They were both college students at the University of Hawaii and dealing with an unexpected pregnancy.
After Barack Sr. received a Harvard scholarship, he and Dunham split up.
Obama was two, and he didn’t see his father for eight years.
Even then, their in-person interactions were limited.
“That trip was the first and last I saw of him,” Obama wrote onInstagram.
After experiencing such a lengthy absence, it took time for Obama to get used to his father.
As an adult, Obama wanted to reconnect with his dad.
Luckily, the class was enthralled with his father, and Obama’s deceptive detail never came up.
Obama Sr. enthusiastically shared his son’s pictures and gave updates about him to the family.
“He loved his son,” his uncle Said Obama asserted toThe New York Times.
“I don’t think you do such things if you don’t love your son.”
Sadly, as Obama became acquainted with his half-brothers, he theorized that distance benefitted their father-son relationship.
“[My dad] was struggling,” Obama explained on his"Renegades" podcast.
“It created chaos and destruction … that I just did not have to deal with.”
The experience also influenced his own parenting style.
In 2004, Obama traveled extensively as he campaigned to become a U.S.
The separation caused him to become emotional.
“I don’t want to be the kind of father I had.”
Obama made a commitment to eating dinner with his daughters and actively listening to them talk about their lives.
Thesesweet father-daughter moments with Malia and Sashawere the highlight of his day during eight years in office.
