The Obamas

Perhaps nothing can give anyone as much insight into President Obama, and who he is, as reading this book in combination with reading the biography of his mother A Singular Woman. Together, these books paint a potrait of a man seeking his identity, finding a place in this world, and driven by ambition to stand out and hold power so as to make change. Barack Obama was only a second year Senator when he decided to run for the Presidency, and somewhat surprised himself when he succeeded. As the book points out, these years in the White House are the first years he has lived with his family. His earlier married life was spent mostly away from home, both as an Illinois Senator and then as a US senator living in a small apartment in DC. Michele Obama provides the stability in this family, but neither of them expected this experience to be so profoundly life altering to their lifetsyles and their psyches. Unlike the self-sacrificing woman who was his mother, Michele Obama is the direct opposite of Barack Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham. Stanley Ann Dunham was a nomad, inquisitive about other people and other cultures, and an explorer-- a cultural anthropologist who fell in love with Barack Obama senior and conceived a child who was to become President of the United States. Dunham spent most of her life in Indonesia,, where she instituted micro-economics projects to the rural poor, especially women. She was a modest woman of limited means and cared little for material things or material lifestyles. Often portrayed by the media as a mother who sent her son away to live with his grandparents, she was devoted and doted on Barack, her first child. Painfully, she sent him away to live with his grandparents around age 11, not because he was in her way, but because they were living in Indonesia where society is often cruel and unaccepting of mixed race children. Barack was often teased and taunted by others, and therefore learned to put a brave face on these experiences. In contrast, Michele Obama grew up in an in-tact working class family who valued education, and after she made it to Princeton and Harvard Law, she became a successul attorney and law professor in her own right. She likes fashion, looking good and having dinner in fine restaurants. While there is nothing wrong with that, she stands in stark contrast to the mother who raised him. Michele Obama keeps the center of the family together and is concerned about having Barack be a father with presence in her daughters' lives. The reality of the Presidency descended on both of them in the first 2 years in the White House, as Michele found herself trapped in a virtual glass house, and Barack, the man who seeks to make change, learned it is not so easy. Lack of experience as Washington insiders put them both at a disadvantage because this inexperienced freshman Senator really had a distaste for politics and didn't like the wheeling and dealing that comes along with getting things done. The Obamas is a worthwhile read if you want to understand the President-- however, I do suggest that you read the biography about his mother first because it helps to set the context for who this man is.