There have come many fascinating leaders who mesmerized their followers in this world.

Barack Obama has been my favorite leader of United States of America. Through his charm

and humility, Obama used to win the hearts of its followers. They used to cheer at him in the

processions. Obama's greatest legacy, in my views, was integrity in his word and actions. When

asked about being elected as president of Super power America he replied with humility and

utmost integrity that, “My attitude about something like the presidency is that you don't want to

just be the president, you want to change the country .You want to make a unique contribution.

You want to be a great president.” (WEISBERG, 2017). Obama cared about racial polarization

and remained worried till his last presidency days. He used to say that his priority would be to

provide universal health Care because economic disintegration and social class division will be

driving force for racial discriminations. He stuck to his words and tried his best to provide what

he could deliver. If one carefully listens to his farewell speech, it clearly showed how consistent

he was in his views. He was logically talking about all the common grounds with reasoning. He

deeply respected his opponents who were very critical at his policies. All the other aspects of his

personality will be shining guideline for the presidents to come but he left legacy of integrity and

determination. CNN also conducted a poll research which showed that people like Obama more

than trump. Policies of Obama and Clinton were also pretty same but mostly people liked Obama

due to an obvious reason, that was integrity (Hunt, 2018). Obama was very gentle president who

mesmerized audience with soft tone .He used to think carefully before uttering any sentence

showing that he used to care about sentiments of people.

Obama never hesitated to take responsibility. He was very responsible president who

used to take credit of bad decisions as well. He took responsibilities in not only his presidency

but also in his personal life. Advising his daughter, Obama once said," Part of what we try to
communicate is that being responsible is an enormous privilege. He used to say to his wife and

daughters that "As you get older, your responsibilities grow." Empathy, hard work and being

kind were essential but according to Obama, being responsible had done wonders to the

capabilities of a person (Mejia, 2017). Obama surprised me when he took the responsibility for

intelligence shortcomings leading to bomb plot on airliner. He mentioned while addressing that

“Ultimately, the buck stops with me. As a president, I have a solemn responsibility to protect our

nation and our people, and when the system fails, it is my responsibility." (GERSTEIN, 2010).

Taking responsibility is one of the greatest characteristics of a true and genuine leader. Obama

used to utter out loud for the failures and took all the responsibility as a president. Obama after

taking the responsibility used to act proactively and always tried to fix the problems that were

major cause for failures. When Obama talked about ongoing crisis in Syria he used to say that he

feels responsible for this crisis. That was his stature that he cared about humanity and tried to

find peaceful solution for ongoing massacre of innocent people in Syria. Being a true leader he

was full of the notions of responsibility.

Obama was symbol of compassion and tolerance. His welcoming and opening policies

for refugees were major part of defining traits that he possessed. Obama’s last Christmas

message was very welcoming and gracious for all the people. He said in his last chrisms speech

“The idea that we are our brother’s keeper and our sister’s keeper that we should treat others as

we would want to be treated. And that we care for the sick, feed the hungry, and welcome the

stranger, no matter where they come from, or how they practice their faith.” This message came

from President Obama when hateful debates were taking place about immigrant's harmful

impacts on USA and Europe. He was very solicitous about everything he did (BLAKE, 2016).

Obama's benevolent actions for immigrants were highly considered sheer act of compassion
while Trump has been very cruel on refugees and other people who want to live in America.

Obama not only was himself very compassionate but also believed in the idea of compassionate

America. He always enforced the need of being compassionate and said that Americans can

afford to be compassionate. His forgiving nature was also thriving factor for his popularity. He

forgave loans to students who were studying on loan. He was champion of helping the nation

which was under difficulties of racism and Islam phobia. He was an inspiring figure for students

and people who were believers of America’s multicultural and pluralistic identity.

Barack Obama enjoyed almost all types of powers. He had legitimate power when he was

elected as president of United States of America. He also enjoyed coercive power as commander

in Chief of US Armed forces. Reward power allowed Obama to appoint members of his cabinet.

But Obama heavily relied upon his incredible expert and referent power. Obama wielded power

by influencing those who were his admirers and respected him. He exploited those people's trust

by using his referent and expert power on different national issues. Obama was not only leader of

free world but also a visionary leader of people working with him and outside. He was quite a

best boss indeed. He used to listen to the ideas of all his people and was always ready to

compromise. He believed in listening first then taking a decision. Obama was very patient with

his people. He never believed in yelling at people and was never frustrated at his staff. He

respected everyone in his team and outside. He appreciated and treated people with respect

before assigning them responsibilities. He believed in warning his employees about the difficulty

of assigned work but then appreciated and motivated them with smile. Outside the office Obama

was also much better than other presidents. Trump use to scold press but Obama dealt them quite

patiently. Obama believed that power is isolating. He maintained that job of being president of

USA is unique in its isolation. Power seizes the freedom of sitting in cafe and walking anywhere
with freedom. Obama's beliefs about policy action were different and unique. He believed in

revitalizing the economy, providing accessible and affordable healthcare, strengthening

America's public education and social security systems and preventing nuclear proliferation. He

believed in global welfare and took steps for climate change. Obama worked to reduce to income

inequality by introducing and reforming effective tax system. Obama advocated for-profits status

of institutions. He believed that this notion is not inherently wrong. Profit institutions will

become the cornerstone of economy. But he was very critical of profits in higher education.

Obama’s presidency brought dynamism in Washington’s culture. He tried to make the

culture of the organization cool by his inclusive nature. Shared norms became overwhelmingly

flagrant in his presidency. He installed hope and freedom in the culture of Washington DC.

Obama modernized infrastructure. He sowed the seeds of patience, tolerance and compassions in

the atmosphere of United States of America. He brought different sensibility and aesthetic to the

president office. He showed some fresh confidence and revived the hope of great America again

by saying that “On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose

over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and

false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our

politics.” (Washington Post).Obama’s attitude mesmerized followers. They used to burst into

tears and a ray of hope had swathed them. His followers loved him due to his positive and caring

attitude. He was also widely known for his sense of humor and encouraging people. He affected

his followers by inculcating the ideas of hope and change in their mind and behavior. Whenever

I listened to Obama, I had intuition that he is telling truth. Obama was very credible president.

He was careful about sharing some secret national issues but on the other hand he used to tell

people what he believed in. He took actions according to his belief always. He promised to take
the forces out of Afghanistan and he did. He was considered an honest and trustworthy president

by entire nations. He got the vote for being “honest and trust worthy” by 74% of voters in his

first presidency. Obama made great efforts to improve his government ethics. He tried his best to

limit the influence of lobbyists. He tried to avoid making bad judgments. His efforts to refrain

from making bad judgments led to scandal plagued first year of Clinton administration. He

showed great inclination towards learning from other people's mistakes. Obama tried to end the

wars that America has dragged itself into. He tried to find some diplomatic and military solution

in Afghanistan. He tried to inculcate government ethics rules in war.

Obama was an example of leading from the front. His thoughtfulness, compassion and

decisiveness set him apart from other leaders of this world. He listened to other people’s

opinions with open heart and mid and respected them always. Obama had that courage to hold

onto his beliefs when he thought he was ultimately right. Dissenting opinions didn’t make him

taking any decision that he believed was flawed. All of these qualities need confidence and

maturity. He had ability to examine his position critically. He used to learn from the mistakes of

other people and tried to examine his decisions from many perspectives and with different

angles. His sense of humor was impeccable while dealing with his coworkers and employees.

These qualities and personality traits made him a great leader who was an extra ordinary man as

well.
Works Cited
(n.d.).

BLAKE, P. (2016). Obamas Urge 'Compassion and Hope' in Their Last White House Christmas
Message. Retrieved 2019, from abc news: https://abcnews.go.com/US/obamas-urge-
compassion-tolerance-christmas-message-white-house/story?id=44385421

GERSTEIN, J. (2010). Obama: 'My responsibility'. Retrieved 2019, from Politico:

https://www.politico.com/story/2010/01/obama-my-responsibility-031241

Hunt, A. R. (2018, 5). oters Miss Obama. Why? Integrity. Retrieved 2019, from Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-05-16/obama-outpolls-trump-the-
difference-is-integrity

Mejia, Z. (2017). Barack Obama reveals 3 pieces of leadership advice he's shared with his
daughters. Retrieved 2019, from CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/21/barack-
obama-reveals-the-advice-hes-shared-with-malia-and-sasha.html

Washington Post. (n.d.). Obama Legacy. Retrieved 2019, from Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/obama-legacy/blackness-of-
presidency.html

WEISBERG, J. (2017). Barack Obama’s legacy is one of integrity in word and deed. Retrieved
2019, from Financial Times: https://www.ft.com/content/59cc3d0a-d9bc-11e6-944b-
e7eb37a6aa8e