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As the Obamas latest production hits Netflix, Big Issue TV editor Adrian Lobb asks: Is there anything that can stop the new golden age of global cultural players filling up our screens?

When Michelle and Barack Obama signed on the dotted line for a multi-year, multi-million dollar deal with Netflix back in 2018, they joined a select and exclusive entertainment community.

These days, they stand alongside Oprah Winfrey (Apple), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Amazon Prime), podcaster Joe Rogan (Spotify), Shonda Rhimes, Ryan Murphy, David Benioff and DB Weiss, plus newcomers Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (all Netflix) as the select few global players able to launch their creative visions into the public consciousness with few barriers.

What Americas former first couple bring to Netflix is clear. The Obamas are a popular, powerful, respected and socially conscious global brand, capable of leading the conversation across the planet. When the Obamas speak, the world listens. So when they make a television show, the world will watch. Right? Thats the unarguable logic behind the deal.

The power this affords them is immense. Who else is allowed to produce such a breadth of television and film, across all genres? None, so far, among the list of big players above though watch this space, because Harry and Meghan might just try.

In an age where the algorithm looked set to be king when it came to commissioning, global fame can sidestep the system

Shonda Rhimes is behind some of the biggest TV shows of all time, from Greys Anatomy to Scandal. Now leading her Shondaland crew, which signed a $150m deal with Netflix in 2018, she has already struck gold in tried and tested TV drama territory with Bridgertons runaway success. Benioff and Weisss $200m deal is about making as many Game of Thrones spin-offs as audiences will countenance seven, according to the latest calculations. Rogans $100m exclusive deal with Spotify is about the streaming giant trying to elbow other platforms out of the growing podcast market.

Ryan Murphy the producer behind Glee, Nipp/Tuck and American Horror Story, among others is as prolific as ever. With a longform Andy Warhol documentary in the works, Halston (starring Ewan McGregor as the design legend), more Ratched and more true crime in the form of a miniseries on serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, many argue he will struggle to justify his $300m Netflix deal until he comes up with a critical and popular hit to rival Bridgerton.

In an age where the algorithm looked set to be king when it came to commissioning, global fame can sidestep the system. Because who is going to stop them, and why would you want to?

So it is that the Obamas can bring preschool puppet food show Waffles + Mochi, which went in to development at their Higher Ground production company under the working title Listen To Your Vegetables and Eat Your Parents to the screen two years after their Oscar-winning documentary American Factory.

That film detailed a culture clash between blue-collar US workers and the factorys new Chinese owners, coming out in support of unionised labour but painting a nuanced picture of the decline of big industry in the US. They followed it with Crip Camp an empowering doc about a summer camp created by teens living with disabilities, and Becoming, based on Michelle Obamas memoir of the same name.

The range of output is set to grow bigger still. Coming up is a major series looking at Americas National Parks, another potential Oscar contender as Riz Ahmed leads an adaptation of Mohsin Hamids stunning 2017 novel Exit West an inventive, magical take on the refugee crisis. Then theres a doc on the unsung hero of Edmund Hillarys Everest mission Tenzing Norgay, a new sci-fi film from Rian Johnson, an adaptation of Young Adult thriller Firekeepers Daughter and The G Word, based on Michael Lewiss book The Fifth Risk about the unravelling of the American system of government during the Trump era.

We created Higher Ground to tell great stories. This group of projects builds upon that goal and the incredible path forged by films like Crip Camp, Becoming, and the Oscar-winning American Factory, is how the Obamas proclaimed their most recent slate of shows.

From science-fiction to the beauty of our natural world to the relationships that define us, Higher Ground continues to strive for fresh perspectives, compelling characters, and a healthy dose of inspiration.

So what does it all tell us about their vision? Plotting a narrative thread through their roster of shows and films in development is perilous. But is it too much to say that, while Donald Trump was in the highest office, Higher Ground have set about producing nothing less than a restatement, a reassertion, a re-upped and rewritten vision of the American Dream?

Theirs is a dream soundtracked by the workers songs of Baracks podcast pal Bruce Springsteen in American Factory, populated by a cast of progressive Sesame Street-style puppets in Waffle + Mochi, and celebrating the US as a land of great beauty and opportunity for all.

And its coming to a screen near you via Netflix starting with a series starring Michelle Obama as a shopkeeper, alongside a talking mop named Steve and Queer Eyes Tan France guest starring as a potato

Adrian Lobb is The Big Issues TV editor

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Netflix, the Obamas, and the new cultural elite streaming your way - Big Issue

Actor Will Smith, who is now a global icon,once wanted to run for thePresidentof USA. Smithhas shared that apart from being an actor, he also wishedto pursue a career in basketball as well as politics. Even though he ended up not pursuing basketball as a professional career, he never backed down from the other one. As per Showbiz Cheatsheet, Smith shared that as he missed the opportunity of becomingthe first black president of the USA, he's ready to make do with playing Barack Obama in a film. Read on.

As per Showbiz Cheatsheet, in 2016Will Smith admitted onThe Late Show with Stephen Colbertthat he keeps getting the 'desire to run for US president'. He said that he has 'views and ideas' and when he hears people 'say things on television, it makes him want to run against them. Smith further added that even though he did not get the chance tobecome the first black president of the USA, he's ready to settle for playing Obama's part in a film.

The Men in Black fame has reportedly even discussed this matter with Barack Obama who said that Smith has 'gotthe ears to play him'. Smith has also shared that his wife Jada Pinkett Smith wasagainst the idea of him running for the presidency, which is why he had held himself back from pursuing the idea. Jada would reportedly sayhell, no', whenever he would bring up this subject. According toShowbiz Cheatsheet,Jada thinks that there is 'no way' Smith can run for president because no one would want her to be the first lady.

Two films namedBarryandSouthside With Youhave already been made based on the life of Barack Obama. The former film featuresDevon Terrell as Obama whereas the latter featuresParker Sawyers.Barryis based on Obama's life at Columbia University whereasSouthside With Yourevolvesaround his love story with his wifeMichelle Obama. Both these films were released in the year 2016.Will Smith's movies are often a big hit and if he were to ever feature as Obama in a film, that is sure to be a hit too.

Get the latest entertainment news from India & around the world. Now follow your favourite television celebs and telly updates. Republic World is your one-stop destination for trending Bollywood news. Tune in today to stay updated with all the latest news and headlines from the world of entertainment.

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DYK Will Smith wanted to play Barack Obamas role in a film? - Republic TV

Sarah Obama, the matriarch of former U.S. President Barack Obama's Kenyan relatives, was buried Tuesday at a funeral in western Kenya with only about 100 mourners in attendance due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

Mama Sarah, as Obama's step-grandmother was fondly called, was at least 99 years old when she died early Monday while undergoing treatment at a hospital. President Obama did not attend Tuesday's burial but eulogized her in a statement on Monday.

``Although not his birth mother, Granny would raise my father as her own, and it was in part thanks to her love and encouragement that he was able to defy the odds and do well enough in school to get a scholarship to attend an American university,`` the former president wrote.

``When I first traveled to Kenya to learn more about my heritage and father, who had passed away by then, it was Granny who served as a bridge to the past, and it was her stories that helped fill a void in my heart,`` he added.

In his memoir, ``Dreams from My Father,`` Obama described meeting her during his 1988 trip to his father's homeland and the initial awkwardness that developed into a warm bond. She attended his first inauguration as president in 2009 and Obama spoke of her in his September 2014 speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

For decades, Sarah Obama helped orphans, raising some in her home and providing others with school supplies, uniforms and school fees.

The village of Nyangoma Kogelo was under heavy security during the burial Tuesday, preventing thousands of her admirers from attending because of the pandemic.

``Mama Sarah built me a four-roomed house in 2000 when my home was crumbling because my husband who was the breadwinner had died and I was sleeping in the rain, said Mary Auma Odima.

``Today I was unable to attend her burial because only few people were allowed in as they observed COVID-19 protocols. I feel so very sad,`` she added.

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Barack Obamas grandmother buried in Kenya - Africanews English

WASHINGTON In September 2009, then-Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. traveled to a defunct General Motors plant near his hometown, Wilmington, Del., to announce a $528.7 million government loan for Fisker Automotive to make hybrid and electric vehicles.

The funding for Fisker, a small luxury automaker, came out of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a $787 billion economic stimulus plan secured by President Barack Obama to lift the nation out of the Great Recession, in part by creating green jobs with $90 billion for wind and solar energy, a smart power grid, weatherized homes and the electric vehicle industry.

Fisker went bankrupt in 2013 before the Wilmington factory produced a single car. Mr. Biden also personally announced a $535 million loan guarantee for Solyndra, a California solar panel company that then went bankrupt, leaving taxpayers on the hook. An advanced battery maker called A123 Systems, which Mr. Obama extolled as part of a vanguard of a new American electric car industry, received a $249 million stimulus grant, then filed for bankruptcy in 2012, the vanguard that wasnt.

Now, 12 years later, President Biden is preparing the details of a new, vastly larger, economic stimulus plan that again would use government spending to unite the goals of fighting climate change and restoring the economy. While clean energy spending was just a fraction of the Obama stimulus, Mr. Biden wants to make it the centerpiece of his proposal for trillions of dollars, not billions, on government grants, loans, and tax incentives to spark renewable power, energy efficiency and electric car production.

But the failures of the Obama stimulus, and Mr. Bidens role in them he oversaw recovery-act spending could haunt the plan as it makes its way through Congress. The risk to taxpayers could be orders of magnitude more this time around, and Republicans for years have proven adept at citing Solyndra to criticize federal intervention in industrial planning.

Mr. Bidens advisers, many of whom worked on the Obama stimulus, say the situation is very different. The market demand for electric vehicles is much higher, and the cost of the cars much lower than in 2009, the year after Tesla Motors produced its first roadster. Solar power is more economically competitive. Wind is entrenched and expanding rapidly.

Jennifer Granholm, the energy secretary, will oversee the same clean energy loan program that backed Fisker and Solyndra. Ms. Granholm knows the program well: As governor of Michigan during the Obama years, she helped her state secure money from it to help auto battery manufacturers including some that failed.

You have to step up to the plate and take a swing in order to hit the ball, and sometimes you swing and you miss, she said of those failures. But if you never swing, you will never hit the ball, and youll never get a run. So the overall benefits of the Obama-era clean energy investments were overwhelmingly a net positive.

Still, she said her team was studying the lessons of 2009: When you invest in innovation sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt. But you learn from the losses more often than you do from the wins, just like any human, right? She said that the clean energy loan program would be retooled and invigorated for its second round.

Other advisers to Mr. Obama concede they fell short, especially on electric cars. The recovery act was supposed to put a million plug-in hybrids on the road by 2015 but mustered fewer than 200,000. Even today, fewer than 1 percent of vehicles on the road are electric.

There was high ambition, but getting some of those projects off the drawing board and onto the ground was an area where it certainly proved to be a challenge, said Heather Zichal, who served as Mr. Obamas top clean energy and climate change adviser in his first term.

Republicans are already weaponizing the losses of the Obama green stimulus in their political attacks against the Biden plan.

When President Biden was vice president, the Obama administration promised thousands of green energy jobs, said Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy Committee. These jobs never materialized. Millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted on green energy companies that went belly up. Now, the Solyndra Syndrome has returned.

Most economists say that, on balance, the Obama green stimulus spending did lift the economy, and had a long-lasting impact. Clean energy spending created nearly a million jobs between 2013 and 2017, according to a 2020 paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. It also made money for taxpayers: Despite the losses from companies like Fisker, the Energy Departments loan guarantee program ultimately made $2 billion more in returns than it paid out.

Wind power more than tripled in the last decade, and now generates nearly 8 percent of the nations electricity. Solar power, which generated less than 1 percent of the nations electricity in 2010, now generates about 2 percent, and is growing fast. Economists generally agree that the Obama stimulus, which pumped about $40 billion in loans and tax incentives to those industries, deserves partial credit.

But experts also point to a fundamental problem with throwing money at climate change: It is not a particularly effective way to lower emissions of planet-warming pollution. While the Obama green spending created new construction jobs in weatherization and helped turn a handful of boutique wind and solar companies into a thriving industry, U.S. emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases have stayed about the same, five billion tons a year since 2010, and are projected to continue at the same level for the coming decades, absent new policies to force reductions, such as taxes or regulations.

Mr. Obama had hoped to pair the recovery act money with a new law that would cap planet-warming emissions, but that effort died in Congress. His administration then enacted regulations on emissions, but they were blocked by the courts and rolled back by the Trump administration.

The recovery act was a success at creating jobs, but it did not meet emissions-cutting goals, said David Popp, a professor of public administration at Syracuse University and the lead author of the National Bureau of Economics study on the green stimulus money. And this new stimulus, on its own, will not be enough to reduce emissions.

Unless they can pair it with a policy that forces people to reduce emissions, a big spending bill doesnt have a big impact, Mr. Popp said.

But, he added, spending money is politically easier than passing policies to cut emissions. If that sets up the energy economy in a way that its eventually cheaper to reduce emissions, it could create more political support for doing that down the road by making legislation or regulations less painful, he said.

Mr. Biden has a long way to go on that front. Wind and solar power remain more expensive than fossil fuels in most parts of the country. While it gave a jolt to electric vehicle manufacturing, including a successful loan guarantee to Tesla, those cars still have higher price tags than the ones with old-fashioned internal combustion engines.

That is why Democrats say that one of the biggest lessons from the Obama stimulus is to go bigger much bigger.

The short-term tax credits for renewable energy and advanced battery plants werent big enough. They werent long enough, said Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which will play a key role in shaping Mr. Bidens bill in Congress.

If you were somebody who was very much committed in the area of clean manufacturing and energy, you didnt have an idea of what was coming next, he said.

Mr. Wyden has said he wants to use the Biden stimulus plan to create permanent tax credits that electric utilities could receive for generating zero-carbon electricity, regardless of the source.

Electric vehicles also present a challenge, even as companies like General Motors and Volkswagen promise to shift their fleets to electricity. With the current price of oil hovering around $65 per barrel, electric vehicle batteries would have to cost about $57 per kilowatt-hour of electricity to be cost-competitive down from their current cost of about $156 per kilowatt-hour, according to an analysis by Michael Greenstone, an economist at the University of Chicago who served as the chief economist for Mr. Obamas Council of Economic Advisers.

Electric vehicles are still far out of the money, said Mr. Greenstone. But a stimulus that was targeted at reducing the cost of these batteries absolutely could help.

Ms. Zichal, the former Obama climate adviser, who now works for the wind and solar lobby, said that this time around, electric vehicle battery technology is far more well developed than it was a decade ago. She compared the industrys readiness to leverage new government spending with that of the wind industry a decade ago when, she said, after years of stops and starts, it was at last at the cusp of a boom. It took wind power a while to get going, but in 2009 it was ready, she said, suggesting that electric vehicles could now be at the same inflection point, with some help from the federal government.

Mr. Bidens plan is expected to call for funding at least half a million electric vehicle charging stations.

One element of climate change spending in Mr. Bidens bill that was not in the Obama plan could draw bipartisan support: At his news conference last week, Mr. Biden spoke explicitly of the need to adapt the nations roads and bridges to a changing climate, which will bring stronger storms, higher floods and more intense heat and drought.

We cant build back to what they used to be, he said of the nations creaking infrastructure. The roads that used to be above the water level, didnt have to worry about where the drainage ditch was, now you got to rebuild them three feet higher. Because its not going to go back to what it was before; it will only get worse, unless we stop it.

Read more here:
Despite Problems In the Past, Biden to Try Again with 'Green' Stimulus - The New York Times

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 05: U.S. President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and daughters Malia (L) and Sasha (R) pose for a family portrait with their pets Bo and Sunny in the Rose Garden of the White House on Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Pete Souza/The White House via Getty Images)

In an episode of their shared podcast, Renegades: Born in the USA, Barack Obama spoke with Bruce Springsteen about his early days of parenthood and what having children has taught him. According to the former president - who met his wife, Michelle Obama, when they were in law school - having children was always a part of their long-term plan.

"We had this nice stretch of about three years where she was doing her thing in her career and I was doing mine," he told Bruce. "Then we started trying to have kids. Took a while. Michelle had a couple miscarriages and we had to kind of work at it. When Malia was finally born, we were more than ready to be parents, right? 'Cause there had been this six-year stretch in which probably for about half of it, we had been trying, so there was no surprise to it."

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He reflected on the time he first laid eyes on his oldest daughter, Malia, when she was born in 1998. "I had no doubt the minute I saw that little creature with those big eyes looking up at me, I said, 'My goodness. I will do anything for you.'"

Of course, Barack felt the very same magic when Sasha was born three years later. "The love of being a father was not something I had to work on," he said. "It was physical, it was emotional, spiritual, you know. The attachment to my children I felt entirely and completely. I thought to myself: 'OK. If the baseline is unconditional love, I've got that.'"

"The love of being a father was not something I had to work on."

Barack shared that he was more than happy to take the night shift when his kiddos were babies, alternating between feeding them, changing them, and talking to them. "This is one place where I do think the idea of what it means to be a man changed in a real way," he said. "By the time I had Malia, it wasn't just that I was completely absorbed and fascinated and in love with this bundle of joy, and this woman who had gone through everything to give me this joy. There was, I think, a sense that, 'Oh, dads should want to spend time with their kids and should want to burp 'em and change diapers.'"

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Barack shared that, because he and Michelle welcomed both of their daughters within three years, juggling fatherhood with his career was incredibly difficult at times, especially once he began his run for president.

"We have kids, and within the span of two or three years, I am suddenly being catapulted - I mean, look, Sasha was, when I ran for the US Senate, Sasha [was] only 3 years old," he said. "When I'm sworn in as a US senator, Sasha is 4 and Malia is 8. Something like that. Three years later, I'm president of the United States, and in the interim, for a year and a half I've been on the road. Not for three-week spans, but for big chunks of time."

He continued, noting how incredibly supportive Michelle was of his ambitions: "The first six months of me running for president, I was miserable because I was missing that family bad. And we got through that only by virtue of Michelle's heroic ability to manage everything back home and the incredible gift of my daughters loving their daddy anyway."

"Michelle figured out much earlier than I did that kids are like plants."

Oddly enough, he had more time for his girls once he was sworn into office. "What I didn't anticipate was the fact that I get to spend much more time with my kids once I'm president," he said. "Because now, I'm living above the store. I have a 30-second commute. And so I just set up a rule: I'm having dinner with my crew at 6:30 every night unless I'm traveling. But my travel schedule [was] very different [then] because people [came] to see you."

But it wasn't just dinner, Barack made sure he spent quality time with his girls after the meal. "I'm gonna be sitting there and I'm gonna be entirely absorbed with stories about the annoying boys and the weird teacher and the drama in the cafeteria, reading Harry Potter and tucking them in and listening to whatever music they're now listening to," he said.

Being able to spend time with his family was incredibly meaningful to Barack, as it helped him navigate the stress of his job. "That actually was my lifeline," he shared. "In an occupation in which I'm dealing daily with mayhem, chaos, crises, death, destruction, natural disasters, right? And so I always say that the degree to which Michelle and those girls sacrificed and lifted me up kept me going, prevented me from either getting cynical or despairing, reminded me why I was doing what I was doing, and spurred me on."

Toward the end of the conversation, Bruce asked what being a father has taught him. "Michelle figured out much earlier than I did that kids are like plants," Barack said. "They need sun, soil, water, but some of 'em are oaks, and some of 'em are pines, and some of 'em are willows, and some are bamboo."

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He shared that, like plants, kids need love and care to truly thrive. "Those seeds of who they are and the pace and ways in which they're gonna unfold are just uniquely theirs. I think I had a notion with Malia and Sasha, there was sort of a way of doing things - and what Michelle figured out earlier than I did, but I also ended up learning, was each one is just magical in their own ways. A branch is gonna sprout when it's gonna sprout. A flower's gonna pop when it's gonna pop. You just roll with that unfolding, that unfurling of who they are, being comfortable just discovering them as opposed to feeling as if it's a project."

Ultimately, Michelle and Barack set out to instill positive values in their daughters from the beginning. Things like, "We're not going to give you a hard time about making a mistake, but we will give you a hard time if you're lying about making a mistake, or if you mistreated somebody," he explained.

Excerpt from:
Barack Obama Said That He Had Family Dinners Every Night at 6:30 While Serving as President - Yahoo Lifestyle