A Promised Land – Barack Obama
A child, born in Hawaii to an African father and a white, American woman, grows up to be a community organizer and a law professor in Chicago. Much to his wife’s chagrin, a calling to live up to his mother’s teachings to change the world for the better leads him to become an Illinois state senator, a US senator representing Illinois, and, eventually, the President of the United States.
In A Promised Land, Barack Obama tells his story, focusing on his decision to run for various elected positions, his campaign for president in 2008, and the first two-plus years of his presidency. He details the fight to right the economy following the housing market crash and the resulting failures in the financial sector, the battle to pass the Affordable Care Act. the crushing defeat the Democrats suffered in the mid-term elections, and the hunt for and eventual killing of Osama bin Laden.
Going in to this, I did not realize that the scope would not be Obama’s entire presidency. so 700+ pages to get about a quarter of the way through was a bit of a disappointment, but overall, it was an interesting look into the meat grinder that is the US political system. I imagine part two will be released either this Christmas or next, so I’m sure I will be along for the rest of the ride.