Rating: 4/5 humanizing reflections on life and duty
Author:
Barack Obama
Amazon Link: referral program on hold :(
I first opened the cover of Obama’s long awaited memoir many months ago. I put it down and picked it back up many times, never able to maintain the motivation to continue reading for more than a few weeks at a time. Thankfully, the last few months have provided ample time on my daily commute to return to reading regularly, and I was able to push through to the end. As may be gathered from my recounting of this process, the book doesn’t drive a narrative that is particularly engaging, but I still think it is a worthwhile read because it delivers a much needed grounding perspective for a man who’s legacy, in hindsight, seems more abstract and ethereal than ever.
Nothing makes a political text more tangible than living and working in Washington. I can read about a specific interaction, then be walking past that literary scene a few days later, giving the text a closeness that wasn’t appreciable while I was living in San Diego. I see the jaded staffers, the confused but excited tourists, the protestors, the agitators, and the people just trying to make a living by selling cheap merchandise across the street from the white house, featuring whatever slogan happens to be driving emotion in those who visit. It makes the whole dance of politics seem more like a one-dimensional production, but also makes the concept of political careers seem ever so slightly less egregious, if only due to the unbearable droll and repetition of deriving progress from the ever-swinging pendulum.
Pertaining to Obama’s purpose with this book and the impending second volume, It shines as a revealing retelling of the challenges and pivotal moments of a truly historical presidency, but sometimes loses itself as a means to have the last word in petty interactions that have long been forgotten by those not immediately involved. Barry is human after all, revealing the bruises and scars of two presidential terms reminds the reader that his decision making was not always perfect, though his ideals and motivations were respectable and more appreciated now than ever. Obama’s recounting informs our current understanding of those that are still carrying the fire in Washington, making Biden’s actions as president traceable to his work in the Obama administration an interesting derivative.
Overall I would say that I personally enjoyed the book, although it wasn’t fascinating or particularly engaging, it provides some context into who Barack Obama is and was, as a person, rather than as an idealogue or abstract force of societal change that he is sometimes reduced to. I think that people who respect and appreciate Obama will enjoy the book in nostalgic terms, recounting a presidency that was well intended, purposeful, but perhaps not as effective as once hoped. People who dislike Obama may find some humanizing aspects in the text, but I fear that those people will never make it through the long read, which often requires some personal interest to carry the reader through drawn out anecdotes that are scattered throughout the book.