The Bridge: The Life of Barack Obama D. Remnick

This book so far(I am half way through)is an interesting, detailed, and fairly objective look at a fascinating individual, Barack Obama. It gives the reader a clear picture of how truly amazing his rise to the Presidency has been. It's so improbable that one would not believe it unless it happened, which it did. It begins with a portrait of Hawaii, where Barack was born, to a Kenyan father and an 18 year old mother, a freshmen at UH, who had recently moved to Hawaii with her parents. His parents soon divorce, as the father leaves the family after less than a year, not to return for 10 years. His mother soon marries a Muslim from Indonesia, also a student at UH. They move to Indonesia, where his mother immerses herself in a foreign culture, the beginning of her passion for 'learning about and understanding the 'other.' Barack ends up at both a Muslim school, where he is identified as a Muslim, because that's what his step father was, and he also goes to a catholic school. He fits in fairly well, though he never learns the language. He does develop a sense for another culture, an appreciation for its diversity, and it is built upon when he returns to Hawaii, to attend Punahou and live with his grandparents for the next six years, till he graduates and goes to Occidental. Much is made of the fact that he does not have the typical black experience, one of having been brought up in a ghetto, with the encumbrances that brings, a sense of victimization, of anger toward the white community, of 'us versus them'. Because he goes to Punahou, and his mother is white, he seems to glide through school, well liked and liking most everyone, though as he gets into the upper school, he begins to identify with Blacks, though the school has few black students. He does well enough in his studies, plays basketball, his passion for much of his life, and has three or four good friends, mostly Asian, and only one good black friend, who tries to school him in blackness. In his book, he looks back at this period as somewhat uncomfortable for him, though most people who knew or taught him never sensed this. It's the beginning of his keeping his feelings and emotions to himself, rarely letting others see his true self. He goes to Occidental, a preppie at first, but begins to fit in with the black students, develop a sense of his identity as a black man, and gravitate towards some of the political rallies at the time, mainly the boycotting of South Africa. He makes little impact on the campus, but it's a formative two years, as he leaves much more serious about life, his studies, and his future. He heads to Columbia, holes up in a small apartment, and spends most of his next two years, living like an ascetic (defintely a part of his personality), studying, and getting serious about his life. He continues to refine his sense of self, identify with the Black community, and his roots in Kenya as well as Kansas and Hawaii.

After graduating, he takes a brief job working in an office in New York, but decides to get involved with the underclass and try to effect change from the grassroots. He ends up in Chicago, working in the poor neighborhoods, organizing and educating people about their rights and needs. It's an almost impossible job, one that burns out many individuals, but its a tribute to Barack and his care that he sticks at it for two years. It's the beginning of his political education, as he gets to know, for the first time, the 'underlcass', understand their problems, and empathize with their plight. and he makes his first of many connections with the Chicago political world, a must if you want to get ahead in politics. He impresses all with whom he works, but all also realize that this will not be his life's work, that he will be moving on. He does...matriculating to Harvard Law where he becomes the second black editor ever for the Law Review. He's respected by all his classmates, even the conservatives, and because he gets along with them, as well as his white classmates, and does not hang out only with his black classmates, he gets elected. Also all who knew him then talk about his ability to listen to all sides, to make people feel as though they are really being listened to. He impresses on only his classmates but his teachers, all who seem to know him; his peers even suggest that the faculty seemed to treat him differently, as if he were almost on their level because of his calm, rational, easy way of dealing with the issues. He leaves Harvard, turns down many offers to clerk for important judges, and ends up at a law firm in Chicago, one which takes on cases involving the rights of the poor, and also ends up teaching at the University of Chicago. He enjoys both of these, and is given wide rein, as he also is writing his first book during this time. He seems to get a great deal of lattitude denied others, as if everyone seems to think he is worth allowing to go his own way. During this time, he makes friends with most of the power brokers in Chicago politics, especially a result of Valerie Jerrett, who seems to be the grand dame of Chicago politics, moving easily between the white liberal elites on the North Shore, and the black community. During this time Obama marries, joins the Reverend Wrights church, and seems to settle down and become fairly middle class. Things change when he decides to run for State Senator, a powerless and futile position, in Chicago politics. He wins but only after an ugly court case, where he proves his predecessor has doctored some of her voters on a petition to run for office. It's pretty clear that if he had lost this suit, she would have beaten him. This is his first dip into politics and though he is resented at first by his fellow black democrats because of his elite credentials, his lack of perceived blackness, and his ability to gain support from the power elite, he ignores them, makes connections with white liberals and conservatives, as well as black politicians, and works tirelessly, as always for his cause.