An American idol

As Trump administration battles crisis after crisis emerging from the President's loose tongue, Obama's golden oratory on the show is a reminder why he was, and is, so loved and admired by Americans

Late-night television in the US has undergone a definitive shift over the recent past. Many storied names such as David Letterman and Jon Stewart hung up their boots, to be replaced by new stars like Trevor Noah and Samantha Bee. What has also shaped the changing nature of late-night TV, traditionally a liberal bastion, is the presidency of Donald Trump, whose politics and personal style provide ready fodder for the gags typical of the genre.
 
Mr Letterman retired from late-night television two years ago, and spent this time travelling and growing a substantial beard. He has now returned for a show on Netflix in which he will sit across from a famous person and have a free-ranging conversation with them. The format is similar to his Late Show except there is no band, there is a stage and only one celeb makes it per episode. The honour roll will include the likes of George Clooney and Malala Yousafzai.

 
The first episode of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction featured Barack Obama. Mr Obama has been travelling the world since the end of his presidency (he was in India late last year) and has been busy running a foundation in Chicago that works with underprivileged youth. Yet, his post-presidential tenure is different from the norm because he was succeeded by a president who, temperamentally, shares little with him. (Whimsically, Letterman addressed Mr Obama as “Mr President” on the show and, at one point, hurried him along in order that he not get late for the Oval Office.)
 

The two have known one another for a long time. The former president made more than one appearance on Late Show and Mr Letterman was invited to the White House during Mr Obama’s tenure. They share similar politics — Mr Letterman is a Democrat — and the episode has a segment featuring him walk alongside Congressman John Lewis on the Selma bridge, the site of the 1965 march between Selma and Montgomery that demanded voting rights for blacks.

 
The tone of the episode flits from humorous to somber, as Mr Obama shares quips from his presidency, life at home in the period after, and his own personal story which is now well-documented. Born to a white mother and black father, Mr Obama was raised by his maternal grandparents after his parents’ divorce. His mother remarried an Indonesian and Mr Obama spent his early childhood in Jakarta before returning to Hawaii.

 
On the show, Mr Obama explains how the title of his autobiography, Dreams from my father, doesn’t accurately capture the seminal influence on his life. The book, he explains, was written to capture the absence of one parent but ended up impressing upon him the importance of the other. “My mother was a driven woman, and my politics were largely shaped by her concerns,” Mr Obama says. “Writing the book also brought home to me the conviction that I had to be around for my children,” he adds.
 
The episode reinforces what is generally acknowledged about the Obamas: They are a tight-knit family. Mr Obama movingly describes the anguish he felt at Malia’s going away to college. The Obamas continue to live in Washington, DC because the younger daughter Sasha attends high school there. When Mr Letterman asked him if he would have liked to run for a third term, the Constitution permitting, Obama retorts, “No, Michelle would have left me.”

 
Ultimately, Donald Trump makes an appearance in the discussion, if tangentially. Mr Letterman is keen that Mr Obama say something but the latter maintains a guarded stance. When the issue of Russian meddling in the last presidential poll comes up, Mr Obama is careful to qualify that the claims are still “hypothetical”. He does, however, speak at length on the polarised nature of politics in the US, a situation exacerbated by social media.
 
In many respects, the Obama years marked a watershed in American politics. The ex-president inherited a flailing economy and two wars—and his efforts played a major role in dousing those fires. Indeed, his biggest achievement is that he was able to outgrow the symbolism of his victory and provide eight years of stable administration.

 
Yet, by the end of his tenure, new challenges had cropped up. West Asia was (and remains) in turmoil and rising inequality became a rallying cry among the electorate. That Mr Obama was followed immediately by Mr Trump, whose ideas for America are dramatically different from his, took away from the impact of his presidency and even perhaps lessened the lustre of his forceful personality.
 
Mr Letterman’s show puts paid to such claims. As the Trump administration battles crisis after crisis emerging from the President’s loose tongue, Mr Obama’s golden oratory on the show is a reminder why he was, and is, so loved and admired by Americans. His words are measured; his ideas flow with a deliberateness that is the result of deep thinking. Mr Obama may not have anticipated all the crises that befell his administration — no president can — but there is little doubt that he was one of America’s more cerebral leaders.

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