[412] In August 2013, he criticized Russia's law that discriminates against gays,[413] but he stopped short of advocating a boycott of the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.[414]
After Russia's invasion of Crimea in 2014, military intervention in Syria in 2015, and the interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election,[415] George Robertson, a former UK defense secretary and NATO secretary-general, said Obama had "allowed Putin to jump back on the world stage and test the resolve of the West", adding that the legacy of this disaster would last.[416]

Cultural and political image
Main article: Public image of Barack Obama
See also: International reactions to the 2012 United States presidential election
Presidential approval ratings
Obama's family history, upbringing, and Ivy League education differ markedly from those of African-American politicians who launched their careers in the 1960s through participation in the civil rights movement.[417] Expressing puzzlement over questions about whether he is "black enough", Obama told an August 2007 meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists that "we're still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong.