Ex-president charms guests

Former US president Barack Obama last night captivated an Auckland crowd, with tales of his presidency, New Zealand, women leaders — and the narrow call on the daring raid on Osama bin Laden.

In a 90-minute Q&A session with actor Sam Neill, in front of an inviteonly audience of 1000 people, Obama joked he was visiting New Zealand on a “scoping” mission for wife Michelle.

He had never visited New Zealand because the country was a true friend and ally that had never caused issues during his tenure.

One of his most revealing comments on leadership came around the raid on the Pakistanti compound in 2011 and the killing of al Qaeda leader bin Laden.

He said issues only arrived on the Oval Office desk if they “were not entirely solvable”. As an example, he said it was still only a 55 to 45 per cent chance that bin Laden was in the compound and not, say, a Pakistani general. “Once you are in the situation, you have to take the lead.”

The 44th US president also shared insights about life after the presidency and the importance of women in leadership roles.

Obama said he firmly believed if every country had a female leader for a mandatory period of, say, two years, then war, conflict and child poverty would ease.

One of the best things about postpresidency life was the reduced security and being able to “walk the dog at night with a baggy”, he quipped — as dozens of security and police officers looked on at the Viaduct Events Centre.

Guests told the that Obama had said China, and in particular President Xi Jinping, were starting to understand the critical role it played as a superpower after years of being somewhat of a freeriding country on the back of globalisation.