Obama’s Portrait Quickly Satirized by Internet Silliness: Twitter Funnies

Complaint #1:

It’s just not presidential.

Complaint #2:

His hands are too big, there’s a sixth finger growing out of his left hand, and his thumb is backwards:

Complaint #3:

The artist painted a sperm on his head (sorry I just don’t see it, but apparently even Sean Hannity threw this one out in a since deleted blog post):

Complaint #4:

He wants to look like a dictator or just Homer Simpson:

Complaint #5:

The artist hates “whitey”:

No complaints, just parodies:

And, predictably, Trump comes in to fix it:

***Parody Tweet***

Obama’s Letter Introducing Offical Portraits is Optimistic & Deeply Personal

Obama’s Letter Introducing Offical Portraits is Optimistic & Deeply Personal

Today, Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald became the first black artists to create official, Smithsonian-commissioned portraits of a former President and First Lady.And Michelle and I joined our distinguished predecessors and thousands of our fellow Americans on the walls of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.

Have a look at these two extraordinarily talented artists’ work.

To call this experience humbling would be an understatement.

That’s because, as a former president, when you choose an artist to describe your likeness, you have the opportunity to shape, quite literally, how someone sees the office of the American presidency. And how they might see themselves in that presidency.

Kehinde Wiley and I share some things in common. Both of us had an American mother who raised us, an African father who was absent from our lives, and a search to figure out just where we fit in. I wrote a book about that journey, because I can’t paint. But I suspect a lot of Kehinde’s journey is reflected in his art. I was struck by the way his portraits challenge the way we view power and privilege; the way he endows his subjects, men and women often invisible in everyday life, with a level of dignity that not only makes them visible, but commands our attention.

The arts have always been central to the American experience. They provoke thought, challenge our assumptions, and shape how we define our narrative as a country.

Thanks to Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald, generations of Americans — and young people from all around the world — will visit the National Portrait Gallery and see this country through a new lens. These works upend the notion that there are worlds where African Americans belong and worlds where we don’t. And that’s something Michelle and I hope we contributed to over the eight years we were so privileged to serve you from the White House.

They’ll walk out of that museum with a better sense of the America we all love. Clear-eyed. Big-hearted. Inclusive and optimistic.

And I hope they’ll walk out more empowered to go and change their worlds.

– Barack

Obama’s Portrait Quickly Satirized by Internet Silliness: Twitter Funnies

Obama Foundation Internship Applications Open Now

INTERNSHIP

The Obama Foundation is looking to hire passionate, mission-oriented, and qualified interns to serve in our Chicago and D.C. offices. This internship is open to current undergraduate and graduate students who are eligible to work in the United States.

The summer 2018 internship will run from May 29, 2018 to August 17, 2018. For students on the quarter system, the internship will run from June 18, 2018 to September 7, 2018. Interns will be required to work 40 hours a week in either our Chicago or Washington, D.C. office.

The application opened on January 29, 2018 at 9AM CT and will close on February 12, 2018 at 5PM CT. We will not accept late applications.

If you are a law student interested in applying to intern in the Office of the General Counsel at the Obama Foundation, click here.

To ensure you get all the information you need in a timely manner, we encourage you to read our FAQ page before reaching out with questions.

What do interns do?

We are looking for interns who have excellent time management and organizational skills, are strong writers and researchers, and are eager to work in a fast-paced office environment. Interns will play a key role in providing departments at the Obama Foundation with the administrative, logistical, and operational assistance needed to execute their work.

Who can apply?

Current full-time or part-time undergraduate and graduate students eligible to work in the United States are welcome to apply. The Foundation is committed to recruiting a diverse cohort of interns and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. The Foundation does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital or parental status, creed, national origin, citizenship status, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, ancestry, genetic information, military service, veteran status, or any other protected category under local, state, or federal law. We encourage qualified persons of all backgrounds to apply. If you are a qualified candidate with a disability, please contact us at interns@obama.org if you require a reasonable accommodation to complete this application.

The Foundation will provide interns with a stipend and reimbursements for a portion of the expenses directly related to their internship. Please note the Foundation will not provide relocation or housing assistance.

Completing the application

Please note that as you fill out your application, you will not be able to save your responses or return to them before submitting. If you’d like to take more than one session to work on your answers, please download the Application Worksheet to draft your application responses offline. Please note you will still have to enter your answers into the application before the deadline.