A Political Glimpse from Ireland

Obama From Promise To Power

Given the overall victory of Senator Obama last night, I thought now would be the time to do my little rain dance here in Ireland. Well, not so much rain but sun dance since we get too much rain. I know Senator Obama did not win Indiana but he beat the polls in a state that used to house the headquarters of the KKK. That is something incredible and watching Fox News this morning, they were trying to spin it to say why he can’t close the big states like Indiana or win the working class white voter. Let’s face the facts, he only lost by 2% points which is neither here nor there and come the general election, the majority of democrats would stay with Obama as well as the people who realize that republican Gas Tax policies don’t work as cited overwhelmingly by every economist in the known universe.

This post today is not about Indiana or North Carolina; it is about a book I recently finished entitled: “Obama from Promise to Power.” The book was written by David Mendell who currently works at the Chicago Tribune and has been covering Senator Obama since his early days in the Illinois Senate. Many people have complained about previous Obama books having been far from impartial however I can assure people that this book is not totally flattering but looks at the Senator in an objective fashion. One of the most interesting words used to describe the Senator was ‘mercurial’ which is defined as having the characteristics of the Roman god Mercury in the American Heritage Dictionary. Mercury was known to be eloquent, shrewd, swift and thievish though I don’t think that last characteristic applies to the Senator.

If you have read The Audacity of Hope or Dreams from my Father, than a lot of this book will be familiar to you however where Mr. Mendell steps up to the plate is filling in the little gaps that were left out in both books. Furthermore he does this in a very factual method that many of us are accustomed to reading in any newspaper. The book is fairly long about 387 pages from start to finish if you exclude the notes with some black and white photographs after page 182. During his career following Senator Obama, Mendell had unprecedented access for many years and he gives the readers the good and the bad about the Senator.

He talks about Senator Obama and his smoking habit which is wife made him quit before he decided to run for President, he also speaks with some of the people surrounding Obama like David Axelrod who is currently co-campaign manager and is often credited for helping Senator Obama rise to fame. In all honesty I found this book a little boring at some points because I have read Barack’s two previous books and it took me just over a month to finish it. I would highly recommend it to people who have not read anything about Senator Obama as it is by far the most objective book I have read to date. If we were talking a rate out of 10, I would probably give it a 7/10 for being good but not the best. My favorite passage from the book:

I asked Axelrod in December whether he thought Obama was ready for this Freak Show. His message after all, was concilliation. What happens if things devolve into a muddy free-for-all? Axelrod’s candor was surprising. “I don’t know,” he said. “What do you mean?” I responded. “Do you think he can handle it?”I don’t know,” Axelrod said again. “One thing about running for president is that- and he knows this-it’s like putting an X-ray machine on yourself twenty-four hours a day, because…at the end of the day, the American people know who you are. But with Barack, he’s kind of a normal guy in a lot of ways. He likes to watch football on Sundays. He treasures his time with his kids and Michelle. I think he has an inner toughness, and this is reflected in the road he travelled to get where he is…