Before-and-after photos show how dramatically presidents have aged while in office
“I had no gray hair 15 years ago.”
See How President Obama Has Aged Since His 2009 Address
President Barack Obama in his 2009 address to a joint session of congress, left, and in the 2016 State of the Union address, right.
Chuck Kennedy—MCT/Getty Images (L), Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images (R) Updated: August 4, 2016 10:44 PM ET | Originally published: January 12, 2016 9:50 PM ESTCorrection appended, Aug. 4, 2016.
President Barack Obama has been joking about his job turning his hair gray for so long, it’s hard to remember what he looked like when he took office in 2009.
Back then, despite a grueling two year campaign and a collapsing economy, he was still a fresh faced pol from Illinois, promising the country hope.
Born on Aug. 4, 1961, the President was 47 years old in 2009. He is 53 years old today.
Correction: The original version of this story misstated President Obama’s birthday. It is Aug. 4, 1961.
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Before-and-after photos show how dramatically presidents have aged while in office
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As President Barack Obama reflected on his time in office, he had a way of acknowledging his waning time in the position: a joke about his graying hair.
“Right now, we are waging war under authorities provided by Congress over 15 years ago — 15 years ago,” he said during a speech reflecting on his administration’s counterterrorism strategy.
“I had no gray hair 15 years ago.”
Indeed, despite his close-cut hairstyle, it was impossible not to notice the trademark presidential graying, as the president’s short black hair became more of a salt-and-pepper color.
And though some dermatologists maintain that Obama is the latest victim of the expedited presidential aging process, appearing to age faster because of the stress of the office, others say that it’s more attributable to natural aging than stress.
Other studies, including a comprehensive analysis of elections dating back to the 1700s, have found that heading a nation can take years off a leader’s life. That analysis, from the Harvard Medical School, found that elected heads of government, on average, have lives almost three years shorter than those of the candidates they defeat.
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