I doubt many readers even noticed I was gone, as my friend Stephen Kaufman did such a great job updating the blog while I was out on another assignment. I had fun reading his work, I hope you did too.
While I was traveling, I read Dreams From My Father, President Obama’s first book, written in 1995, nearly a decade before the majority of Americans had even heard of him. In this autobiography, Obama focuses on race, particularly by exploring his own unusual background. It’s a very self-reflective book, which mostly takes place in Hawaii, Chicago and Kenya. At times Obama is very critical of himself, showing a side of him not often seen by the American public today.
Many political leaders write memoirs, but rarely have they written books before their political careers took shape. Had Obama written it when he was already on a national stage, knowing it would be scrutinized by millions of Americans, I wonder if stories would have been portrayed differently.
Have you read Dreams From My Father? If so, what did you think of it?
Comments (10)
r
20 October 2009 at 01:28 EDT
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Welcome back and in your absence you friend really looked after the garden well. My greetings to both of you with love before I get on with my second comment on “I am back”.
r
20 October 2009 at 02:21 EDT
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For writing on “I am back” I would briefly like to bring in my own cousin Mr M M Luther in the form of a personal letter to him and then thereafter read the rest that follows.
So here I am on it that runs as under:-
“I don’t want to accept you as my friend Mohan Bhai - I want to accept you as my relation dearer than a friend - now, Would you like to come over and see us all with the good latency of the past when my Bhua (your mother) had the genetic right to prevail on all of us as family with love - “courtesy our oldies”? How do you like my saying this even for your elder brother Jagdish Bhai who is brother of all brothers in our family as unit with the missing links of Prem, Parkash and Rajender now. I think his matured sense will pick on me as a child making the cocks fight in Gujar Basti of Lyallpur now in west Pakistan - not to say the least, he also enjoyed at my cost when he saw a home fed Murga (Cock) chasing me in the angan (yard) of our house in Gujar Basti and I know that as his child’s delight for my child then? How would you like this on my retaining this as good memory of my childhood?
Well that self delight of my childhood remains even now and that is why I am on it as the youngest brother of our eldest brother Jagdish for you as his (Jagdish’s) younger brother courtesy by names Ram Piyari/Lalchand/Girdhari and Sushila with respect.
You see Mohan Bhai, when the intellect in one builds up, the gross of it becomes layers over the natural instinct of the child. It is necessary for all to clean that gross like we delete unnecessary files on our computer and make the computer fresh for our psyche on it?
For intellect to remain fresh and light more or less the same principle applies?
Now, Read Yogesh Saxena’s history on your blog (meant for Obama) under the Diwali greetings and you will know how the gross has made his intellect a disease of grooves. Thank God India does not have a Prime Minister of the caliber of his intellect that has a beautiful mesmerizing language to express for others to digest.
“When foreign powers read such matter meant for public consumption, they wonder what a Hindu is and what is Hinduism disregarding the song of Geeta that teaches all equally with perceptions in independent ways of one’s democratic essence in inherent terms of health where, “to perceive action in inaction and inaction in action” truly stands as Person for its outward action of intellect on it not chasing the crooked shadows of Hell and Heaven as the intellect of a so called luminary of life comes to project for public consumption of independence on it? (I think India’s government through its Home Ministry should appropriately react on correction of such intellectual thefts for public consumption at large in particular at the governing levels of the minds of other countries on India).
If some one has the insight on the mortals that are currently in play of leadership then any body would accept such matter politically but certainly not on the poison or the nectar of personalities not living because no body morally should lie on its right to offer political analysis of history consuming his or her own status of work be it a lawyer or judge or for that matter any body of life where adversary comes along side praise of its mixed whole that confuses Minds and their independence for good right actions according to times?
? - That is where, I feel Obama should also feel when Michelle says “I am back” like I have said explaining myself the same way in a different sense for the past departed personalities standing of zero state for zero plus on it of charge that is of true wisdom for pragmatic wisdom to stay through transcendence of what according to one’s true ability stands because true ability always keeps moving building the healthy intellect alongside; that “universally speaks according to the requirement of the time as rule”? When you say Michelle “Many political leaders write memoirs, but rarely have they written books before their political careers took shape,that is a well judged comment rather strikingly a great comment because it is child within one’s self of experience that can only write a book to reap the harvest of it when that child through one’s Person becomes the accepted top leader of nation as Obama is standing now on its pillars for the world today for reforms with all the dignity and honor to accept for the good of life overall.
It is always good for one to carry one’s inner self as an empty book because books by authors of life automatically emerge on it out of it. Thanks for allowing me this comment on your web comment saying “I am back”.
Zbyněk Smetana
Location: Czech republic, Europe
21 October 2009 at 03:33 EDT
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Welcome back, I think that many attentive readers indeed noted your absence, though Stephen Kaufman really did a great job.
In my case is book Dreams From My Father tightly connected with this blog, because I have read this blog since I finish reading of president Obama´s first book. The main reason why I have started to read this blog is that I wanted to know what the man who wrote a such interesting book do in the office. I think that it is a excellent and inspiration book. For me personally - because I´m from Europe - this book also gave a view on problem of race in the USA. It is not so that I hadn´t know anything before I read Obama´s first book but his story gave me a new point of view. I like the most the part of the book which takes place in Chicago. An effort to improve situation of others people and the interest in how to improve a quality of public affairs made a great impression on me. In my country the public - particulary older generation which grow up during communism - is still passive towards state, municipalities and so on and don´t pay a great attation to public affairs. A common question is “Why should I try to improve something? It should do a state.”
I have read several books about president Obama since he took place in the office because I´m interested in president Obama background, his worldview, values and approach in politics, especially in his foreign policy.
There is a seriuos discussion in my country (Czech republic) abour president Obama ´s foreign policy, especially towards Central Europe and relatons with Russia. Many peole in politics and academic sphere think that Obama does a wrong foreign policy and also that he does not take a care about Central Europe. I think -according to what I have read - that president Obama just tries to use a little different approach to making a foreign policy of the USA than is a tradional approach. I think that this is because president Obama has a different backgroud and worldview than a lot of other politicians who were in the USA administration for many years. And I also hope that I don´t fail in my assessment.
Zbyněk Smetana
Czech republic
PS: Sorry for my English, but I hope that it is clear what I want to say;-)
ilyas mohsin
22 October 2009 at 02:56 EDT
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welcome back!
Zbyněk Smetana has made a delightful
assessment of the book by President Obama. Though Czechs were not known for slave-trade/slavery since Renaissance yet European mindset has been, generally, cocky. While Britain started this evil in search of money, others vied with them on the same. The colonial experience was a curse which dehumanized all involed. It created colonials who pretended to be masters, generally, of all they surveyed while those suffering their rule became ’slaves’ till the 1930’s.
To my mind the sterling quality displayed by President Obama in describing his story
is lack of malice which others normally find hard to repress.
He gives the impression of having learnt much in life, thanks to his personality, exposure and worldview. Despite being poor compared with his predecessor, he had seen more of the world before he took the Presidential oath. The latter had only visited Mexico and that too as Governor of Texas. What a tragedy for US which is now paying for her colossal mistakes over the last 8 years?
Now Obama faces all the dirty music? Good Luck to him despite the vicious lobbies/ vested interests dominating the US.
r
22 October 2009 at 10:36 EDT
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Obama is not facing music. Let us not go into the inroads of a personality. That will be wrong for any body to get hammered and no body would like that position. Inroads change their course and no body will come to know about those. So, the best for any one would be to creatively lead the power and not the person standing over it.
r
22 October 2009 at 08:05 EDT
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This is a sum up comment for all comments on this blog or bloc to say that language of thought, language of intellect based on thoughts and knowledge using words are never complete for anyone on anything because it is basically ego that comes to hold Mind with one’s hidden properties of the one soul of life in many representing different directions to absorb in silence if not understood in reference to the context of the subject where experience that is of its relative form connected with the mind only comes into the picture for play and communications. This is one aspect of the soul that is relatively placed through the mind and ego.
The other only aspect is proceeding from the permanent experience state of the soul that envelops its only being of ego’s nature in life into the zero plus state of power. When that emerges in life on the scene of earth out of silence for communications, it expects no apologies from any one in life because it is not ego.
To end on this communication that has volumes and volumes of self knowledge experience behind it of its crux, not going too far with it to say that only the Supreme Power of the Absolute can dissolve those experiences for the being to become nudity of it through ordinary communications using the ordinary consciousness of life’s skills on it and in that respect, I also accept myself as the learner for the normal ordinary ego in life to get some right meaning out of those and that remains a constant search in me because the communications basically are meant to initiate individual as well as integral transformation through the human consciousness and human consciousness is a deep ocean; the deeper one goes the deep it becomes in Infinite terms for life. Those Infinite terms come in as Divinity of the Absolute for life and that is where I am engaged in as the ordinary of life. On that, I thank all those for bearing with me even if they have taken me as trash on the scene of life – no regrets even then because as dedicated to my work I am not supposed to bother myself but I am definitely allowed to politely poke under the work of transformation of life. Thank you Michelle for allowing me this comment on your caption “I am back”.
Joyce Whitehead
Location: Eccles, nr.Manchester, UK
22 October 2009 at 10:14 EDT
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I have read both ‘Dreams From My Father’ and ‘The Audacity of Hope’ (I read them shortly after he was elected) and the thing that comes across most strongly, besides, of course, his eloquence, is his honesty.
I have since read other books about him by other people and of course taken great interest in his actions since taking office and I can only say that my opinion of him has been enhanced.
I would recommend anyone to read both of these books.
ilyas mohsin
22 October 2009 at 23:40 EDT
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Michelle
can you help me understand what r means by ‘to become nudity of it ‘ or ‘the
inroads of a personality or “This is a sum up comment for all comments on this blog or bloc to say that language of thought, language of intellect based on thoughts and knowledge using words are never complete for anyone on anything because it is basically ego that comes to hold Mind with one’s hidden properties of the one soul of life in many representing different directions to absorb in silence if not understood in reference to the context of the subject where experience that is of its relative form connected with the mind only comes into the picture for play and communications. This is one aspect of the soul that is relatively placed through the mind and ego.”
sorry for the bother.Thanks.
r
24 October 2009 at 07:31 EDT
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Michelle this is a matter related with self knowledge on it where the concept of each for its own comes into the picture for wisdom to build up its relation with wisdom for the seeker on it through experiences in Silence defined the way “r” has done just once to give a lead for all that should normally not invite any explanation because it is subtly held in the Divinity of life on self transformation both individually based and universally based with its extension of aroma on it. The matter of “r” is not personally based; it is impersonally based in sharing under the true hand of friendship that has to critically run over the legacy of the past with reasoning and logic with either acceptance or rejection in one’s own personal way on it where regrets do not come into the picture. Thanks for bearing with “r” on “r”.
Tiger
Location: Calicut India
24 October 2009 at 23:35 EDT
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Good to have you back. I have read excerpts from the book. It seems good in terms of the search for one’s existence. It also appeals to me as it tells that acceptance is one’s own perception and if you believe you would be the ‘one’