U.S: FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA CRIED AS HE DROPPED OFF HIS DAUGHTER AT HAVARD

Former President Barack Obama has said dropping off his oldest daughter, Malia at Harvard University's campus was such an emotionally charged experience that it felt like 'open-heart surgery'.

 

Barack seen here in Washington with his daughter Malia

After Malia Obama went off to Harvard University last month, her father couldn’t hold back the tears.

Former US Presdent, Barack Obama described that moment on Monday in a speech for the Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children, which was named for former Vice President, Joseph R. Biden’s older son, who died of brain cancer in 2015.

Obama said some kind words about Beau and his parents, Joe and Jill Biden, before talking about the joys and sorrows of watching children grow up.

“For those of us who have daughters, it just happens fast,” Obama said in a video published by WDEL, a news outlet based in Wilmington, Del.

“I dropped off Malia at college, and I was saying to Joe and Jill that it was a little bit like open-heart surgery, and I was proud that I did not cry in front of her. But on the way back, the Secret Service was all looking straight ahead pretending they weren’t hearing me as I sniffled and blew my nose. It was rough.”

"And it's a reminder that at the end of our lives, whatever else we've accomplished, the thing that we'll remember are the joys that our children, and hopefully way later, our grandchildren bring."

Biden introduced Obama at the Wilmington Country Club in Delaware on Monday, calling him a “great friend.”

19-year-old Malia, took a gap year after high school and opted to attend Harvard this year, despite her father’s advice that she could get a good education even if she did not attend “some name-brand, famous, fancy school.”

Both Obama and his wife, Michelle, attended law school at Harvard.

Obama has let the tears flow in public on a number of occasions, including when he spoke shortly after the death of his grandmother in November 2008; when he thanked his campaign staff after winning re-election in November 2012; and during a speech about gun violence in January 2016.

The Obamas are likely to remain in Washington at least until their younger daughter, Sasha, 16, finishes high school. They spent $8.1 million on a home in the capital’s Kalorama neighborhood after leaving the White House.

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