A PROMISED LAND

- BARACK OBAMA
This book tells us the journey of a young man who was a student in Hawaii to Harvard University and then
ultimately to the White House. This is the first volume of his autobiography and ends in May 2011, describing
Operation Neptune spear. It gives us hope in a democracy when he divulges empathy as one of the most critical
pillars on which democracy is built.

According to Obama,

“More than anyone, this book is for the Young people-an invitation to once again remake the
world, and to bring about, through hard work, determination, and a big dose of imagination,
an America that finally aligns with all that is best in us.”

What I learned from this book

1) Race and Class
Obama’s childhood was arduous due to absence of his father. He also had to face quandaries related to race like
everyone else growing at that time.

“I started asking questions about how it was I’d come to live in a place where few people looked like me. A lot of
the questions center’s on race: Why did Blacks play professional basketball but not coach it? What did that girl
from school mean when she said she didn’t think of me as Black? Why were all the Black men in action movies
switchblade- wielding lunatics except for maybe the one decent black guy- the sidekick, of course- who always
seemed to end up getting killed?

But I wasn’t concerned only with race. It was class as well. I became attuned to the not-so-subtle hierarchies
amount my prep school classmates, mostly having to do with how much money their parents had. And then
there was the unsettling fact that, despite whatever my mother might claim, the bullies, cheats, and self-
promoters seemed to be doing quite well, while those she considered good and decent people seemed to get
screwed an awful lot. I understood that unless I could stitch my life together and situate myself
along some firm axis, I might end up in some basic way of living my life alone.”

2) What is the one thing that Obama wants to do if he could travel back in time?
When Obama joined Columbia University after sophomore year, he lived like a monk in New York for
three years, only reading, writing, filling up journals, rarely bothering with college parties, or even eating
good food. Obama in this book is saying that this is the period he wants to amend in his life if he ever could zip
back in time

“I might urge the young man I was to set the books aside for a minute, open the windows, and let in some fresh
air (my smoking habit was then in full bloom). I’d tell him to relax, go meet some people and enjoy the
pleasures that life reserves for those in their twenties. I was like a young Walter Mitty; a Don Quixote
with no Sancho Panza.”

3) Perfection alone is not the cornerstone of success

Obama is mentioning that during the JJ Dinner, he was convinced that he could win Iowa. Obama’s victory in
Iowa helped him establish as one of the Democratic frontrunners of 2008. His journey to that victory was not
perfect; in fact, it had lots of drawbacks. This clearly shows that we can win even if we are not the best
candidate. Obama says in this book that
“I became convinced that we would win Iowa. Not necessarily because I was the most polished
candidate, but because we had the right message for the time and had attracted young people
with prodigious talent to throw themselves behind the cause.”

4) Biggest mistake committed by Obama in his campaign

When someone asked Obama why so many working-class people in Pennsylvania continued to vote for
Republican’s Obama gave a reply which he considers as his biggest mistake during his campaign. He told,

“You go into some of the small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs
have been gone now for twenty-five years, and nothing’s replaced them. So it’s not surprising then that they
get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them, or anti-immigrant
sentiment, or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

5) Obama’s debate-day rituals

Obama’s debate-day routine was a riveting one, and every one of us can try to emulate in our own style when
we are facing stressful situations like Obama.

"Morning- giving over strategy and key points

Early Afternoon- Some light campaigning.

Four o’clock- Quick workout to shed excess adrenaline

Ninety minutes before heading to the venue- Shave and take a long hot shower, before putting on the
new white shirt, tie (blue or red), and freshly pressed blue suit.

Dinner- Comfort food: steak cooked medium-well, roasted or mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli

Half an hour ahead of the debate- Glancing at my notes and listening to music delivered through earbuds
or a small portable speaker. It was rap that got my head in the right place, two songs, especially: Jay-Z’s
“My first song” and Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” Both were about defying the odds and putting it
all on the line.”

6) How Mahatma Gandhi influenced Obama ?

Mahatma Gandhi was one of Obama’s role models. He mentions how Mahatma Gandhi influence him

“Along with Lincoln, King, and Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi had profoundly influenced my thinking. As a
young man, I’d studied his writings and found him giving voice to some of my deepest instincts. His notions of
satyagraha, or devotion to truth, and the power of nonviolent resistance to stir the conscience, his insistence on
our common humanity and the essential oneness of all religion; and his belief in every society’s obligation,
through his political, economic, and social arrangements, to recognize the equal worth and dignity of all
people- each of these deals resonated with me. Gandhi’s actions had stirred me even more than his words; he’d
put his beliefs to the test by risking his life, going to prison, and throwing himself fully into the struggles of his
people. He hadn’t just helped overcome an empire and liberate much of the subcontinent, it had
set off a moral charge that pushed around the globe. it became a beacon for tether
dispossessed, marginalized groups- including Black Americans in the Jim Crow south-intent on
securing their freedom.”

7) What did Obama learn from Operation Neptune Spear?

Operation Neptune Spear was a precision strike operation executed by the United States Navy seals that
eliminated Osama Bin Laden undercover in Abbottabad. It was one of the most important events that
happened during Obama’s first term. He had a different view regarding this operation compared to many
others.
“Was that unity of effort, that sense of common purpose, possible only when the goal involved killing a
terrorist? The question nagged at me. For all the pride and satisfaction I took in the success of our mission in
Abbottabad, the truth was that I hadn’t felt the same exuberance I had on the night the healthcare bill passed. I
found myself imagining what America might look like if we could rally the country so that our
government brought the same level of expertise and determination to educating our children or
housing the homeless as it had to getting Bin Laden; if we could apply the same persistence and
resources to reducing poverty or curbing greenhouse gases or making sure every family had
access to decent daycare. I knew that even my own staff would dismiss these notions as utopian. And the
fact that this was the case, the fact that we could no longer imagine uniting the country around anything other
than thwarting attacks and defeating external enemies, I took as a measure of how far my presidency still fell
short of what I wanted it to be-and how much work I had left to do.”
8) Obama, the family man
Even though there are many layers for this biography, the best part of this book will be when he mentions his
love for his family. It is easy to get carried away when you have a high profile job requiring an intense amount
of time and dedication. But, Obama was very particular about the family time in his schedule, and he
dedicated some time for the family every day. He thoroughly enjoyed the quality time he spent with them. He
was also fortunate to have a very understanding wife and children. He was also ready to sacrifice anything
for the wellness of the family. We can see it in the passage where he is talking about his smoking habit.

“There was a final stress reliever that I didn’t like to talk about, one that had been a chronic source of tension
throughout my marriage. I was still smoking five (or six, or seven) cigarettes a day.

At Michelle’s insistence, I had quit several times over the years, and I never smoked in front of the kids.

Initially, the pool game had also given me an excuse to duck out and have a cigarette on the third- floor
landing. I had made the decision to quit smoking a few weeks earlier, when Maria, smelling a
cigarette on my breath, frowned and asked if I’d been smoking. Faced with the prospect of
lying to my daughter or setting a bad example, I called the White House Doctor and asked him
to send me a box of nicotine gum. It did the trick for I haven’t had a cigarette since”

9) Some other important topics discussed in this book

1) Role of books in forming the personality of an individual
2) How his grandparents and parents helped him to become a mentally strong person?
3) How Obama’s actions helped in tackling H1N1 virus and Ebola virus?
4) How drug and insurance companies are trying to control American Politics?
5) Obamacare- pros and cons.
6) Obamas response when he won the Nobel peace prize
7) How Obama dealt with the BP oil spill (which is considered as the worst oil spill in U.S. history)?
8) How Obama saved the economy from a likely depression?
9) How Obama stabilized the global financial system and yanked the U.S. auto industry back from the brink of
collapse?
10) How tens of billions of dollars that had once gone into bank coffers were used in reforming student loan
programs and to make investments in clean energy?
11) His measures to protect public lands and reduce air pollution.
12) His measures to tackle the Middle East crisis

Three things I didn’t like in this book

1) Bulk
This is a 751 page book and this is just the first volume.

2) Obama’s behavior towards his opponents

Obama is one of the few individuals that the world has seen who totally respects his opponents. We can see his
respect for those opposing him in multiple parts of this book. But there is one portion in this book where he
lambasted his opponents harshly.
“The dark spirits that had long been lurking the edges of the modern Republican Party- xenophobia, anti-
intellectualism, paranoid conspiracy theories, and antipathy toward Black and Brown folks- were finding
their way to Center stage.”

There are indeed certain leaders in the modern Republican Party with the above demerits. But, I still feel it was
a little harsh to generalize it over the whole modern Republican Party, especially from Obama, who almost
always respected his opponents.

3) Obama’s opinion about world leaders .

This is the portion of this book that caused a whole lot of controversies in many countries. I also felt that
some parts of it should have been edited out.

“A) Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil President at that time)- He also reportedly had the scruples of a
Tammany Hall boss, and rumors swirled about government cronyism, sweetheart deals, and kickbacks that
ran into the billions.

B) Rahul Gandhi (A Congress leader from India)- There was a nervous, unformed quality about him, as if he
were a student who’d done the coursework and was eager to impress the teacher but deep down lacked either
the aptitude or the passion to master the subject.

C) Vladimir Putin (Russian Prime Minister at that time, now he is again the President)- Vladimir Putin is
the leader of what resembled a criminal syndicate as much as it did a traditional government- a syndicate that
had its tentacles wrapped around every aspect of the country’s economy. (We can see him mentioning about
Russia and its politics using the controversial words of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn) The lie has become not just a
moral category but a pillar of the State.”

I can point out at least five more instances where he was very harsh in commenting about world leaders and
their countries. Obama was indeed trying to write honest opinions from his heart without any filters. But it is
still sad to see a man of Obama’s stature writing against leaders of other countries in such a manner that too
based on rumors (like the case of Lula Da De Silva) and generalizing as a whole about a country based on very
few factors.

Compared to the overall scope of this book and the knowledge it provides, these minor negatives are negligible.

My favourite three lines from this book

“My interest in books probably explains why I not only survived high school but arrived at Occidental College
in 1979”

“Enthusiasm makes up for a host of deficiencies.”

“There is not a Black America and a White America and a Latino America and an Asian America. There’s the
United States of America.”