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Larry Bleiberg, Special for USA TODAY 7:43 a.m. ET Feb. 24, 2017

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Obama poses with his step-grandmother, Sarah Obama, outside her home in Kogelo, Kenya, in 1995.(Photo: U.S. Embassy, Jakarta)

Although barely out of office, theres a growing wave of nostalgia for the nations first African-American president. Historically (Barack Obama) means a lot to a lot of people, says Christina M. Greer, a Fordham University associate professor and author of Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream(Oxford University Press, $29.95). People are missing him. In honor of Black History Month, she shares with Larry Bleiberg for USA TODAY sites to connect with Barack Obamas legacy.

Selma, Ala.

While Obama visited as a candidate, Greer says his return to the civil rights site in 2015 on the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday bridge crossing was particularly notable. His speech that day has been hailed as one of the best of his presidency. His physical presence meant so much to older black voters who never thought theyd see a black president. alabama.travel

Columbia University, New York

Obamas world expanded in 1981 when he arrived at Columbia as a transfer student, settling into an off-campus walk-up apartment at 142 West109th Street. It was his first time living on the East Coast. It was really a transformational experience, Greer says. He spent hours in the universitys Butler Library, ate at Toms Restaurant, a diner familiar from the Seinfeld TV show, and explored Harlem. nycgo.com

Des Moines

Obamas presidential campaign took off after winning the Iowa caucuses in 2008. It is what put him on the map. People started thinking, Maybe theres something to this guy. Hes winning a super, super, white state, Greer says. Obama has seen plenty of Des Moines from restaurants like Jethros BBQ, to the state fair, to the airport Hampton Inn, where he liked to stay because he thought it brought him good luck. catchdesmoines.com

Marthas Vineyard, Mass.

The Obamas spent summer vacations in the Oak Bluffs area of the New England island, which has been popular with African-American professionals and their families for decades. I grew up going to the Vineyard as a kid, Greer says. It was a place people could go and vacation without any drama, and relax. Summer visitors can swing by Nancys Restaurant and Snack Bar for seafood, where the Obamas youngest daughter Sasha worked last summer. mvy.com

Havana

One of Obamas legacies will be normalizing relations with the Communist nation, which he visited with his family last year. He did something that nine other presidents couldnt do, Greer says. Travelers can follow the Obamas footsteps, catching a baseball game, strolling Old Havana and staying in the Melia Habana hotel. cubatravel.tur.cu

Chicago

The eventual home for Obamas presidential library, Chicago is where he launched his political career and met his wife, Michelle. An Obama visit should focus on the citys South Side, Greer says. Thats where they built their community, which they leaned on as a young married couple, where they started a family. Among many stops, theres the University of Chicago, where he taught law, and the plaque at Dorchester and East 53rdStreet, marking the spot where the couple shared their first kiss. choosechicago.com

Oahu, Hawaii

Obama was born in the 50th state, which shaped his worldview, Greer said. Youre technically in the United States, but it feels different. It has a majority non-white population, she says. Obama lived in the downtown Honolulu Makiki neighborhood and attended the Punahou School. Notable stops include Sandy Beach, where Obama swam as a child, and nearby Halona Blowhole, where his mothers ashes were scattered. obamasneighborhood.com

Washington, D.C.

Obama made history when he moved into the White House in 2009, but his mark was felt across the heavily African-American city. Its the first time they had a president that looked like them, and that meant a lot, Greer says. The Obamas patronized local restaurants, including several owned by local chef Jos Andrs, and shopped at places like Politics and Prose bookstore. The family is now living in the citys tony Kalorama neighborhood until Sasha, 15, graduates from Sidwell Friends School. washington.org

Nairobi, Kenya

In 2015, Obama visited his late fathers home country, sparking excitement where a lot of people thought of Barack Obama as their president, Greer says. He stayed in the countrys capital, but on an earlier trip journeyed to Kogelo, Baraka Obama Sr.s ancestral village, where two schools are now named after the former president. magicalkenya.com

Jakarta, Indonesia

Obama lived in the Asian country as a child, which made a profound impression on him, Greer says. "Where you grow up and spend time as a child really does make a difference on who you are." While Obama barely recognized the metropolis when he revisited in 2010, the Besuki primary school he attended has a statue of its former student, shown as a 10-year-old boy. indonesia.travel

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10 great places to explore Barack Obama's legacy - USA TODAY

Amid a presidential campaign that has been marred by scandal, conspiracy theories, and the spectre of a new far-right leader, disillusioned French voters have called for an outsider to join the race: Barack Obama.

A petition launched on Monday calls on the former US president to run in this years French elections, which will be held in April and May. Called Obama17, the petition aims to garner 1 million signatures by March 15th, and as of Friday morning, it had already gained 30,000, according to one of the people behind the effort. But even the people who launched the website acknowledge that the chances of Obama actually ascending to the Elyse Palace are virtually zero. French law requires presidential candidates to be French, which Obama is not.

But the impossibility of the campaign is also what inspired it. In a phone interview Thursday night, one of the people behind the petition, who asked only to be identified as Antoine, said he and three other friends decided to create the site out of frustration with Frances leading candidates and the campaigns theyve run so far.

We just wanted to say that weve had enough of all of these guys.

In a campaign where we only talk about the scandals of [center-right candidate Franois] Fillon or the rise of [far-right candidate Marine] Le Pen, at a certain moment we told ourselves well, why not? Antoine said. We just wanted to say that weve had enough of all of these guys.

Antoine, who is in his 30s, says that he and his friends are not activists, and he doesnt align himself with a particular political party. But he says he has grown tired of voting for the lesser of two evils in every presidential race, rather than a candidate who inspires genuine enthusiasm. The only guy whos ever made me feel that way is Obama, he says. This week, he and his friends plastered some 500 Obama posters across Paris, each carrying the slogan: Oui on peut (Yes we can).

Antoine isnt the first French voter to call for an Obama presidency; similar petitions were launched last year, as NPR notes. And although Antoine realizes that it may be a long time before France changes its citizenship requirement for presidents, he thinks its important to at least put forth the idea of a more globalized government particularly given the nationalist, inward-looking rhetoric that has characterized Le Pens campaign.

At a time when Amazon and Facebook and Apple are richer than our country, its stupid to think that its our nationalism that will make us better governed, he says. We would do better to pay people who are competent to fill important positions, rather than getting stuck with the same people weve had for 20 years.

The reality, of course, is that it will never happen, he adds. But in another world, in 100 years or 200 years, it may not be a problem.

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Petition calls on Obama to run for president in France - The Verge

Forbes

President Obama Was Right, PTSD Is Physical Forbes On September 28, 2016, in a CNN Presidential Town Hall over veterans, national security and foreign policy issues impacting the U.S. Military, President Obama was asked about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). President Obama said: The first is I ... and more »

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President Obama Was Right, PTSD Is Physical - Forbes

Lost in most of the coverage of President Trumps decision to rescind the Obama administrations transgender mandates is a fundamental legal reality the Trump administration just relinquished federal authority over gender-identity policy in the nations federally funded schools and colleges.

In other words, Trump was less authoritarian than Obama. And thats not the only case. Consider the following examples where his administration, through policy or personnel, appears to be signaling that the executive branch intends to become less intrusive in American life and more accountable to internal and external critique.

Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, a man known not just for his intellect and integrity but also for his powerful legal argument against executive-branch overreach. Based on his previous legal writings, if Gorsuch had his way, the federal bureaucracy could well face the most dramatic check on its authority since the early days of the New Deal. By overturning judicial precedents that currently require judicial deference to agency legal interpretations, the Court could put a stop to the current practice of presidents and bureaucrats steadily (and vastly) expanding their powers by constantly broadening their interpretations of existing legal statutes.

For example, the EPA has dramatically expanded its control over the American economy even without Congress passing significant new environmental legislation. Instead, the EPA keeps revising its interpretation of decades-old statutes like the Clean Air Act, using those new interpretations to enact a host of comprehensive new regulations. If Gorsuchs argument wins the day, the legislative branch would be forced to step up at the expense of the executive, no matter how authoritarian a president tried to be.

Trump nominated H. R. McMaster to replace Michael Flynn as his national-security adviser. McMaster made his name as a warrior on battlefields in the Gulf War and the Iraq War, but he made his name as a scholar by writing a book, Dereliction of Duty, that strongly condemned Vietnam-era generals for simply rolling over in the face of Johnson-administration blunders and excesses. In his view, military leaders owe their civilian commander in chief honest and courageous counsel even when a president may not want to hear their words.

When the Ninth Circuit blocked Trumps immigration executive order (which was certainly an aggressive assertion of presidential power), he responded differently from the Obama administration when it faced similar judicial setbacks. Rather than race to the Supreme Court in the attempt to expand presidential authority, it backed up (yes, amidconsiderable presidential bluster) and told the Ninth Circuit that it intends to rewrite and rework the order to address the most serious judicial concerns and roll back its scope.

Indeed, if you peel back the layer of leftist critiques of Trumps early actions and early hires, they contain a surprising amount of alarmism over the rollback of governmental power. Education activists are terrified that Betsy DeVos will take children out of government schools or roll back government mandates regarding campus sexual-assault tribunals. Environmentalists are terrified that Scott Pruitt will make the EPA less activist. Civil-rights lawyers are alarmed at the notion that Jeff Sessions will inject the federal government into fewer state and local disputes over everything from school bathrooms to police traffic stops.

A president is authoritarian not when hes angry or impulsive or incompetent or tweets too much. Hes authoritarian when he seeks to expand his own power beyond constitutional limits. In this regard, the Obama administration though far more polite and restrained in most of its public comments was truly one of our more authoritarian.

Obama exercised his so-called prosecutorial discretion not just to waive compliance with laws passed by Congress (think of his numerous unilateral delays and waivers of Obamacare deadlines) but also to create entirely new immigration programs such as DACA and DAPA. He sought to roll back First Amendment protections for political speech (through his relentless attacks on Citizens United), tried to force nuns to facilitate access to birth control, and he even tried to inject federal agencies like the Equality Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) into the pastor-selection process, a move blocked by a unanimous Supreme Court. In foreign policy, he waged war without congressional approval and circumvented the Constitutions treaty provisions to strike a dreadful and consequential deal with Iran.

Theres no doubt that Trump has expressed on occasion authoritarian desires or instincts. In the campaign, he expressed his own hostility for the First Amendment, his own love of expansive government eminent-domain takings (even to benefit private corporations), endorsed and encouraged violent responses against protesters, and declared that he alone would fix our nations most pressing problems. But so far, not only has an authoritarian presidency not materialized, its nowhere on the horizon.

Instead, hes facing a free press that has suddenly (and somewhat cynically) rediscovered its desire to speak truth to power, an invigorated, activist judiciary, and a protest movement thats jamming congressional town halls from coast to coast. This tweet, from Sonny Bunch, is perfect:

It was just three weeks ago that David Frum published a much-discussed essay in The Atlantic outlining how Trump could allegedly build an American autocracy. Over at Vox, Ezra Klein wrote at length about how the Founders alleged failures laid the groundwork for a partyocracy. And now? Trumps early struggles are leading pundits to ask, Can Trump help Democrats take back the House? In the American system, accountability comes at you fast.

Liberals were blind to Obamas authoritarian tendencies in part because they agreed with his goals and in part because their adherence to living Constitution theories made the separation of powers far more conditional and situational. But authoritarianism is defined by how a president exercises power, not by the rightness of his goals. Its early, and things can obviously change, but one month into the new presidency, a trend is emerging Trump is less authoritarian than the man he replaced.

David French is a staff writer for National Review, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, and an attorney.

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Despite the Hysteria, Trump Is Trending Less Authoritarian Than Obama - National Review

NPR

Schools Assess Bathroom Policies After Trump Rescinds Obama Order Wall Street Journal (subscription) School districts are assessing transgender bathroom access after the Trump administration officially put the decision back in their court by withdrawing an Obama administration policy that directed schools to allow students to use the bathroom of their ... Trump Administration Rescinds Obama Rule On Transgender Students' Bathroom UseNPR White House Reverses Obama-Era Transgender Bathroom ProtectionsNBCNews.com Trump's order gives a boost to bathroom bills in 12 statesWashington Times CBS News -Reuters -National Review -New York Times all 1,854 news articles »

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Schools Assess Bathroom Policies After Trump Rescinds Obama Order - Wall Street Journal (subscription)