrong that was!

For most politicians, winning the presidency is their dream, but for Obama, the voice that had warned No. No. No. had not gone away.

Obama appears to acknowledge that he knew that the Affordable Care Act, his signature legislative achievement, would entail windfall profits that a new flood of insured customers would bring to hospitals, drug companies, and insurers while doing nothing to halt or reverse the skyrocketing costs charged by doctors and hospitals. He likewise concedes that as of the summer of 2009, the economy had gotten steadily worse with me in charge and that programs set up to help homeowners refinance or modify their mortgages fell woefully short of expectations. In an especially painful reminiscence, my administration was still deporting undocumented workers and separating families at the border and was doing so at an accelerating rate.

By October 2009, Obama was all too aware of the widening gap between the expectations and the realities of my presidency, and when to everyones utter amazement he was awarded the Nobel Peace PrizeFor what? he immediately askedhe understood on his celebratory trip to Oslo that on some level, the crowds below were cheering an illusion. One evening at the White House, hearing a musical act practicing downstairs in preparation for a next-day performance, Obama snuck a discreet peek at them and was struck by the pure, unambiguous joy of their endeavors, such a contrast to the political path I had chosen.

Was Obama at least in part coming to regret how he had made pursuing and attaining the presidency his lifes work? He realized too how painfully lonely his wife found life in the White House, and whether in my seeming calm I was really just protecting myselfand contributing to her loneliness. He likewise recounts what he says became a recurring dream in which he is walking in some unnamed city when suddenly I realize that no one recognizes me and in response I feel like Ive won the lottery.

For most politicians, winning the presidency is their dream, but for Obama, the voice that had warned No. No. No. had not gone away. Instead, success could taste sour. His supporters had expected my election to transform our country, yet wed neglected our promise to change Washington. Even after the successful killing of terror lord Osama bin Ladenwhich he recounts in this volumes taut, finely honed final chapterObama could not escape the painful realization of how far my presidency still fell short of what I wanted it to be.

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No. No. No. Obama Said, but He Went On Anyway - The American Prospect

At this point, there is no doubt that Steph Curry will go down in the history books as the greatest shooter who ever lived.

In an appearance on The Ringer podcast, even former U.S. President Barack Obama had to agree, saying it wasnt even a question that Steph is, indeed, the best long-distance specialist the game has seen.

Thats not even a question -absolutely. I have not seen anybody who can shoot that way in as many ways in as unlikely ways consistently as Steph Curry. I know Steph well everything he does is precise, its neat, its tight.

Barack and Steph do have a little history. When the Warriors won their first Championship in 2015, they visited Obama and the White House in, what used to be, a long-standing tradition.

Obama has long held an interest in NBA basketball, citing his fandom of the Bulls as a kid growing up in Chicago. So, Obama isnt just speaking as a former President when he recognizes Steph as the greatest shooter ever hes speaking as a fan and student of the game.

In 11 years in the NBA, Curry has built up quite a resume, earning 6 All-Star appearances, 6 All-NBA appearances, 2 MVPs, and 3 NBA Championships. Last season, we saw Curry and the Warriors sink near the bottom of the standings, and it was a sign that their dynasty may finally be over.

This season, with a (mostly) healthy squad and a re-tooled roster, they should be right back at the top. Obama is just one of many who has not forgotten who Curry is and what he is capable of.

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Barack Obama Says Steph Curry Is The Greatest Shooter Of All-Time - Fadeaway World