Today, President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize about as honorably as any man could have. Only a woman could have done better! (hope wifey is reading this). It's striking not only how well-liked Obama is, but how well he carries himself and how he is quick to share credit with others. I'm quite happy for the man. He works hard and let's be honest, he needs a confidence booster once in a while - doesn't he! How long can he ride this "I'm the President" thing anyways. A man needs to establish himself in this world.
The 44th President of the United States is reportedly worth only about $2M. Not a huge sum compared to his rival McCain, who was worth over $40M. For a man of such power and influence he will only receive an annual salary of $400,000.
Given that he has received the Nobel Peace Prize, and that other thing (being prez), we all know he will have many years (since he isn't old) of traveling the lecture circuit. Bill Clinton (popular) has been making huge sums of money for years giving speeches and he has probably even paid off all those legal bills he accumulated at the end of his 2nd term. Even George Bush (not so popular) makes a killing (no pun intended) doing events. I was reading a newspaper in Ottawa, Canada recently about a speech that Dubya was giving and I believe it stated he would be paid $250,000 for showing up. Pretty descent work!
What was interesting was that the RCMP (Canada's national police force) was going to spend upwards of $500,000 on security just to keep the Ex-Prez alive! It got me thinking, why doesn't the Canadian government just pay Bush NOT to show up??? Too bad we couldn't have paid him not to show up to work those 8 years!
I'm sure Obama will be financially comfortable when he leaves office, unlike Jimmy Carter who returned to life as a peanut farmer with over a $Million in debt. Funny enough, Carter was the only President to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (2002) after leaving office. Congrats again Mr. President.
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