Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Opinion: What Barack Obama’s Memoir Leaves Out
Opinion
By Opinion
Published 5 years ago on
November 20, 2020

Share

[aggregation-styles]

Subscription

The first time I met Barack Obama, he struck me as different from any other politician I had ever met. He was smart, well-read, affable and energetic, but that isn’t what made him stand out. It was the way he asked questions. Most politicians ask a question to answer it themselves. After giving you a brief opportunity to respond, they jump in, “Well, here’s what I think . . .,” and proceed to deliver some packaged piece of wisdom they have doubtless recited dozens of times. But Obama would ask a question to which he actually wanted an answer. He would listen and ask another question. He genuinely wanted to understand how someone else might view an issue.

That unusual politician comes through clearly in his new book, “A Promised Land.” It is well written, certainly the best-written presidential memoir I have read. Obama has an easy and stylish way with words. Describing walking through the West Colonnade of the White House, he says, “it was where each morning I felt the first slap of winter wind or pulse of summer heat.” Describing a helicopter ride, he writes, “I gazed out at the rolling Maryland landscape and the tidy neighborhoods below, and then the Potomac, glistening beneath the fading sun.”

Read More →

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

UP NEXT

Rise of the Anti-“Woke” Democrat

Central Unified Chooses Their Next Superintendent

51 minutes ago

Disney Is Laying off Several Hundred Employees Globally, Source Says

1 hour ago

Judge Rules Next Fresno County Sheriff, DA Elections Are in 2028

The next time Fresno County voters will select a sheriff and district attorney will be in 2028 and not 2026, a Fresno judge ruled. On Monday...

1 minute ago

1 minute ago

Judge Rules Next Fresno County Sheriff, DA Elections Are in 2028

NY's Judge and Rice Celebrate
11 minutes ago

Yarbrough Shines as Yankees Avoid Sweep With Win Over Dodgers

An aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, is seen in the night sky over the Tallinn bay of the Baltic sea in Tallinn, Estonia, April 2, 2025. (AP File)
27 minutes ago

Northern Lights Could Be Visible Again in Some US States After Weekend Solar Storms

The Central Unified School District Board of Trustees has announced their intention to appoint Dr. Mark Marshall as the new superintendent. (GV Wire Composite/Paul Marshall)
51 minutes ago

Central Unified Chooses Their Next Superintendent

People visit the Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., April 18, 2022. (AP File)
1 hour ago

Disney Is Laying off Several Hundred Employees Globally, Source Says

2 hours ago

Giants’ Pitching Is Winning Games Despite Team’s Hitting Struggles

Demonstrators protest outside the Center for Disease Control, in Atlanta, after the Trump administration began mass layoffs of 10,000 staffers at U.S. health agencies under the Department of Health and Human Services, including the FDA, CDC and the National Institutes of Health, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. April 1, 2025. REUTERS/Megan Varner/File Photo
2 hours ago

Trump Asks US Supreme Court to Allow Mass Federal Layoffs

2 hours ago

Fresno State Baseball Team Bounced From NCAA Regional

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend