Book review: ‘A Promised Land’, by Barack Obama
“Geronimo ID’d … Geronimo EKIA.”
— U.S. Navy Seals announce the death of Osama bin Laden, in real time
‘YES WE CAN’
Barack Obama’s new book, a record of his early years in office as President of the United States (POTUS), runs to 706 pages, but it just flies by. It’s like drinking water. He has a fluid, clear, lucid, transparent and visually strong writing style that pulls you in and sweeps you along his meteoric rise. This is his third book. Penguin Random House secured the rights in 2017 for $60 million. His other two books were both bestsellers, ‘Dreams from my Father’ (1995) and ‘The Audacity of Hope’ (2006).
He had intended to write his presidential memoirs in around 500 pages, and within a year. It’s taken four years and will fill two volumes. The publication date for the second volume hasn’t yet been determined.
‘Promised Land’ is chock-a-block full of exquisite, scintillating details. Like the moment he met an elderly White House gardener for the first time, who “reached into his back pocket for a cloth to wipe off the dirt before shaking my hand.”
Obama describes the minutiae of events and incidents in an engaging, clear cut way, and with a rigorous eye for detail. Like watching the LA Lakers against the Hornets and seeing Kobe Bryant “launch a turnaround jumper in the paint,” while deciding whether or not to green light the covert mission to take out ‘UBL’ (Usama bin Laden).
“Birthergate” gets the withering contempt it deserves – the tedious questioning of Obama’s birth certificate (whether he was really American, or maybe even a Muslim). Obama describes it “like algae on a stagnant pond, conspiracy stories proliferated each week.” He looked the press reporters in the eye, having released his full birth certificate – from the vaults of Hawaii’s Vital Records office – and told them, “We’re better than this. We have serious decisions to make. We can’t just make stuff up.” Unfortunately, that was a prelude to the real philistine-criminal-con-artistry that would befall America from 2016 to 2020.
“WE GOT HIM” – BIN LADEN BURIED AT SEA
After the successful mission to kill UBL (codenamed ‘Geronimo’), the Navy Seal team met the President. They gave him a signed American flag that they’d taken with them on their raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, launched from nearby Jalalabad in Afghanistan. Obama thought the trickiest call that he’d have to make would be to the president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, over the US violation of Pakistani airspace. But in the event, Zardari expressed congratulations and support: “Whatever the fallout, it’s very good news.” Zardari’s wife, Benazir Bhutto, had been killed by extremists linked to al-Qaeda.
LEGACY
Obama has a job on his hands to out-sell his wife. Michelle Obama’s book, ‘Becoming’ (2018), has sold 14 million copies worldwide, with 1.4m in its first week. ‘Becoming’ was made into a hit Netflix documentary. But he’s on his way: ‘A Promised Land’ sold 890,000 copies on its release date, 17th November.
Barack has said that he did very well with the “zero to eight-year old” demographic. Young children loved him for two reasons: “I have big ears, so I look like a cartoon character. And secondly, they like saying my name as one word – Barackobama. It’s a bit like ‘Nickelodeon’ or panorama. Anything ‘orama’ is fun.”
The last word goes to the hugely impressive Michelle Obama: “Strong men, men who are truly role models, don’t need to put down women to make themselves feel powerful.”
James Neophytou
