Jeffrey Keeten's Reviews > A Promised Land

”’Whatever you do won’t be enough,’ I heard their voices say.
‘Try anyway.’”

Obama had just been drubbed in an election against a popular candidate when he made the absolutely crazy decision to run for the US Senate. Michelle thought he was out of his mind. He was talking about “magic beans” and shit, but he assured her that this was it. If he lost, he was done with politics. Their credit cards were maxed out, and their overall financial picture was dire...let’s just say, the Star Trek klaxon bells were sounding, and Scotty was screaming at Kirk that he couldn’t hold it together much longer.

Would he really have done with politics if he’d lost? Hell no. I don’t believe it, and as reassuring as the words probably sounded to Michelle, I seriously doubt she believed it either. He had a fire in his belly, and that candle was burning hot. He had a dream, and he wasn’t going to hide it under a bushel. Unh uh!

So in March of 2004, he won the senate election, and in July he was tapped by John Kerry to give the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. I can remember looking over at my wife and going...who is this guy? I’m a pretty savvy political person. I can remember watching LBJ’s funeral when I was six. I was nine and can remember feeling sorry for President Gerald Ford, even though I had supported President Jimmy Carter in the 1976 Presidential election. Let’s just say that I tuned into United States politics...early on. So I was thinking...this guy...for the keynote?

A guy named Barack Hussein Obama?

I love this conversation he had in the White House with his team, but it sort of sums up the dream-like quality of his rise to the presidency. Spoiler alert...he wins the presidency in 2008.

”’I guess the question for you, Mr. President, is, Do you feel lucky?’*

I looked at him and smiled. ‘Where are we, Phil?’

Phil hesitated, wondering if it was a trick question. ‘The Oval Office?’

‘And what’s my name?’

‘Barack Obama.’

I smiled. ‘Barack Hussein Obama. And I’m here with you in the Oval office. Brother, I always feel lucky.’”

*Phil Schiliro may have watched too many Dirty Harry movies.

I admit, when the Kansas caucus came around, I was sitting in a small room of people supporting Hillary Clinton. I thought Obama was running a cycle early. It was time to elect our first female president, and who knew how long it would be before another woman with the name recognition of Clinton would emerge from the process? I was flabbergasted at the number of people, mostly younger people! who caucused in the gym for Barack Obama. I kept thinking to myself, If these people would actually vote, we could turn Ford County blue. To give you an idea of how red the county is that I live in, 41% of Kansans voted for Joseph R. Biden, but Ford County came in at 33%. In Phillips County, where I grew up, only 11% voted for Biden. Needless to say, my extended family are not only Republicans but are unabashed Trumpsters. I am the black sheep of the family, or should I say the blue sheep of the family.

Obama ran a terrific, revolutionary, grass roots campaign and, against all odds, won the primary and electrified a nation in the process.

So this book primarily covers the election campaign and his first term in office. The second book will cover his second presidential campaign and term in office. Normally, I wouldn’t read this book this soon. I ordinarily like history to get smaller in my rearview mirror before I read any books about it, but after a bruising four years of Trump and an election campaign that slenderized my Facebook friends, mostly family, list, I decided that I needed some time with a voice of reason. I needed to experience our future by reading about the past because I do feel that Obama was the future, even when he was our president of the present.

I like the way he was self-deprecating about his mistakes. Even Obama made some gaffes while speaking...remember “cling to guns or religion?” Stating the stark truth isn’t always the best strategy. I love this little scene with David Axelrod while prepping for a debate.

”’Your problem,’ he said, ‘is you keep trying to answer the question.’

‘Isn’t that the point?’ I said.

‘No, Barack,’ Axe said, ‘that is not the point. The point is to get your message across. What are your values? What are your priorities? That’s what people care about. Look, half the time the moderator is just using the question to try to tip you up. Your job is to avoid the trap they’ve set. Take whatever question they give you, give ‘em a quick line to make it seem like you answered it...and then talk about what you want to talk about.’

‘That’s bullshit,’ I said.

‘Exactly,’ he said.”

Okay, we were all distracted by the fly that flew into Vice-President Mike Pence’s hair and died from toxic embalming fluid during the debate with Vice-President Kamala Harris...I can say that now! Yeah!...but I have never seen a politician during a debate completely ignore any of the questions he was asked like he did. It was hilarious.

If you have been pining for the days when Obama was your president, you will absolutely love reliving those sometimes rocky roads as Obama tried to change our world for the better, despite the best efforts of the Republicans to block anything he tried to do. The Republicans made it very clear from the beginning that they were going to put the party first over the country. The Obama years, despite the obstructions, were certainly halcyon days compared to the last four years. The behind-the-scenes stuff that he shares made me respect and like him even more. He is genuine and cares about the same things that all of us care about, our family, our friends, our dogs, and our need for a sustainable future. He has some of the same fallacies and self-doubts that the rest of us have, but he was determined to become someone who could make a difference.

And he did.

Let’s hope President Joseph Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris, after getting the White House fumigated and clearing away all the McDonald’s hamburger wrappers, can start driving the car in the right direction.

I’m ridin’ with Biden.

President Obama also answered my question on GR. Check it out at this link: https://www.goodreads.com/questions/1...

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