Obama: From Promise to Power, by David Mendell


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BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org:

This book, published in August 2007, is a general review of Obama's career by a Chicago reporter who has been following Obama's career since the State Senate days. Reporters tend to write analytical books that explore the candidate's background, and local reporters tend to expose parts of the candidate's background which the national audience is unaware of. This book accomplishes both of those -- as such, it's the first unbiased biography for this campaign season -- although more are sure to follow.

This book is mostly a critique of Dreams From My Father (Obama's biography). Therefore it's the same type of book for Obama as A Woman in Charge and Her Way is for Hillary Clinton (those two books reviewed in detail Hillary's biography, Living History). The two Hillary analyses were met with a large-scale book tour, and massive press attention -- but this book about Obama was not. I suppose that reflects that, in 2007, Hillary's winning the Democratic primary seemed inevitable. Now that the inevitably is shattered, you can be a well-informed voter by comparing this book with the two Hillary analyses.

The author of this book, David Mendell, has been a Chicago Tribune reporter since 1998, before Obama's rise to national celebrity. Here is an excerpt that expresses Mendell's core viewpoint about Obama's rise, and explains, in Mendell's view, why Obama has become so much more personally popular than Hillary:

Then I got home, to my roommate all aglow -- "Did you see His speech?" (one could hear the capital H). "He's definitely running for president! And he's definitely going to win!" My roommate was just a regular voter, not a ga-ga delegate at all -- so I watched the recorded speech on television with him, to try to understand his perspective. Live, Obama started each sentence while the crowd was still applauding his previous sentence -- talking over the roar of the crowd, making his speech unheard by the crowd. On TV, Obama started each sentence just as the crowd's roar was starting to die down -- because the directional TV microphones picked up Obama more than they picked up the crowd. The timing and delivery felt perfect on TV; live, the delivery felt rushed and like the audience was ignored. The TV version was indeed a brilliant speech. The live version was not.

That's Obama's greatest strength -- he knows how to deliver a speech so that the emotion of the speech is felt by the audience. Obama knew that the REAL audience for this speech was the millions of people on TV, not the thousands in the convention hall, and certainly not the mere hundreds in the press box. And he "hit nothing but net" with the voters, if not the press.

That speech is how Obama became nationally known -- and hence provides the reason this book became possible, and the reason Obama's presidential campaign became possible. So read this book with the understanding that the press don't always get it like the voters do!

--Jesse Gordon, jesse@ontheissues.org, April 2008

OnTheIssues.org excerpts:  (click on issues for details)

Budget & Economy     Government regulation needed for when markets fail.

Civil Rights     1980s boss predicted Obama would be heir to MLK’s voice.     Blacks should infiltrate mainstream to affect change.

Crime     Works on ex-offender laws because it could have been him.

Drugs     Experimented with cocaine but turned down heroin.     A “secret smoker”, especially around reporters.

Environment     1985: Organized asbestos removal in Chicago housing project.     Passed lead abatement & 24 other laws in IL Senate.

Foreign Policy     At college, protested for divestment from South Africa.     Increased aid to Republic of Congo.     Visited largest slum in Africa, to publicize its plight.

Government Reform     1998: First law passed, 52-4, stripping legislator perks.     2004: Used state money for seemingly political mailing.

Gun Control     Concealed carry OK for retired police officers.

Homeland Security     2005: Passed bill to reduce conventional weapon stockpiles.

Principles & Values     Goal as youth: Leave the world a better place.     Planned on presidency since well before 2004 Convention.     Seen as both critical outsider and establishment insider.     Dreams from My Father originally about Harvard Law Review.     Favorite authors: E. L. Doctorow & Shakespeare.     To understand Obama, understand Hawaii’s cultural mix.     Father was first African exchange student at U. Hawaii.     High school jock--played football as defensive lineman.     Carries Bible on campaign trail, & refers to it weekly.     1990: Elected Law Review president with conservative support.     Met Michelle Robinson at law firm; married in 1990.     State Senate opponents disqualified on technicality.     Lost campaign for US Congress against Bobby Rush in 2000.     Senate 2004 campaign theme: “Yes we can”.     2004: Won Senate seat against Alan Keyes, 70%-29%.     The Plan: Raise Obama’s profile, including African adventure.

Technology     As Senate freshman spoke out on Katrina ramifications.

Welfare & Poverty     Saw dire poverty as a child in Indonesia.     1985: Launched project to give voice to disempowered.     Ownership Society is another term for “Social Darwinism”.

Click for quotations from other sources by: Barack Obama