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Tabitha Garcia talks to ESSENCE about her political 5-year-old and the adorable video that made her internet famous.

Five-year-old Taylor James has always been curious. Recently, for example, she was obsessed with why elves make toys with their hands if they have magic.

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But her affinity for asking questions made her famous this week after a video of her asking her mother about the election went viral. This all started because she wanted to know, 'where did Barack Obama go?' And 'where is the presidents house.' She is still mad, her motherTabitha Garcia, 30, captioned the video.

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I did not prompt her with any of this, Garcia tells ESSENCE, explaining that the conversation started after they drove by a house that had Taylor wondering if it was where the commander-in-chief lives. My daughter asks me thousands of questions ALL of the time.

Taylors interest in the political process began when her pre-school set up a mock election between a pizza and a hamburger to teach the kids about voting. The school briefly touched on the two presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton but her interest was further piqued because Garcia watches CNN every day.

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So after she learned about the two presidential candidates at school she began to ask questions about who they really were at home, the Houston-based teacher explained of her daughter.

And like many of us, Taylors emotions were strongly attached the the outcome of the election. She even became upset once she realized Clinton lost.

But Garcia has tried to stay away from the topic of politics when possible: We only talk about it because she brings it up, she said. We discussed Barack Obama a long time ago because I have a bobble-head Barack Obama at home and she wanted to know why I had a toy in my room. So I had to tell her who he was.

The animated pre-schooler, who apparently gets herenergy from her mama, has other things to keep her interested;she is currently keen on science, reading and spelling.

As for fame? It is better Taylor doesnt know about her new-found viral popularity.

I tried to tell her that a lot of people saw her video, but she cried because she thought I was saying people were laughing at her.

She added: I told her that people liked the video and thought she was smart. Then she stopped crying. After that I just let it go.

We doubt this is the last time we get to see Taylor flex her smarts!

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Mother Of 'Marack Obama' Viral Sensation: 'My Daughter Asks Me Thousands Of Questions ALL Of The Time' - Essence.com

Last week, former CIA Director John Brennan testified before the House Intelligence Committee that the United States knew about potential Russian interference in the presidential election at least as early as last year. While well-publicized investigations are now ongoing about potential contacts the Trump campaign had with Russia, theres a critical question being ignored: Why didnt the Obama administration take steps to stop Russian interference in an American election?

As former chair of the National Security Agency and Cybersecurity Subcommittee of the House Intelligence Committee, I engaged in a bipartisan effort with Congressman Jim Himes (D-Conn.) to get the Obama administration to define what offensive and defensive actions were in the context of cyber warfare. Unlike conventional warfare, theres no front in a cyber war, so learning whether youre on offense or defense in a given situation is critical. For example, if there is a known threat, does NSA take steps to merely defend against the threat or actively seek to counteract that threat? Despite our efforts to discuss the issue with officials and amend bills on the floor to force the issue, the Obama administration continued to stonewall.

Had the Obama administration decided to clarify when to actively fight a threat and when to defend against one, we could have mitigated the threat of Russian interference in our election process. If the Obama administration had used the tools at its disposal, its entirely possible we wouldnt need the current investigations. They could have cut the Russians off at the pass.

A few weeks ago, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a mountain of documents related to the targeting and minimization procedures used by the NSA. Targeting is how we determine which potential foreign intelligence sources we are monitoring. Minimization is how we restrict the amount of information disclosed from the raw intelligence.

The documents revealed something very disturbing about the so-called Section 702 collection, which is one of the ways the NSA collects internet transactions. I was a big supporter of Section 702 collection while in Congress, but as with all legislation its only as good as the implementation. I was shocked to learn about the Obama administrations failure to follow Section 702s targeting and minimization procedures. Not surprisingly, the FISA court reprimanded the government about its lack of candor and the serious Fourth Amendment issue[s] presented by these Obama administration violations.

Beginning in 2011, the Obama administration cast a wider net than allowed by law. Instead of limiting searches to foreign agents who were targets of investigations, the administration searched for communications about those peoplemeaning Americans who only mentioned a foreign agent would have their communications accessed and analyzed without any warrant or probable cause. This is an obvious violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Further, these kinds of searches can result in the disclosure of the identities of U.S. citizens collected as part of the raw intelligence. The minimization procedures require the masking of the names of U.S. individuals who are incidental to a foreign communication. But we know from Susan Rice and others that the Obama administration repeatedly unmasked the identities of citizens found in raw intelligence.

Something I would have never imagined would occur in America resulted from this illegal use of intelligence: surveillance tools were likely used on our fellow citizens who were not suspected of a crime. While using methods designed to keep us safe, the Obama administration was trampling on the law and our constitutional rights. While refusing to do anything about the Russian threat they knew was coming, the Obama administration targeted the Trump campaign for surveillance.

We can all hope that no future administration, regardless of party, weaponizes intelligence-gathering against its own citizens for political purposes under the guise of public safety. And we can hope that in this new war where the battle is in binary code instead of bullets and bombs that no administration again violates the constitutional rights of Americans.

Lynn Westmoreland served in the U.S. House as a Georgia Republican from 2005-17.He headed the House subcommittee on the National Security Agency and Cybersecurity.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.

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How did Obama's massive surveillance state fail to defend Americans against Russia? - The Hill (blog)

New York Times

Manchester, NATO, Barack Obama: Your Friday Briefing New York Times ... Manchester sees itself as the multicultural capital of northern England, and the city held itself to a high standard in memorial events for the 22 people killed in Britain's deadliest terrorist attack since 2005. Crowds sang the Oasis song Don't ...

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Manchester, NATO, Barack Obama: Your Friday Briefing - New York Times

Story highlights

(CNN)Former President Barack Obama delivered a poignant message to the people of Manchester today following Monday night's deadly terrorist bombing.

"As the father of two daughters, I am heartbroken by the extraordinary tragedy that has occurred in Manchester," Obama said in a video posted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesperson.

Standing alongside Merkel and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby in Berlin, Obama offered his condolences to those affected by the suicide bombing, which targeted a pop concert attended mostly by teenage girls.

"To all the families who have been affected, to all those who are still recovering, to those who have lost loved ones, it's unimaginable to think about the cruelty and the violence that the city of Manchester has suffered," Obama said.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you. There are families all around the world who are grieving with you," he added, appearing visibly moved.

Obama said that the city had shown its character in the "kindness and ways in which you are assisting each other" in the wake of the attack, which left at least 22 dead.

"Just know that the entire world is in solidarity with you right now," he said.

Obama's comments followed a tweeted response Tuesday, in which he said "Americans will always stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of the UK."

Our hearts go out to those killed and wounded in Manchester. Americans will always stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of the UK.

President Donald Trump condemned the perpetrators of the attack, calling them "evil losers."

"So many young beautiful innocent people living and enjoying their lives murdered by evil losers in life. I won't call them monsters because they would like that term. They would think that's a great name. I will call them from now on losers because that's what they are," TrumpsaidTuesday.

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Obama: 'As the father of two daughters, I am heartbroken' by Manchester attack - CNN

Merkel's friendship with Obama and awkward early interactions with Trump are a study in political contrasts that the Berlin government and the White House will likely seek to ease given the crucial nature of the Germany-US relationship.

But it seems unlikely that the studious and cautious German leader will ever recreate the chumminess she enjoyed with Obama with the brash and unpredictable Trump.

That easy interaction was on display again on Thursday when Merkel seemed delighted to be sitting down with Obama. The former US leader told tens of thousands of people who showed up to witness their earnest conversation about democracy that Merkel was "one of my favorite partners throughout my presidency."

Merkel once shared hugs and smiles and intimate dinners with Obama as their relationship evolved over the years. In one iconic photo that exemplifies their friendship, Obama sits on a bench while Merkel stands in front of him with her arms outstretched in deep conversation -- with the German Alps in the background.

Obama gave Merkel his nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and lauded her as the epitome of freedom itself after she reached the pinnacle of political power in a united Germany after growing up under the political suppression of the communist East.

"The night the wall came down, she crossed over, like so many others, and finally experienced what she calls the 'incredible gift of freedom,'" Obama said at a State Dinner for Merkel in 2011.

Two years later, Merkel poignantly pointed out the route of the wall during an Obama visit to Berlin, and told him that, trapped in the East, she used to listen to trains on the other side and dream of being free.

Contrast such intimacy with the body language on display at the White House when Merkel flew across the Atlantic to get to know Trump.

The President later said that he didn't hear the request and meant no offense but the moment became an irresistible metaphor for the rocky start of their relationship.

Did Trump snub Merkel handshake? 01:02

In effect, Merkel will be coming face-to-face Thursday with one president that she probably wishes were still in the White House and the other, with whom she now has no choice to partner, no matter how tough it is going to be.

Merkel, demonstrating rare sentimentality but also the pragmatic streak that runs through her politics, admitted last year it was tough to see Obama go.

"Taking leave from my partner and friend, well, yes, it is hard. If you've worked together with somebody very well, leave-taking is very difficult. But we are politicians. We all know that democracy lives off change," Merkel said at a joint news conference during Obama's farewell visit to Berlin as President.

The fact that Merkel is sharing the spotlight with Obama and Trump on the same day is a quirk of the calendar: the former president was invited to the Berlin event organized by the German evangelical protestant church a year ago, long before his successor was even elected.

But the presence on European soil of the current and immediate past US President will inevitably draw comparisons about their leadership styles and policies, especially as Obama remains popular in Europe while Trump is not.

There is deep concern in Europe, for instance, about Trump's hostility to anti-climate change policies pursued by Obama, as well as his attempt to institute a ban on travel to the United States of residents of several Muslim nations.

And Obama largely pursued a foreign policy based on multilateralism, which is more to the taste of European leaders, than the "America First" approach that is now the organizing principle of US diplomacy.

Obama's team insisted he was not in Germany to play politics.

"When we agreed to do this, they had not yet set the Trump schedule, we did not in fact know he would be there when we made this decision," said an Obama foundation official, pointing out that the Kirchentag event -- the biennial congress of the German Protestant Church -- had been planned months ahead of time.

Obama also built his schedule to fit in around Merkel's busy diary as a current world leader, and the Thursday date was most convenient for her.

The official stipulated that "is not set up as something where Obama will be asked to respond directly to things that Trump is doing because he has made clear that he doesn't see his role as a former President responding to everything that Trump says or does."

Still, Obama is not beyond oblique references to the turbulent events of the last four months.

"So, what's been going on while I've been gone?" he quipped in the first public appearance of his post presidency in Chicago in April.

And the fact that Obama and Merkel will sit side-by-side on Thursday cannot help but be seen in a political context, especially since the German chancellor is running for a fourth term in office in September's election.

His visit comes shortly after Obama endorsed new French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of the run off in the presidential election this month saying he represented "the values that we care so much about."

Obama had already delivered an endorsement of Merkel's re-election run, albeit in a light-hearted tone, during his visit to Berlin last year.

"I try to make it a rule not to meddle in other people's politics," Obama said, before reeling off a warm tribute of Merkel. "If I were here and I were German, and I had a vote, I might support her. But I don't know whether that hurts or helps."

Clearly, Merkel, who risked her career to accept hundreds of thousands of mainly Muslim refugees pouring across Germany's borders, like Macron, is the kind of leader whose values Obama shares, in a Europe that has recently been rocked by the rise of populist politics that looks much like the outsider strain of anti-establishment politics that Trump rode to victory.

Obama: Merkel on the 'right side of history' 00:46

Obama said last year that Merkel's action on refugees, one that was deeply unpopular among some Germans, put her on "the right side of history."

Trump meanwhile slammed the move.

"I think she made one very catastrophic mistake, and that was taking all of these illegals," Trump said during an interview with the German newspaper Bild and the London Times in January.

Still, despite her affection for Obama, Merkel is nothing if not a realist. And she knows that the future of the Western alliance may rely on her carving out a workable relationship with Trump.

And while the White House may bristle at coverage of Obama's friendship with Merkel, the history of the ex-President and the German Chancellor may contain some good omens for Trump.

After all, it was hardly love at first sight when Merkel first beheld Obama.

In fact, she was affronted by the young rising political star's request to deliver a 2008 campaign speech at the Brandenburg Gate, the iconic spot where Ronald Reagan once beseeched Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear Down this Wall."

Merkel blocked Obama from using the venue, and he delivered a speech instead to several hundred thousand of young Germans at the Victory Column in mile or so away.

At the time, Obama's soaring rhetorical style appeared to irritate the bookish Merkel.

In an email to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, released by the State Department during disclosures from her private emails server, her friend Sidney Blumenthal passed on observations of a former US ambassador to Berlin John Kornblum.

"He says she (Merkel) dislikes the atmospherics surrounding the Obama phenomenon, that it's contrary to her whole idea of politics and how to conduct oneself in general. She would welcome a more conversational relationship with you," Blumenthal wrote.

And even as respect between Merkel and Obama gradually grew, there were bumps in the road.

Germany for example abstained in a UN Security Council vote before the US-led intervention in Libya -- a move that in retrospect looks prescient given the chaos that unfolded in the country after the toppling of Colonel Moammar Gadhafi.

Then, revelations that the NSA had been listening in on Merkel's cellphone temporarily strained the relationship with Obama -- who stopped the practice after it was revealed by fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

But the intellectual approach to governing that both shared brought them back together, as well as the vital nature of the US-Germany relationship.

Now, Merkel, who is expected to win re-election, has the task of starting all over again, with a new US president with whom she has little in common.

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Merkel meets with Obama, then Trump - CNNPolitics.com