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Mehrsa's Reviews > A Promised Land
A Promised Land
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Let me first tell you about me: I was an Obama diehard and an Obama apologist. I was hooked when I read Dreams of My Father and watched the 2004 speech. I was one of those people knocking doors in PA and other swing states during the 08 primary. I was elated when he won the primary and the night he won the national probably ranks as the happiest night of my life.
During the presidency, there were MANY things I did not like about the Obama administration--most of them had to do with the Geithner treasury and their handling of the crisis. But I have been an Obama apologist on that (they inherited the crisis, it was Summers' fault, Obama spent his energies elsewhere, etc etc).
So I've been waiting for this book for a long long time. I've been waiting to hear from Obama himself about what happened. And I have been completely willing to give him the benefit of all my doubts if he could give us his point of view.
And now, I am getting off the Obama train. I still love him and his family. I still think that every other GOP candidate would have been an absolute disaster for the country. But I am no longer defending Obama.
In this book, Obama shows the downside and the weakness inherent in being the most self-reflective person in the universe. He takes every important decision (troops in Iraq, homeownership crisis, gitmo, healthcare) and On the one hand-on the other hand's it to DEATH! And then he basically says at the end of the day, the choice that Summers or Geithner or Gates told me I had was the only choice and so I did it and I would do it again. UGH. He didn't fight! He didn't push back. He just went along with the status quo as presented to it. That actually would have been fine (again, I am an Obama diehard), but at least have the awareness and humility to say "Hey, I regret that the only people giving me options on what to do with homeowners were Geithner and Summers. Maybe Warren should have been in the room." Something like that.... Instead, he calls Warren a grand-stander and just defends his decisions.
Maybe you have to do that if you're an ex-president, but if you are going to write a 600 page memoir chock full of self-reflection, go a little bit further and throw us diehards a bone.
During the presidency, there were MANY things I did not like about the Obama administration--most of them had to do with the Geithner treasury and their handling of the crisis. But I have been an Obama apologist on that (they inherited the crisis, it was Summers' fault, Obama spent his energies elsewhere, etc etc).
So I've been waiting for this book for a long long time. I've been waiting to hear from Obama himself about what happened. And I have been completely willing to give him the benefit of all my doubts if he could give us his point of view.
And now, I am getting off the Obama train. I still love him and his family. I still think that every other GOP candidate would have been an absolute disaster for the country. But I am no longer defending Obama.
In this book, Obama shows the downside and the weakness inherent in being the most self-reflective person in the universe. He takes every important decision (troops in Iraq, homeownership crisis, gitmo, healthcare) and On the one hand-on the other hand's it to DEATH! And then he basically says at the end of the day, the choice that Summers or Geithner or Gates told me I had was the only choice and so I did it and I would do it again. UGH. He didn't fight! He didn't push back. He just went along with the status quo as presented to it. That actually would have been fine (again, I am an Obama diehard), but at least have the awareness and humility to say "Hey, I regret that the only people giving me options on what to do with homeowners were Geithner and Summers. Maybe Warren should have been in the room." Something like that.... Instead, he calls Warren a grand-stander and just defends his decisions.
Maybe you have to do that if you're an ex-president, but if you are going to write a 600 page memoir chock full of self-reflection, go a little bit further and throw us diehards a bone.
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December 5, 2020
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December 5, 2020
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Rossdavidh
(last edited Jan 24, 2021 10:52AM)
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Dec 05, 2020 07:17AM
Obama had strengths but he always trusts the experts. The idea that in a given field the experts might be a self serving elite is just not something he can process.In some fields the experts know what they are doing and have the right incentives.In finance however there are two problems. One is that how the economy works is not very well understood. Two is that all the experts believe that what is good for banks is by definition the right thing to do. Obama is not ever able to tell when the experts advice is not good.
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Thanks for enduring those 600 pages and being open to reflect.
Per usual, your insights are spot on. The promise of an Obama presidency was a golden ticket chance for America. Instead, it fell short. His questionable embrace of Hillary and her hubris, gave us the ultimate nightmare President.
I bought this book the day it was released and it's still sitting on my shelf. I needed to take a break from politics. I read Ben Rhodes' "The World As It Is" some time ago, and the title of that book probably sums up Obama's approach. He campaigned on hope and change but practiced realism. He didn't make omelettes because he didn't want to break eggs. If your motto is "don't do stupid shit" maybe the result is you don't do shit. Anyway, I enjoyed your insightful review and still look forward to reading the book. Eventually.
I agree with every. single. word. of this review.For my part, the constant , albeit subtle, jabs at the progressive wing of the party grated on my last, as did the tone deaf and, dare I say, cowardly stances he took RE: race in America.
I kept waiting for him to "reflect" on how his experiences with very real racism with very real consequences (did he learn nothing from eight straight years of obstruction?) may have altered his perceptions of the African American experience, but he seemed to hold fast to those same...ideals, bringing home the fact that he was raised in a privileged bubble, well outside of what most black people get to experience growing up in this country. :(
It was refreshing to learn that politicians - not just Obama - do think and reflect on their decisions. Something I think we all need to do more. Also, I find it important that all people - and especially politicians because they are so in the public - have the right and responsibility to CHANGE THEIR MINDS! Sometimes I feel that a decision that was made at one point has to be held too for EVER. Not the case. If it was we would all be walking believing the Earth is flat.
A little over halfway through and my heart keeps breaking. Like many, I connected so hard with the person narrating Dreams From My Father, but I've grown since then and he's only become more conservative.
People assumed just because he was a Democrat and a Black person, that he would think a certain way. I applaud his candor about his thought process. It shows he has convictions that don't equate to expectations that all Black Democrat politicians think a certain way. I finished the book and do recall a point of self reflection where he thought he should have done things differently. He didn't dwell on the point, it was quite subtle (and I can't recall exactly the issue). If people had looked at his record before he became POTUS, they would conclude he behaved true to his pattern of being "centrist." That's just who he is and has always been. It is also how he will likely always be. Hoping that "our better angels" will guide the collective "us" to do the right thing. Hoping. Not forcing the issue too much. Oh well, in this world, it takes all kinds. He is who he is, and I'm sure he's fine with it. We must accept him for what he is, not for what we hoped he would be.
Thank you SO MUCH for this review. I have about 200pp left and came on here to see if I was totally alone in how I am interpreting this book. I feel similarly.
