Obama and 18-year-old talk absent fathers, role models, for StoryCorps

Obama and Noah McQueen sit down for a chat on StoryCorps

(Image credit: Twitter/@StoryCorps)

published 27 February 2015

Friday's weekly StoryCorp interview featured Noah McQueen, 18, and a special interviewer, President Obama. McQueen — part of the president's year-old My Brother's Keeper initiative, a program for young men of color — started out talking about his unstable childhood and run-ins with the law.

"Did you know your dad?" Obama asked. When McQueen said yes "but, you know, he's down the street," and he didn't have a relationship with him, the president brought up his own absent father: "Well, that's one of the things we have in common. As I get older, I start reflecting on how that affected me. How do you think that affected you?" You can listen to the whole interview below, and it's worth it to hear McQueen talk about his pivotal trip to a Christian retreat:

Obama isn't the first sitting president to do a StoryCorps interview, the organization notes: George W. Bush and Laura Bush sat down with Bush's sister, Dorothy Bush Koch, after the 2008 election.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.