There have been countless books written about Barack Obama over the past 12 years, some have been blistering critiques of our nation's 44th (and first African-American) President. Some have been puff pieces. When I started to read David Mendell's "Obama: From Promise to Prosperity", and discovered that the author was a newspaper reporter, I was half expecting a hatchet job. Instead, what I got was a very objective and respectful treatment of President Obama.
Mendell's writing includes a biography of the Hawaii native and it includes interviews he conducted with Obama's half-sister who lives in Hawaii, his maternal grandmother (now deceased), who helped raise him, childhood friends and his basketball coach. Mendell then takes the reader through Obama's undergraduate collegiate years at Occidental College and Columbia University. The author discusses Obama's law school term at Harvard, focusing on his willingness to listen and respect opinions and ideas contrary to his own.
As expected, Mendell writes extensively about Obama's political career, starting with his first campaign for the Illinois state senate and including his unsuccessful run for Congress in 2000. The author shares his observations of the candidate and politician Obama, and includes interviews with Michelle Obama. Mendell pulls no punches when he describes Barack Obama's occasional bouts of condescension toward reporters and others. However, he also discusses Barack's thoughtfulness and compassion for the less fortunate.
In total, David Mendell presents a balanced approach to covering Barack Obama, and makes frequent reference to Obama's memoir, "Dreams From My Father". This work of non-fiction should be included in any college course on political science as well as any personal reading list of anyone interested in American political figures.
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