Obama soothes the soul. Helps you feel calmer. More at peace. You hope by reading his words, his chill temperament will rub off on you and you will soon have his laidback attitude and positive outlook on life.
Pairs With: Godiva dark chocolate truffles and a bougie $45 candle you accidentally bought because it’s T-Swift’s favorite. You now imagine this is what Obama smells like.
Overview:
The recount of President Barack Obama’s first term in office, told by Obama himself, is best described as turmoil and tranquility coexisting.
Even as you read about the dire economic situation of 2008, two overseas wars, the massive BP oil spill in the gulf, and the high powered meetings with foreign officials – you feel calm. Somehow, reading Obama’s take on all of these stressful situations makes you feel relaxed.
Through the chaos, Obama managed to remain optimistic and jovial. He mentions that his laid-back attitude may come from growing up in Hawaii. Where, no matter what problems one was facing, the beach was always a few steps away. And reading about how he managed to keep his cool through stressful circumstances is inspiring. If he can manage to keep an upbeat attitude at his job where he was faced with fixing a crashing economy (which impacted, literally, everyone on Earth), managing two wars, and meeting with Putin – well shit! Then surely one can remain positive when discussing year-to-year financial results for a very small section of a massive corporation.
There are so many great nuggets of information throughout the whole book. However, one piece really stuck with me due to the parallels of today’s pandemic.
Obama on H1N1
Obama recalls how he and his team approached and handled the H1N1 virus. Surprisingly, Obama mentions, “I had more than a passing knowledge of H1N1 after working on US pandemic preparedness when I was in the Senate. What I knew scared the hell out of me” (385).
In this section, he recalls research that showed during the Spanish Flu of 1918, babies in utero “grew up to have lower-incomes, poorer educational outcomes and higher rates of physical disability” (385).
However, I was most shocked when Obama recalled how the Ford Administration navigated a possible pandemic during a reelection campaign in 1976.
Obama explains Ford, “had fast-tracked mandatory vaccinations before the severity of the pandemic had been determined, with the result that more Americans developed a neurological disorder connected to the vaccine than died from the flu” (386).
It’s hard not to notice the similarities between Trump’s reelection campaign and the “Operation Warp-Speed” COVID vaccine.
Considering the vaccination concerns today, I was surprised Obama included this information as it could add to the skepticism of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Conclusion
Overall, this book left me inspired to channel my own Obama like attitude. It also helped me feel more at peace with America’s current political climate.
Maybe everything isn’t as doom and gloom as it sometimes feels. Maybe we can still have hope.
If you’ve read A Promised Land let us know what you think! What was your favorite part or biggest takeaway?
(P.S. Curious about what Michelle Obama’s memoir, Becoming, pairs well with? Check out the post here!)
