A review by alanathehangry
A Promised Land by Barack Obama
4.0
It's so hard to rate this book. Let me start off by saying Obama is my favorite president. He's a wonderful human being and a great role model for all people.
But gosh darn does the man overwrite! This man needs an editor. He only got through 2 years of his presidency in the entire 700+ pages. I guess we shouldn't be surprised because he has always loved to talk a lot.
But anyhow, the scope of this book is amazing. The detail is incredible. I learned so much about the insides of Washington, the compromises given and the exhausting back-and-forth with Congress, etc. It made me want to be a government staffer, if you can believe it.
My favorite part of the book was the beginning, when Obama covers his childhood, his college years, his lawyer experience, and his Senator experience. I loved the campaign trail stuff, too. I loved all the behind-the-scenes blood, sweat, and tears. I loved how real he was about stuff, about race, about his family. Obama pulled no punches in this book.
A particular thing among many I learned from this book is that Obama doesn't want to be a politician. He doesn't want to not say something because it would upset constituents or special interest groups. He wants to achieve his goals of making the country better, of giving young poor kids a shot at the American dream. But he soon met the reality of being president. He constantly had to make compromises, sit through meetings with republicans who would say one thing behind closed doors and then something foul to the public, and had to keep an eye on poll ratings. He wanted to come out of the gate punching, making real changes to the economy, to climate change protection, etc. But politics didn't allow for all of his dreams. He was still able to make real change, despite republicans blocking him at every opportunity, but it was tough.
So, there's a lot of griping in this book. And boy does this man deserve to gripe. He held his tongue throughout his presidency, not shooting back at critics, nor displaying the republicans for what they really were. And now he gets to let it all out. I bet writing this book was incredibly cathartic for him.
I think he gets a little bit too in the weeds with policy-making and the politics between all white house staff and congress members, but I'll probably read the next book. And there will be a next one. Four in total is what I guess based on the pace of this one.
I listened to the Audible version of this. Was so comforting to have him in my ear.
But gosh darn does the man overwrite! This man needs an editor. He only got through 2 years of his presidency in the entire 700+ pages. I guess we shouldn't be surprised because he has always loved to talk a lot.
But anyhow, the scope of this book is amazing. The detail is incredible. I learned so much about the insides of Washington, the compromises given and the exhausting back-and-forth with Congress, etc. It made me want to be a government staffer, if you can believe it.
My favorite part of the book was the beginning, when Obama covers his childhood, his college years, his lawyer experience, and his Senator experience. I loved the campaign trail stuff, too. I loved all the behind-the-scenes blood, sweat, and tears. I loved how real he was about stuff, about race, about his family. Obama pulled no punches in this book.
A particular thing among many I learned from this book is that Obama doesn't want to be a politician. He doesn't want to not say something because it would upset constituents or special interest groups. He wants to achieve his goals of making the country better, of giving young poor kids a shot at the American dream. But he soon met the reality of being president. He constantly had to make compromises, sit through meetings with republicans who would say one thing behind closed doors and then something foul to the public, and had to keep an eye on poll ratings. He wanted to come out of the gate punching, making real changes to the economy, to climate change protection, etc. But politics didn't allow for all of his dreams. He was still able to make real change, despite republicans blocking him at every opportunity, but it was tough.
So, there's a lot of griping in this book. And boy does this man deserve to gripe. He held his tongue throughout his presidency, not shooting back at critics, nor displaying the republicans for what they really were. And now he gets to let it all out. I bet writing this book was incredibly cathartic for him.
I think he gets a little bit too in the weeds with policy-making and the politics between all white house staff and congress members, but I'll probably read the next book. And there will be a next one. Four in total is what I guess based on the pace of this one.
I listened to the Audible version of this. Was so comforting to have him in my ear.