The president and vice president, alone among all government officials, military and contractors, do not have to submit to a security clearance and background check, as they are the grantors of access. It’s possible that Joe Biden went through one during his long service in the congress, but I rather doubt that Barack Obama did. Convenient, no? When I was in, President Carter revealed some code words and other secrets during a public interview. Did he get in trouble? Not at all, those things were immediately considered “declassified” since he had said them.
But Obama was a senator. Do they have to get security a security clearance?