I recently tried an audiobook when I went on a long road trip and now have an Audible subscription that gives me a credit to get a book a month (in audition to free public domain books). I used my November credit to buy this book, and I am extremely glad I did.
“A Promised Land” follows Barack Obama through his college and early activist years up through the first term of his presidency. He goes through those years rather quickly, with the goal of using them to frame the mindset he had before committing to run for president during his first term in the US Senate, after having just won a longshot campaign. He has other books that cover those formative years more thoroughly, and so he uses this book to most closely discuss his first term and the challenges he and his administration faced throughout it. The book isn’t at all an expose or hit piece against people from those times. He does have criticisms for many of his political opponents, but what really shines through is a graciousness that seems foreign to someone who has sat through four years of his predecessor. Graciousness and a boundless optimism that America and most importantly Americans are fundamentally good and deserve our compassion and the hard work it takes to make this country better for all. This book isn’t just an opportunity for him to espouse his victories, but also a place to recognize where things went wrong, and he does both with humility. The political intrigue is exciting, but the best parts are where he takes a step back and focuses on how office affected his marriage and his children. How he often had to watch at what felt like a distance as his girls grew up throughout his political career, and also how their love buoyed and encouraged him through his early political career and first term in office.
What comes through most clearly to me is how Barack Obama is a man of compromise. Having to compromise between right and left. Having to compromise between what’s pragmatic and what’s possible. Having to compromise between duty to family and duty to country. Overall, this book is a refreshingly presidential introspective into the thoughts and feelings of the former president throughout his first term. I think it is best enjoyed through the audiobook, which is read by the former president himself.
--Luke Melander
