{"id":1892,"date":"2020-12-21T08:47:10","date_gmt":"2020-12-21T15:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=1892"},"modified":"2020-12-21T08:47:13","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T15:47:13","slug":"bookshelf-a-promised-land-barack-obama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=1892","title":{"rendered":"Bookshelf \u2013 A Promised Land, Barack Obama"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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There are many places to begin when thinking about Barack Obama\u2019s personal, thoughtful, accessible and human recounting of his campaign for the presidency and his first term in office \u2013 the writing itself, which carries the same familiar cadence of his mesmerizing speaking voice; his relationship with Michelle, the rock that roots his dreams; the reality of being Black in America, of being, regardless of how high you rise, of how many versions of the American Dream you realize, \u201cthe other,\u201d what W.E.B. Du Bois describes as the \u201ctwo-ness\u201d of being Black; the emergence of Donald Trump as a credible political figure, riding to prominence astride the racist pony of birtherism; Obama\u2019s visceral belief in the transformational power of the most fundamental of American ideals \u2013 equality \u2013 and his sobering consideration of the long chain of compromises necessary to move this country, and others, closer to that promise; or the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any of these is worth<\/strong> a long conversation, but I am going to start at the end, with something personal: the tears that rose in my eyes as I finished the book. What triggered the emotion were not Obama\u2019s closing words, but the five pages that followed. Five pages of acknowledgement, thanks and gratitude \u2013 to editors, friends, and researchers, to office staff, ex-colleagues and first readers, dozens upon dozens of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tears sprang from the realization<\/strong> of how far America has fallen in four years, from a collaborative, visionary, grateful president to a selfish, petty, wannabe tyrant; from a man who worked with others to make dreams happen to an aging adolescent whose self-interest works against the interests of others and of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will not sanctify Obama. <\/strong>He made his mistakes and he came up short plenty of times, but to his credit he owns up to the failings of his time in office. Still, reading Obama was like drinking the from the cool waters of a desert oasis after a long trek across the sand. He reminded me of our better selves and how even though our diverse society is bubbling with hotpots of baser instincts we do not have to allow their toxic vapors to poison our hopes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this context, <\/strong>A Promised Land<\/em> is both inspiring and saddening, the former because of how well Obama articulates the possible and the latter for how clear-eyed he recognizes the reality. It is well worth reading now, while the stink of the Trump shitstorm still lingers in the air so that you can inhale Obama\u2019s freshening language and ideas and recognize, despite the despair you might have fallen into these past four years, that we were not always as we are now nor do we have to be so in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll end with Obama\u2019s words, <\/strong>written in reference to the 2011 killing of bin Laden by a team of Navy Seals after years of investigation, pursuit and planning by hundreds \u2013 if not more \u2013 of government employees, from military personnel to CIA spooks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI found myself imagining<\/strong> what America might look like if we could rally the country so that our government brought the same level of expertise and determination to educating our children or housing the homeless as it had to getting bin Laden; if we could apply the same persistence and resources to reducing poverty or curbing greenhouse gases or making sure every family had access to decent day care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just imagine.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are many places to begin when thinking about Barack Obama\u2019s personal, thoughtful, accessible and human recounting of his campaign for the presidency and his first term in office \u2013 the writing itself, which carries the same familiar cadence of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[784,8],"tags":[787,779,785],"class_list":["post-1892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-personal","tag-barack-obama","tag-books","tag-obama"],"yoast_head":"\nBookshelf \u2013 A Promised Land, Barack Obama - Tim Porter's Second Draft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Barack Obama\u2019s personal, thoughtful, accessible and human recounting of his campaign for the presidency and his first term in office\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=1892\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bookshelf \u2013 A Promised Land, Barack Obama - 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