Washington ( CNN ) -- President Barack Obama is showing his softer side . The man who was known in his first term for his cool , detached style has been crying , repeatedly . It started the day after his re-election when a teary and happy president told campaign volunteers , `` I 'm so proud of you guys . '' A month later he was overcome by grief as he wept openly in the White House briefing room after the Newtown , Connecticut , shootings . There were tears again during a heroes ceremony for Newtown victims , and while delivering remarks about Rev . Martin Luther King Jr . The evolution of the nation 's 'first gay president ' Second-term Obama is not just showing his emotions , he 's sharing them , too -- laughing with the Miami Heat at the White House and telling people in a Chicago audience that they 're in the area where `` Michelle and I fell in love . '' The president 's biographer attributes the shift to a new sense of freedom from winning a second term . `` I think we 've all seen , actually since the day after his re-election a more relaxed Barack Obama , really something that took a lifetime for him to get to this point , '' David Maraniss said . `` We 've really seen a new Obama . '' The `` new '' Obama is venturing into territory the first term Obama shied away from . Obama urges court to overturn California same-sex marriage ban . He talked about his complicated biracial identity in this eulogy for Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii . `` Here I was , a young boy with a white mom , a black father , raised in Indonesia and Hawaii , '' the president said at the National Cathedral in Washington . `` And I was beginning to sense how fitting into the world might not be as simple as it might seem . '' To kids at home in Chicago , he admitted he was often in trouble when he was a teenager . `` When I screwed up , the consequences were n't as high as when kids on the South Side screw up , '' he told them . `` So I had more of a safety net but these guys are no different than me . '' And , he used unusually personal language to describe King 's struggles . `` We often think of him standing tall in front of these endless crowds , stirring the nation 's conscience with a bellowing voice and a mighty dream . But I also thought of his doubts ... the lonely moments when he was left to confront the presence of long-festering injustice and undisguised hate , '' Obama told a crowd at the National Prayer Breakfast in February . `` ( I ) imagined the darkness and the doubt that must have surrounded him when he was in that Birmingham jail , and the anger that surely rose up in him the night his house was bombed . '' The president and the nation have evolved on same-sex marriage . Obama 's biographer says a more complete personality is coming into focus . `` I do n't think one ever knows the real him . But I think that it 's closer to being the private and the public Obama coming together in a clearer way , '' Maraniss said . This warmer more revealing Obama was on display during the 2008 campaign . Then he used his biography to sell himself as the melting pot embodied . His most vocal critics turned parts of his resume into punch lines , perhaps most memorably by former Alaska Gov . Sarah Palin at the 2008 Republican National Convention . `` I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer , except you have actual responsibilities , '' Palin said . Perhaps in reaction , once in office the president became more cautious about talking about his past . On most topics , he just did n't go there . Obama : Spending cuts would be bad for business . But now , free of the pressure to woo swing voters , he 's back to using his story and his rhetorical skills to try to inspire audiences and pitch policies . Obama himself said Tuesday night in Virginia : `` I 've run my last election . '' He told CBS ' Charlie Rose last summer that the biggest mistake of his first term was not communicating his vision with the American people . `` When I think about what we 've done well and what we have n't done well , the mistake of my first term -- couple of years -- was thinking that this job was just about getting the policy right , '' he said . `` And that 's important but the nature of this office is also to tell a story to the American people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism , especially during tough times . '' These days he 's hardly touchy-feely , but he 's more likely to wear his heart on his sleeve . And use passion for political effect . During the fight over forced spending cuts , he 's made a clear effort to put faces on the impending changes . At one White House event , he got emotional as he stood in front of a group of first responders . `` And this is not an abstraction . There are people whose livelihoods are at stake . There are communities that are going to be impacted in a negative way , '' he said . `` And I know that sometimes all this squabbling in Washington seems very abstract , and in the abstract , people like the idea , there must be some spending we can cut , there must be some waste out there . There absolutely is . But this is n't the right way to do it . '' Rewind back to four years ago in March 2009 , the same president was confronted with a teacher about to lose her job . Instead of consoling her or expressing her concern , he asked if she got a `` pink slip '' and launched into his views on education policy . These days he 's doing better on the empathy test . In a gun control plea at his recent State of the Union address , the chamber rose to its feet as a fervent Obama reminded the country of recent tragedies . `` Gabby Giffords deserves a vote . The families of Newtown deserve a vote , '' Obama said on the House floor . `` The families of Aurora deserve a vote . The families of Oak Creek and Tucson and Blacksburg and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence , they deserve a simple vote . '' That 's the kind of emotional rallying cry he once saved for campaign style events outside the Beltway . No longer . Even the president admits he has changed , in repeated humble brags . `` The fascinating thing about this job is the longer you 're in it , the more humble you get and the more you recognize your own imperfections , '' he told House Democrats at their retreat in Virginia . `` The one thing about being president is after four years , you get pretty humble , '' Obama said Tuesday . `` You think maybe you would n't but you become more humble . You realize what you do n't know . You realize , you know , all the mistakes you make . '' It 's humility he can afford , after winning a second term . `` President Obama is never going to be the ' I feel your pain ' Bill Clinton-type of president but he 's getting closer , '' Maraniss said .
Obama -- known in his first term for his cool , detached style -- has been seen crying . The president 's biographer attributes the shift to a new sense of freedom . In an emotional gun-control plea in his State of the Union , the chamber rose to its feet . Obama : `` The one thing about being president is after four years , you get pretty humble ''