Obama's Presidential Memoir: A Promised Land
This is my summary of Barack Obama's presidential memoir. It is a stunningly elegant book, intimate, informative, insightful, candid. Obama's style is as a story teller, someone sitting in the living room discussing with you what really happened. It reminds me of Jimmy Carter's family story, An Hour Before Daylight. Anyone taking a drive across country would be happy if they took that with them. This is probably true of the Obama memoir as well.
Not only do I discuss the memoir, and the points that I think are more important, but I also read some passages that I think are particularly revealing.
I give special attention to the issue of race and the racist lies about Obama, dealing with a Republican party that believes negotiations will cost them votes in the next election, heroism in politics, dealing with Israel, Middle East issues, how to govern.
If you don't want to listen to a 70 minute podcast, you can read the 700 page book. Or go on to the next Reacher novel.
ps. I have a second possible Obama podcast. That would be my reflections on the Wednesday after he won in 2008. It's a bit more personal than analytical but it combines the two approaches. Let's see if Obama 1.0 is a hit before we decide on Obama 2.0.