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azket1965's review against another edition
5.0
Well it’s not like I’m going to post any spoilers as we know how this all turns out.
kriseggert's review against another edition
5.0
It's rare for me to listen to an audio book, but at nearly 800 pages, I'm pretty sure I would not have finished what is Volume 1 of these Presidential memoirs. And because it was President Obama himself who was reading -- I knew I would thoroughly enjoy listening to his voice.
The man has alot to say!
I found the level of detail a little exhausting at times. But I had enough recent context that I could listen while cooking, walking, working jigsaw puzzles, etc. If it tuned out some, I knew I could catch up quickly.
So, 4.5 stars rounded up because it's Barack Obama. Highly recommended with a warning that it will take awhile!
The man has alot to say!
I found the level of detail a little exhausting at times. But I had enough recent context that I could listen while cooking, walking, working jigsaw puzzles, etc. If it tuned out some, I knew I could catch up quickly.
So, 4.5 stars rounded up because it's Barack Obama. Highly recommended with a warning that it will take awhile!
beritt's review against another edition
4.0
Somewhere near the beginning of Part I of Obama’s memoir, he admits that giving his very first speeches was somewhat of a learning curve. He tended to become too “professorial," meaning he would get so excited about the topic at hand that he would just go on and on, talking indefinitely.
In a way, the same could be said about this book. In 700 pages, Obama has only gotten through the first term of his presidency - there will be a Part II!
While this can make the reading of this work a little daunting (and time-consuming - it took me about three months, and I’m not a particularly slow reader), let me tell you this: it’s worth it.
Because while Obama tends to go into great detail about pretty much everything, his book is still clear, coherent, and engaging.
Just like his speeches were streamlined by a speech writers or White House staffers (Jon Favreau and Ben Rhodes, specifically), this book was moulded and shaped by a good editor.
Sure, it’s still a tome of a book - but it’ readable, intelligent, genuinely well-written, and humorous at times.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Obama is a genuinely gifted writer. His prose is clear, alive, and engaging - never flowery or stilted. It’s just plain good.
The style was not the main thing I enjoyed about this book, though. What I really loved was the inside look at what is arguably one of the most important political jobs in the world.
Divided into seven chapters, A Promised Land contain reflections on Obama’s first term in the White House, starting with the decision to run for president, and ending with the killing of Osama bin Laden. Throughout these chapters, he touches on virtually all the pivotal moments of his Presidency: the Great Recession, his health care plan, and the BP oil spill, and marriage equality, for example. But he also discusses foreign policy and smaller (but not inconsequential) domestic policy decisions. All of this is interlaced with personal anecdotes, scenes at home, talks with Michelle or one of his advisors, or quotes from his daughters.
To get the “bad” out of the way first: my least favorite part was the section on the recession and financial policy. I realize how incredibly important it was; I just cannot get excited about anything related to economics. It was rough, reading page after page like this:
“As for the rest of the financial system, the choices were dicier. A few days later, in another Oval Office meeting, Tim and Larry outline three basic options. The first, most prominently advocated by FDIC chair and Bush holdover Sheila Bair, involved a reprise of Hank Paulson’s regional idea for TARP, which was to have the government set up a single ‘bad bank’ that would buy up all the privately held toxic assets, theres cleansing the banking sector. This would allow investors to feel some form of trust and banks to start lending again” (279).
Did your eyes glaze over reading that? Because mine did, even while typing it just now. It has nothing to do with Obama - I just don’t care about the subject matter.
It’s a testament to Obama’s writing skills that I nonetheless wanted to keep reading.
And I’m glad I did!
Because everything that came after was so interesting. As I said earlier, I loved the inside look this book provides. It’s an in-depth look at policy-making on the highest levels. And by that, I don’t just mean the nitty-gritty technical aspects of it, but the interpersonal relations. The constant weighing of costs and benefits, of ideals and pragmatic options. It must be an incredibly exciting and incredibly exhausting job.
I particularly loved anecdotes about world leaders. Anecdotes that stayed with me:
1. The stark differences in temperament between Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel (more on that in a second);
2. Obama being invited to tea at Putin’s dacha (country home), and Putin launching into such a long list of complaints about the U.S. that it threw off Obama’s entire schedule for the day;
3. Obama and Hillary Clinton crashing a secret meeting-within-a-meeting during a conference I don’t even remember the name of;
4. Obama hanging out with celebrities and having to play it cool at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner, knowing that they would attempt a raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound the next day.
Ah, such good stuff.
About #1, here’s a passage I loved - something that occurred just after a 2009 G20 summit:
“In a rush of enthusiasm, Sarkozy grabbed both me and Tim as we were about to leave the venue: ‘This agreement is historic, Barack!’ he said. ‘It has happened because of you…no, no, it’s true! And Mr. Geithner here…he’s magnificent!’ Sarkozy then started changing my Treasury secretary’s last name like a fan at a football game, loudly enough to turn a few heads in the room. I had to laugh, not only at Tim’s evident discomfort but also at the stricken expression on Angela Merkel’s face - she had just finished looking over the wording of the communiqué and was now eyeing Sarkozy the way a mother eyes an unruly child” (343).
About #3:
“I looked at my watch. ‘What time is my follow-up meeting with Wen?’
‘Well, boss, that’s the other problem,’ Marvin said, ‘We can’t find him.’
(…)
A few minutes later, Marvin came back in to tell us that Wen and the leaders of Brazil, India, and South Africa had been spotted in a conference room a few levels up.
‘All right then,’ I said. I turned to Hillary. ‘When’s the last time you crashed a party?’
She laughed. ‘It’s been a while,’ she said, looking like the strait-laced kid who’s decided to throw caution into the wind” (513).
And, finally, what about this wonderful section on Nancy Pelosi during the process of legislating healthcare:
“I called Nancy the next day, explaining that my team had drafted a drastically scaled-back healthcare proposal as a fallback but that I wanted to push ahead with passing the Senate bill through the House and needed her support to do it. For the next fifteen minutes, I ws subjected to one of Nancy’s patented stream-of-consciousness rants - on why the Senate bill was flawed, why her caucus members were so angry, and why the Senate Democrats were cowardly, shortsighted, and generally incompetent.
‘So does that mean you’re with me?’ I said when she finally paused to catch her breath.
‘Well, that’s not even a question, Mr. President,’ Nancy said impatiently, ‘We’ve come too far to give up now’” (420).
LOVE it. There are many more anecdotes like these, and they really bring Obama’s time as a president to life.
All those personal behind-the-scenes moments are my favorite aspect of this book. That, and seeing what it takes to be a president: how hard is to be constantly torn between one’s ideals, and the situation on the ground (to give an example of that: when people started protesting election results in Iran in 2009, Obama was inclined to support the demonstrators. After all, they were protesting suspected rigging of the elections. Yet, his national security team advised him not to, because it might feed an Iranian fake news story that the U.S. was behind the election outcome.
Yet, when Obama does not openly support the demonstrators, all hell breaks loose in the U.S., with Republicans condemning him for not speaking out.
So many interests to juggle, so many balls to keep in the air. You have to be moral, empathetic, and idealistic, but also decisive, strategic, and pragmatic. Some of these qualities are contradictory, and as a result, you can never please everyone as president.
It’s something I knew, of course, but this book really drove home the reality of it.
Overall, this is such a good read. I appreciated how Obama highlighted his failures and tough moments as well as his successes, and how he showed his genuine appreciation for Michelle throughout. She’s there, always, at the margins of everything that goes on politically but clearly at the center of his life.
Like after a terrifying situation in Libya, when they fear they may have lost a serviceman:
“Not until Michelle and I were about to climb into the Beast after dinner did I finally see Tom heading toward us. He was slightly out of breath.
‘We have him,’ he said, ‘It seems he was picked up by some friendly Libyans, and he’s going to be fine.’
I wanted to kiss Tom at that moment, but I kissed Michelle instead” (666).
Will definitely read part II of this memoir - I don’t care how lengthy it gets!
pattijo54's review against another edition
5.0
I listened to this on Audible. It’s 29 hours but it was so comforting listening to him telling his stories. I can’t wait to hear the second half.
adenevosirch's review against another edition
5.0
i am by no means a policy wonk or heavily involved in politics but barack managed to keep me completely engaged for over 700 pages. he’s an exceptional writer and the way he writes moved me on many occasion. i found the greatest strength of this book to not be the discourse on decision making and policy but the parts where barack recalls emotional and impactful moments in his career. it takes a special skill to put a reader in the exact place the author is referring to but he managed to do it every single time. i will be eagerly awaiting volume 2 of this!!!