Presidents’ Days: From Obama to Trump - Incite at Columbia University
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Presidents’ Days: From Obama to Trump
Feb 16, 2026 - Author David Remnick
In the fall of 2016, President Barack Obama and his aides at the White House made plans for one last trip abroad, on Air Force One, to deliver a message in Greece about the origins and the persistence of democratic values. The trip was planned in a mood of confidence, even advance celebration. Hillary Clinton, Obama’s former Secretary of State and the Democratic nominee, would surely defeat Donald Trump, and Obama, who had won over an immense crowd in Berlin when he first ran for the White House, in 2008, would now have a valedictory moment near the Acropolis, where the ancient Greeks originated the business of self-rule. At least, that was the rosy view in the planning sessions.
The voters of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida, however (with an assist from James Comey and Clinton’s own stumbles), put an end to those plans.
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go to As Columbia unveils official oral history of President Barack Obama, CC ’83, project leaders reflect on how they captured his ‘transformational presidency’
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As Columbia unveils official oral history of President Barack Obama, CC ’83, project leaders reflect on how they captured his ‘transformational presidency’
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go to Obama Took On Recession, Health Care and Iraq. What He Didn’t See Coming Was Trump.
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Obama Took On Recession, Health Care and Iraq. What He Didn’t See Coming Was Trump.
The New York Times spotlighted Incite Institute's Obama Presidency Oral History Project, an archive of more than 450 interviews offering behind-the-scenes perspectives on the Barack Obama administration.