🚨 Disclaimer:
It's only fair to both you, the reader, and Barack Obama himself to let you know that although I am reviewing this book, I did not finish it. For an explanation on why, keep reading.
🪞 Reflections
One of my first courses in the UBC Diploma in Accounting program was called Performance Management. Of the multiple weekly assignments, my favourite involved reading a variety of articles and information on a successful business, such as Dominoes or RyanAir, and then answering a list of questions designed to encourage us to reflect on aspects of the business' respective strategy.
I was excited. I organized my time effectively, I read all 6 readings, I planned, outlined and wrote what I considered to be a beautiful discussion on the power of Tim Horton's brand in the Canadian market. I also posted the paper, as instructed, to the course's online forum before anyone else. With my paper at the top of the forum, it had the opportunity to be viewed by the majority of the class. I received a few likes, a few comments, and generally felt good about my incoming grade. The next week, however, when the class received our marks, I was surprised to see what I considered to be a barely satisfactory grade and a single, 2-word comment by the professor that just said "bullet points." Coming from a social science background, where being long-winded is often rewarded, it was a poignant lesson on the importance of brevity. The writer writes for the reader, not to them. Above all, the reader's time must be respected.
I'm telling this story because it feels wrong for me to be so openly critical of how the 44th President of the United States writes. For a man with such a positive legacy, who was able to unite large facets of previously unrelenting opposition with his own vision and inspire hope across a nation, his book, for me, is unfinishable.
The President does discuss interesting topics like his relationship with Michelle and his daughter and his perspective as a black man in America. But between these, A Promised Land is so boring and so bloated with simple, superfluous discussions and information, I can't help but feel insulted.
The book is a gruelling, seven-hundred sixty-eight pages. The second volume, yet to be released, is of presumably similar length. I cannot understand how the publisher did not request for the contents to be streamlined. I suppose the allure of Obama's name, with a big book and multiple volumes, portrays added value to potential purchasers. The President even questions the book's length himself. In the introduction, he reflects on how difficult it was to write A Promised Land and how a better author probably could have written it in fewer words. I agree. Let me give you an example of what I mean by the irrelevance of Obama's writing. Here is a short excerpt from page 281:
Larry and Tim stopped talking and waited for my reaction. I sat back in my chair.“Anything else on the menu?” I asked.“Not right now, Mr. President.”“Not very appetizing.”“No, Mr. President.”I nodded, pondered the probabilities, and after a few more questions decided that Tim’s stress-test approach was our best way forward. Not because it was great—not even because it was good—but because the other approaches were worse.
What does this conversation add to the story? What hidden gems exist here? Do these short, casual sentences reveal any sort of window into Obama's life, thoughts or feelings? Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think they add anything at all. This isn't all to say Obama is a bad writer. I'm certainly not implying I could do better. I'm just trying to show how disappointed I am in this book. If A Promised Land was written by someone other than Barack, I don't think anyone would be talking about it.
💥 Personal Impact
Despite all that criticism, I was able to draw a few meaningful points from this book. Firstly, I gained a much deeper respect for Michelle Obama. I haven't read her book, but Barack's descriptions of how much she sacrificed for his career are striking. How could you not respect a woman, so well educated and talented, who set aside much of her career to ensuring her children were raised properly while her husband toured the country through endless campaigns? It could not have been easy. Not only that, despite largely resenting Obama's decision to run for president, she gave everything to putting on a good show and inspiring Barack's prospective voters in a way he couldn't. From what I read of A Promised Land, I think Michelle is the true protagonist. Secondly, this book confirmed my total disinterest in politics. Clearly, Obama shares much of my opinion on the egotistical, self-interested, two-faced power-grabbing nature of many politicians. The way he describes the side-switching power plays and blatant disregard for the well-being of the country's citizens in exchange for the opportunity to seize a fractional amount of control is disgusting. When making a change in the community becomes my goal, charity and volunteerism will be the direction I take.
🗣 Top three quotes
"The doubts arose from having to prove, no matter how well you did, that you belonged in the room—prove it not just to those who doubted you but to yourself." - Pg. 22
"IT'S HARD, in retrospect, to understand why you did something stupid. I don't mean, the small stuff... I mean dumb choices in the wake of considerable deliberation: those times when you identify a real problem in your life, analyze it, and then with utter confidence come up with precisely the wrong answer." - pg. 36
"'When things are bad,' Axe said, walking next to me as we left the December meeting, “no one cares that ‘things could have been worse.’ ” - Pg. 240