A Conversation with Barack Obama: Embracing Technology and Finding Balance in Politics

I'm 26 years old, having been involved in this for about 10 years now, over a decade in my own life. I also happen to be a professional ultimate frisbee player, shout out to the New York Empire, who had an undefeated season last year in 2019. I'm also an avid golfer and a big NBA basketball fan. It's exciting to be able to talk about your book, A Promised Land, which is your third book and first in a two-part presidential memoir.

I started my YouTube channel in 2009, a year after your inauguration, which I was at by the way. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from that time. However, I do remember it was very cold. The timing of this isn't lost on me, and I feel like I owe a lot to the rise of technology and its accessibility. I believe that maybe, to an extent, you can say that a lot of people have called you the first social media president. More than that, though, is that technology has changed politics and helped us connect with new audiences.

You look at the administration before you; they hadn't quite used it; hadn't quite cracked it then you came along and all of your teams using social media embracing technology embracing this new stuff. I feel like a unique challenge of yours was finding a balance there that we hadn't really seen before. You thanked me, Mark Zuckerberg, for unbelievable hops on that clip of you in ultimate frisbee. You're right; technology had a big impact on my campaign. We were early adapters of a lot of technology as a tool for reaching out to voters because I had a bunch of folks in their 20s working for me - young people who would come to me and say, "Listen, we had this thing called Myspace and Meetup. What it turned out was that those early iterations of social media became a really powerful way for us to build a volunteer base and a movement." It made me hugely optimistic about the possibilities of technology as a force for democratization during the presidency.

What we learned was that that same technology could be used for ill or for good. Hatred could be communicated as well as love and compassion. That's something that I think we still struggle with, and I write about it in A Promised Land. How do we harness this technology for good? And how can we try to mitigate some of the problems that it creates?

I've run in worlds that haven't been incredibly diverse. I mentioned golf earlier - ultimate frisbee - technology, what I can say is at a youth level and I think at a lot of the beginner levels these spaces are more diverse than ever. Which is awesome. But you'll notice at a high level - ultimate frisbee - not very diverse. At a high level golf - not very diverse. And at a high level technology still not very diverse. I feel like that makes the spotlight just a little bit hotter as a black man moving through these spaces, moving through these worlds.

I talked about this a little bit in a video actually I made on my channel in the past year. From your book and just from observing it's clear that you've felt that spotlight over time as well. I mean not just as the first black president of course but I mean just look at politics as a whole. That got me super curious - just how did that make you feel? How did that affect you mentally? Do you feel like it pushed you to do better? Or do you feel like it made the way you present things a little bit different? Are there extra precautions you take in the way you articulate certain things?

The feeling of achievement in less diverse spaces is something I write about. There were occasions where I would have to deal with expectations or stereotypes or attitudes that perhaps if I had been white, I would not have had to deal with - not just me but a lot of African-Americans, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, or in some cases women who were the first in their positions in my administration. All of them had to navigate spaces where traditionally there hadn't been a lot of folks who looked like them in those situations. It's an extra burden that requires you speaking out and having the confidence that you can propose solutions that make the whole team or organization work better.

Your attitude always was that it was also a privilege to be in these environments where you could actually help these spaces, where you're one of the firsts. That requires you speaking out and having the confidence that you can make a difference.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey what's up mkbhd here so as you may have seen barack obama's been on a pretty massive book tour for his new book a promised land uh it's been a pretty great read so far for me but then youtube reached out and they're like hey do you want to ask obama anything about what he talks about in this book and so of course i said yes that would be awesome but that's that's a big moment for me like what do i ask the president if i could ask him anything so anyway what i have for you are the two questions that i chose and this is actually part of a larger uh youtube originals project called booktube where he answers a bunch of questions from a bunch of other creators about that book and what he wants to talk about including a really good one from mark rober about nasa and the origins of the white house science fair which i thought were really interesting so i'll link that below for you to check it out but this is sort of extended cut of a little chat and uh i wanted to share enjoy mr president my name is marquez brownlee i run a youtube channel called mkbhd so that's mkb which is my initials plus hd that's high definition that's where i get to be a huge nerd basically i talk all kinds of tech products review tech try to make high quality videos and we like to have fun with it you know these days tech is in everything it feels like it's a part of the fabric of the culture we live in so on my channel it's everything from smartphones to 5g to computers to electric cars basically anything with an on button all the way to interviews with people with unique perspectives on tech it's a lot of fun i'm 26 years old i've been doing this for about 10 years now over 10 years so a long time in my own life and i also happen to be a professional ultimate frisbee player so shout out to the new york empire we had an undefeated season last year in 2019 and i'm also an avid golfer and a pretty big nba basketball fan so i gotta say i'm pretty excited to be able to talk about your book a promised land which is your third book and uh first in a two-part presidential memoir so i started my youtube channel in 2009 so a year after your inauguration which i was at by the way um i wish i had some some pictures or something from that but i didn't have a camera then believe it or not but i do remember it was very cold the timing of this isn't lost on me i feel like i feel like i owe a lot of my position now to the rise of technology and its accessibility and i feel like maybe to an extent you can say a lot of the same like a lot of people have called you the first social media president but more than that it's just you know you look at the administration before you they hadn't quite used it hadn't quite cracked it then you came along and all of your teams using social media embracing technology embracing this new stuff so can you speak to that level of embracing technology and and how it affects our politics and activating new audiences and speaking to new people you know obviously we can see it has its ups and downs but i feel like a unique challenge of yours was finding a balance there that we hadn't really seen before you thanks mark has unbelievable hops uh on that clip of you in uh ultimate frisbee you're right technology had a big impact on my campaign first of all the reason we were really early adapters of a lot of technology as a tool for reaching out to voters was because i had a bunch of folks in their 20s working for me young people who would come to me and say listen we had this thing called myspace and meetup what it turned out was that those early iterations of social media became a really powerful way for us to build a volunteer base and a movement it made me hugely optimistic about the possibilities of technology as a as a force for democratization during the presidency what we learned was that that same technology could be used for ill or for good you know hatred could be communicated as well as love and compassion that's something that i think we still struggle with and i write about uh in a promised land how do we harness this technology for good and try to mitigate uh some of the problems that uh that it creates so a lot of the worlds that i run in haven't been incredibly diverse right i mentioned golf earlier ultimate frisbee technology and what i can say is at a youth level and i think at a lot of the beginner levels these spaces are more diverse than ever which is awesome but you'll notice at a high level ultimate frisbee not very diverse at a high level golf not very diverse and at a high level technology still not a very diverse place and i feel like that makes the spotlight just a little bit hotter as a black man moving through these spaces moving through these worlds i talked about this a little bit in a video actually i made on my channel in the past year so from your book and just from observing it's clear that you've felt that spotlight over time as well i mean not just as the first black president of course but i mean just look at politics as a whole right so that got me super curious just how did that make you feel how did that affect you mentally do you feel like it pushed you to do better uh do you feel like it made the way you present things a little bit different you're extra careful in the way you articulate certain things yeah just what's been your feeling about achievement in less diverse spaces you're absolutely right i i write about the fact that there were occasions where i would have to deal with expectations or stereotypes or attitudes that perhaps if i had been white i would not have had to deal with not just me but a lot of the african-americans or hispanics asian americans or in some cases women were the first in their positions in my administration all of them had to navigate spaces where traditionally there hadn't been a lot of folks who looked like them in those situations and it is a extra burden uh but my attitude always was that it was also a privilege to be in these environments where you can actually help these spaces where you're one of the firsts and that requires you speaking out and and having the confidence that you can uh that you can propose solutions that make the whole team or organization work betterhey what's up mkbhd here so as you may have seen barack obama's been on a pretty massive book tour for his new book a promised land uh it's been a pretty great read so far for me but then youtube reached out and they're like hey do you want to ask obama anything about what he talks about in this book and so of course i said yes that would be awesome but that's that's a big moment for me like what do i ask the president if i could ask him anything so anyway what i have for you are the two questions that i chose and this is actually part of a larger uh youtube originals project called booktube where he answers a bunch of questions from a bunch of other creators about that book and what he wants to talk about including a really good one from mark rober about nasa and the origins of the white house science fair which i thought were really interesting so i'll link that below for you to check it out but this is sort of extended cut of a little chat and uh i wanted to share enjoy mr president my name is marquez brownlee i run a youtube channel called mkbhd so that's mkb which is my initials plus hd that's high definition that's where i get to be a huge nerd basically i talk all kinds of tech products review tech try to make high quality videos and we like to have fun with it you know these days tech is in everything it feels like it's a part of the fabric of the culture we live in so on my channel it's everything from smartphones to 5g to computers to electric cars basically anything with an on button all the way to interviews with people with unique perspectives on tech it's a lot of fun i'm 26 years old i've been doing this for about 10 years now over 10 years so a long time in my own life and i also happen to be a professional ultimate frisbee player so shout out to the new york empire we had an undefeated season last year in 2019 and i'm also an avid golfer and a pretty big nba basketball fan so i gotta say i'm pretty excited to be able to talk about your book a promised land which is your third book and uh first in a two-part presidential memoir so i started my youtube channel in 2009 so a year after your inauguration which i was at by the way um i wish i had some some pictures or something from that but i didn't have a camera then believe it or not but i do remember it was very cold the timing of this isn't lost on me i feel like i feel like i owe a lot of my position now to the rise of technology and its accessibility and i feel like maybe to an extent you can say a lot of the same like a lot of people have called you the first social media president but more than that it's just you know you look at the administration before you they hadn't quite used it hadn't quite cracked it then you came along and all of your teams using social media embracing technology embracing this new stuff so can you speak to that level of embracing technology and and how it affects our politics and activating new audiences and speaking to new people you know obviously we can see it has its ups and downs but i feel like a unique challenge of yours was finding a balance there that we hadn't really seen before you thanks mark has unbelievable hops uh on that clip of you in uh ultimate frisbee you're right technology had a big impact on my campaign first of all the reason we were really early adapters of a lot of technology as a tool for reaching out to voters was because i had a bunch of folks in their 20s working for me young people who would come to me and say listen we had this thing called myspace and meetup what it turned out was that those early iterations of social media became a really powerful way for us to build a volunteer base and a movement it made me hugely optimistic about the possibilities of technology as a as a force for democratization during the presidency what we learned was that that same technology could be used for ill or for good you know hatred could be communicated as well as love and compassion that's something that i think we still struggle with and i write about uh in a promised land how do we harness this technology for good and try to mitigate uh some of the problems that uh that it creates so a lot of the worlds that i run in haven't been incredibly diverse right i mentioned golf earlier ultimate frisbee technology and what i can say is at a youth level and i think at a lot of the beginner levels these spaces are more diverse than ever which is awesome but you'll notice at a high level ultimate frisbee not very diverse at a high level golf not very diverse and at a high level technology still not a very diverse place and i feel like that makes the spotlight just a little bit hotter as a black man moving through these spaces moving through these worlds i talked about this a little bit in a video actually i made on my channel in the past year so from your book and just from observing it's clear that you've felt that spotlight over time as well i mean not just as the first black president of course but i mean just look at politics as a whole right so that got me super curious just how did that make you feel how did that affect you mentally do you feel like it pushed you to do better uh do you feel like it made the way you present things a little bit different you're extra careful in the way you articulate certain things yeah just what's been your feeling about achievement in less diverse spaces you're absolutely right i i write about the fact that there were occasions where i would have to deal with expectations or stereotypes or attitudes that perhaps if i had been white i would not have had to deal with not just me but a lot of the african-americans or hispanics asian americans or in some cases women were the first in their positions in my administration all of them had to navigate spaces where traditionally there hadn't been a lot of folks who looked like them in those situations and it is a extra burden uh but my attitude always was that it was also a privilege to be in these environments where you can actually help these spaces where you're one of the firsts and that requires you speaking out and and having the confidence that you can uh that you can propose solutions that make the whole team or organization work better\n"