An autobiography of affirmation of the “no drama Obama” presidency.
Obama’s 750 page autobiography is quite a read. He had planned for 500 pages, but it grew to 750 and still only covered the first term of his eight year two terms gig. That is too long in my opinion, but it is very readable and interestingly written. There are amusing anecdotes, and dozens of personal reflections. It is also instructive as a comparison right now with Donald Trump’s actions as Obama’s successor, and also a fascinating biography of Alexander Hamilton, a US founder, that I am also reading.
Biden’s reputation as a good president is assured. He still has a public rating of 59% favourability, which will no doubt grow as his successor Donald Trump is recognised as the worst president ever. Trump does not feature too much in Obama’s book, but Trump did try very hard to overturn Obamacare, he pulled out of the Paris accord and the Iran deal, and it is fortunate that Biden can now do his best to enhance rather than diminish Obama’s record, and the whole world will be relieved now that Trump has finally gone.
As one commentator wrote, “the Obama presidency looks like a calm, flat sea before the rolling tempest of Trump.”
Obama sold one million books on release day, so it is hugely successful. It is full of philosophical and psychological assessments by Obama himself, often reflecting on his motives for wanting the presidency, how it will affect Michelle and his girls if he wins. Barack Obama is wracked with concern about his suitability for the top job. He reveals his interior world. He is determined not to allow his bid to be seen as purely a racial thing. He wants to be president for all Americans, and because of his mixed race heritage he can see both sides of racial arguments. He admits to having suffered from racism himself, but says, “by dint of biography I learned not to claim my own victimhood too readily, and have long resisted the notion that white people were irredeemably racist.”
He says he even surprised himself the way he clung to the “idea” of America, and the “promise” of America.
Obama decided there was no one single way to be black, “just trying to be a good man was enough.”
Of course this autobiography is all about politics, but Obama spends a good deal of time writing, musing, speculating lovingly about his wife Michelle, whom he adores. He tried to take her with him in everything he did. She was not sure about the public nature of politics and how it would impact on her, Sasha and Malia. Barack discusses these things so sensitively in his book - no wonder he wrote 750 pages! But he reached the highest pinnacle in US politics, and has richly deserved the accolades that have come his way - including a Nobel Peace Prize.
Obama highlights the unpredictable nature of politics, from his first days as a “mushroom”, a junior politician kept in the dark and fed on shit, and the necessity for resilience, which he has always had
in abundance.
This amazing 44th President of the United States of America always had faith in the power of democracy, and his presidency embodied his campaign slogan, “Yes we can.” The audacity of hope.
I want to quote one especially elegantly written paragraph from this lengthy tome, mainly to show you the depth, the poetry, the grace, the lucidity we observed while he was president. The reading of this book is like a private sitting with the man himself.
“I’ve never been a big believer in destiny. I worry that it encourages resignation in the down-and-out and complacency among the powerful... in a single lifetime, accidents and happenstance determine more than we care to admit, and the best that we can do is to try to align ourselves with what we feel is right and construct some meaning out of our confusion, and with grace and nerve play each moment the hand that we’re dealt.”
Obama knows, and Trump has reinforced this belief, that without a baseline of broadly shared facts, democracy is going to be in constant crisis. He has led an orderly and organised life, hence the ‘no drama Obama’ quote, and insisted on a 6.30pm rendezvous every night with Michelle, Sasha and Malia for dinner. He admits he’s a pretty steady guy.
Whether it’s climate change, education, transportation or Covid 19 control, Obama explains that a president cannot do these things alone.
The book provides intriguing though restrained sketches of fellow world leaders. He says David Cameron is urbane and confident, though imbued with “the easy confidence of someone who’d never been pressed too hard by life.” Putin he said, was “like a party boss from the dark age of Chicago machine politics.”
Early on in his campaign someone said, “you better go and talk to Kennedy,” such was the standing of Ted Kennedy after nearly 40 years in the senate. Kennedy told him this, “the power to inspire is rare, but you don’t choose the time. The time chooses you. Either you seize what may turn out to be your only chance, or you decide you are willing to live with the knowledge that the chance has passed you by.”
Teddy Kennedy died at 77, of a brain tumour, in 2009, just one year into Obama’s first term. Barack Obama is still only 59 (John Elliott)
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