Barack Obama Paddle Boards Shirtless, Takes Tumble and Falls Off

Former President Barack Obama was spotted enjoying his extended holiday vacation in his home state of Hawaii. As noticed by The Daily Mail, the 58-year-old politician was swimming and paddle-boarding in the Pacific Ocean on Thursday while sporting a special “shark deterrent band” on his ankle. Although, based on the handful of photos (which you can see here), the $84 SharkBanz accessory didn’t help Obama keep his balance on the paddleboard.

Despite a few tumbles into the water, the former Commander-in-Chief appeared to be having a good time. He was also followed closely behind by a Secret Service agent, who wore a bullet-proof vest while tailing him close behind in a kayak.

Obama has been vacationing in the 50th state since before Christmas, and over the holidays shared a photo of his Christmas tree via Twitter.

The former president has largely stayed out of politics since leaving office in January of 2017, and among his many projects in the work is a possible series as part of a larger deal he and his wife, Michelle, have with Netflix. In October of 2018, news broke that the Obamas’ first potential project with the streaming giant would be about his successor in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump.

Having acquired the rights to Michael Lewis’ book, The Fifth Risk, there was talk of turning the novel into a limited series. The book, which became a best-seller in 2018, examines the early days of the Trump presidency. Specifically, what happens when the people given control over the federal government have no idea how it works.

A summary of the book describes it as a look “into the engine rooms of a government under attack by its own leaders. In Agriculture, the funding of vital programs like food stamps and school lunches is being slashed. The Commerce Department may not have enough staff to conduct the 2020 Census properly. Over at Energy, where international nuclear risk is managed, it’s not clear there will be enough inspectors to track and locate black market uranium before terrorists do.”

Discussions between the couple and Netflix began in March of 2018, leading to a multi-year deal. Once news got out, there was talk of boycotting the streaming service as a result of the arrangement.