GET INSPIRED! SEE WHAT HUSSAIN BARRACK OBAMA SAID CONCERNING HIM AND OTHERS

These portraits by Robert McCurdy and Sharon Sprung will hang in the White House alongside portraits of other presidents and first ladies dating back to George and Martha Washington. I want to thank Sharon Sprung for capturing everything I love about Michelle. Her portrait is stunning. And I want to thank Robert McCurdy for taking on a much more difficult subject and doing a fantastic job with mine.

I’ve always described the presidency as a relay race. You take the baton from someone, run your leg as hard as you can, then hand it off to someone else. The portraits hanging in the White House chronicle the runners in that race—each of us tasked with trying to bring the country we love closer to its highest aspirations. 

When future generations walk these halls and look up at these portraits, I hope they get a better sense of who Michelle and I were. And I hope they leave with a deeper understanding that if we could make it here, they can do remarkable things, too.

Photo Credit: Pete Souza