Nov. 20 (UPI) — Former President Barack Obama appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” to discuss his new book “A Promised Land” and his time at the White House.
Barack Obama explained on Thursday how his wife Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha helped him stay grounded while he was president. Barack Obama said that despite his busy schedule, he was always able to sit down and eat dinner with them every night.
“So you come from the situation room and then you sit down and suddenly, you know, you’re hearing about some dorky boy at school or witnessing an argument between Michelle and Sasha about whether Sasha’s gonna actually eat that spinach or not,” Barack Obama said.
“It takes your mind off things a little bit. It helped ground me. I actually think I was a better president because of that constant reminder of you know, what’s the point of all this other than making sure you’re leaving a better world for your kids,” he continued.
“A Promised Land,” which explores Barack Obama’s early political life and presidency, was released on Tuesday. Kimmel asked the 59-year-old about the book’s length, which reaches over 700 pages.
“I didn’t start off wanting to write a book that long but as you start getting into it you realize first of all, I want people to understand how I was making decisions, what we were dealing with with the financial crisis or Iran or these other issues. I didn’t want to put everything in footnotes,” Barack Obama said.
Barack Obama also surprised one of his biggest fans, Joyce Taylor from Maryland. Taylor thought she was watching pre-taped clips of Barack Obama reading his book until he started mentioning her name.
Taylor was overcome with emotion meeting Barack Obama and wasn’t able to talk much.
“We’re not getting a lot out of Joyce in terms of words,” Barack Obama joked before stating that he will send her a signed copy of his book.
