Obama: From Promise to Power

During the 2008 election, I wasn’t behind Obama from the start. I liked him just fine, but I really wanted Hillary to be our first female president. Of course, when Obama clinched the nomination, I happily backed him. It was hard not to fall for him. This guy was crazy smart, eloquent and convincing. Not to mention that his powerful message of change really resonated with me after such a bleak eight years under W.

So I followed the campaign closely…obsessively at times. After Obama won, however, my interest in politics waned. I was still aware and concerned, just much less emotionally invested.

But when my dad recommended “Obama: From Promise to Power” by David Mendell, I realized I was still interested in Obama’s story. Like many people, I had put Obama on a pedestal. However, now that I’ve just finished the book, I see our president much more realistically. He is human. He is flawed. And yes, he is a politician. But I still like him.

The book offers a detailed account of Obama’s rise to power, starting from his youth in Hawaii. What struck me most about his childhood is how deeply he struggled with his racial identity. Mendell reported on how Obama was never completely comfortable being white or black and how he longed to find his place. The contrast between the cultural struggle of his youth and his prominent role in African-American history today was the most interesting part of the book for me.

I also really enjoyed learning that Obama was never the straight-A student, star of the basketball team or Ivy League bound superstar in high school. Instead he was an average student, was benched most of the time and started his college career at Occidental College in California (which I only knew as the place where Beverly Hills 90210’s college years were filmed). Obama had to find himself before becoming a star.

The rest of the book offers a backstage pass to Obama’s rise to political power. This is where you see Obama as a true politician. He played the game. He made friends with the right people. Stepped on plenty of others. And often put his family second. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was.

Despite this realization, I am still proud that Obama is in the White House. Although the writing style was a bit clichéd and redundant, it was a good read. For anyone interested in getting to know the person calling the shots in America today, I’d highly recommend it.