Obama says aliens are real---Huh?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Obama is like, ya know, a kinda respectable and serious guy.
So WTF?

In a casual conversation on a podcast today, Obama spoke articulately about the usual things you would expect from a former president: .current events, his hopes for the Democratic party, etc, etc
Now, yeah, I get that he was speaking as an ex-politician and elder statesman, so we tolerate him talking only in vague generalities. He took no actual stand on any specific policies, and never said anything controversial,

In short, he said nothing of substance.

But towards the end of the podcast, the host asked a couple of casual questions, and got casual replies from Obama.

And one ot those questions was “Are aliens real”
And Obama said, oh-so-casually-"yeah, they’re real. " Then he added “but I haven’t seen them and they aren’t in Area 51”

Huh?
This is the biggest and most fascinating question in science. If aliens exist, it would be the greatest discovery in human history.
And Obama just waves it off, like it’s nothing. “yeah, they’re real, next question please…”

This is NOT the answer I expect from a serious and respectable ex-President.

Ya disappointed me, Barak.
Here’s
The clip of Obama saying “they’re real”

Transcript of the entire podcast is here: (scroll down to the bottom.)
https://barackobama.medium.com/my-conversation-with-brian-tyler-cohen-e25cac125f44

2

Very disappointing the interviewer didn’t ask follow up questions – how do you know they’re real? What does the government know about aliens? Etc.

3

I think that there is almost certainly life elsewhere in the universe, so perhaps that’s what he meant?

4

Yeah, this statement badly needs more follow-up and context for sure. “Yeah, they’re real” as in “it’s my personal opinion that aliens exist” or “I was told, as President, that we have incontrovertible proof that aliens exist.”?!?

5

Almost certainly.

6

This still leaves a lot of what-if wiggle room. He could have just said “that’s just my own personal opinion, not something I learned as President”. Of course aliens aren’t in Area 51– everybody knows they’re stored in Hanger 18 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, duh!

7

That’s my take.

Q: Is there life intelligent life off Earth?
A: Of course there is. The universe is too vast for it to be otherwise.

8

The relevant question….

BRIAN TYLER COHEN: So I want to do a little bit of a lightning round here, because it’s not often I’ll get access to the president of the United States. So a couple questions here. Are aliens real?

PRES. BARACK OBAMA: They’re real, but I haven’t seen them, and they’re not being kept in, what is it —

BRIAN TYLER COHEN: Area 51?

PRES. BARACK OBAMA: — Area 51. There’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy, and they hid it from the president of the United States.

And then the interviewer goes on to next question without asking a follow up.

My reading of that (especially based on the interviewers reaction) is that is Obama saying he personally thinks there are aliens somewhere in the universe but they aren’t coming to earth. But yeah, a clarifying question would have been good.

9

that’s a Q-and-A which is okay for a podcast with anybody else,(maybe a scientist)— but not when you are hosting the President.
The entire theme of the 45 minute discussion was about Obama’s expertise AS PRESIDENT–not as a private citizen who knows astronomy and the statistical probability of life arising among billions of planets.

The question is clearly asking Obama if he–as President–knows about aliens.

And Obama should have known better than to make a stupid comment..

Yes, the interviewer was stupid, too…How can you not ask a follow up question after that?
But Obama was also stupid for not offering a follow-up explanation on his own initiative.

10

I agree Obama gave an unguarded answer that should have been phrased less ambiguously.

But your OP did not seem to be about that. It seemed to me that you were falling for the credulous perspective that Obama was confirming Alien Greys someplace. And asking us to debunk your impression. Sorry I misunderstood your actual intent.

Returning to Obama, perhaps he was impishly throwing a problem into trump’s list of shit to deal with. MAGA is loaded with CT believers. If now the MAGAt Horde starts demanding trump explain to them about these presidentially confirmed aliens, that’ll be fun to watch.

11

It seems extremely self-evident that this is what he meant. What other meanings are people seeing, here? “Aliens are real and on Earth, but as President of the United States, I was not allowed to see them”? Or perhaps, “Aliens are real and on Earth, but as president, I never bothered to look into it myself because I can’t be bothered with that nerd shit”?

12

Yes, I’m just going to add my voice to those saying his meaning was obvious and I’m surprised anyone is talking about this.

13

Obama’s comment wasn’t stupid; it’s entirely correct and logical.

That said, he should have known better than to trust the American public to comprehend this.

Because he and Obama were on the same page about what that answer meant.

14

Yeah I had same thought, this is Obama trolling. He is clever and very articulate. If he meant “I think there are aliens somewhere in the universe but none have come and here”, then he could have said that. He left this ambiguous just to screw with people IMO

15

I am of this general take. I don’t think he misspoke, but since it appears quite a few of the questions are addressing recent RW trolling, this is a back slap at them. Those of us who are more-or-less sane (including myself!) are getting the message that Earth is special, but we’re almost certainly not unique when it comes to life, but all the CT-crazies out there (many of whom are RW) are now going to be plaguing the current administration to prove a negative based on one throw-away comment.

My opinion only, YMMV, etc.

16

I think he meant that the UAPs, formerly called UFOs, are real and not quite known what they are. Could be our own military, drones from another country, something else. He is not in the loop of knowing that and probably no president ever is.

He has never seen and knows nothing about any real alien persons/bodies being held anywhere. But he believes.

The idea that a 4 to 8 year person who is president suddenly is informed of everything seem wildly naive to me. The people in government who really know these things are probably prevented from sharing that information with a person who is, temporarilly an employee of the execution branch. Even if they ask.

To sum it up; Obama doesn’t know.

17

I’m confident that our government doesn’t know of the existence of aliens, because Trump would ABSOLUTELY not be capable of keeping it to himself. He’d spill the whole thing on an open mic to show off how cool he is and how much stuff he knows.

“I have a great relationship with the aliens. I can’t tell you which planet there from, but it’s Vega 7. Their brood queen had tears in her optic glands, she said to me ‘Sir, we’ve been observing your planet for 8,000 years, and no human has ever done as much for the earthlings as Trump.’”

18

Best typo of the week.

19

Obama’s right (he frequently is).

Aliens are real.

But, like President Obama, I haven’t seen them. And I don’t think they’ve ever visited Earth,

20

Please cite that there is proof of aliens. Last time I checked there is zero evidence.