Former US President Barack Obama is an inspiring leader. Not just for his constituents or political followers but for people across the world. A mixed race person with joint African and American ancestry, he defied all odds to rise meteorically through the US political ladder to become its first African-American president in history.
A man of extraordinary oratory skills and a considerable aura of personality, Obama surprised me also as a writer of great skills. In the 700-page tome 'A Promised Land' he walks the reader through his life and philosophy. Naturally, the book is dominated by his political odyssey starting from a state senator to federal senator and then the president. But for me the book would have been uninteresting if it were only a journal of his political endeavors. I found the book interesting because Obama mixes his political views, details of his journey with deep and sometimes surprising touches of philosophy, his wide sphere of knowledge of society and humanity, his outbursts of empathy for ordinary people and his willingness & ability to think from other person's perspective even in the most prejudiced situations.
While the book gives a wide perspective of the current US political complexities, it also connects to the reader's own life. Obama, through is stories of family, relationships, early life struggles and even the inner turmoil he went through while trying to find best course of action as the world's most powerful man, connected to my own life challenges. The wide gamut of emotions as a son, spouse, father, friend, colleague and other aspects of a public life frequently overwhelm him in the same way as a layperson like me. He shows that despite once being the most powerful person on earth, he is still a human.
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