27. Book Review: Inside Obama’s Brain by Sasha Abramsky

The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44^th President of the United States of America signified renewal or rebranding of America, a sense of the ideal America finally within reach. Obama and his accomplishments have created history in world politics and to study the person, his personality and his leadership in depth, Sasha Abramsky has created an intriguing read covering different aspects of Obama’s life and his journey. While describing the big event Sasha has written “America, the country that lavished wealth and attention on the few while neglecting the needs and stories of the many, is being ushered out today. Welcome to the unveiling of a new-model America. Welcome to a new beginning.” America has witnessed disparity in race, identity, gender, national visions and community for ages and to elect Barack Obama as the first black president of the country was a great transformation within the country and its individual voters who had held their own prejudice with regards to the issue for ages.

The book answers “What is inside Obama’s brain, what makes Obama tick?” It takes into consideration questions like, how does he approach a problem? What idea and intellectual theories make up his political beliefs? The author has answered these questions and many more in the course of the book producing testimonials from the former president’s family, friends, and colleagues and talking on different aspects of his life at various stages. He is in a way the lead member of what New Yorker editor David Remnick and others have termed the Joshua Generation- A generation of highly educated and intellectual, professionally employed African American who have a sense of power, responsibility and their obligation towards the community. The supporters have said that Obama’s was no ordinary presidency with his once-in-a-lifetime leadership.

This book is not just a political read but is also of great significance for anyone interested in group culture- political or corporate. The writer has not necessarily focused on Obama’s life as a president but rather his journey towards being one by taking into account the POV’s of many people who knew him from his days in Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Cambridge. The first seven chapters talk about the interior working of his mind and the last three chapters focus on his personality and behaviour as a politician and how that persona has been moulded with time and experience.

Obama is known for being the master communicator of his generation with impressive community organizing skills and understanding which has helped the country to approach both race relations and policy discussions with a clearer prospective. He is said to be a writer first and then a politician, his habit of extensive reading and writing with fresh take on issues made his columns and opinion pieces popular in public.

Abramsky has cited many examples of Obama described by his close ones to express his personality in real life. One such story was Chicago attorney Judson Miner, a former colleague of Obama recalling his ability to stay extremely focused even in the most inconvenient circumstances.  The writer has also mentioned Barack Obama’s book Dreams of My Father multiple times while talking about the latter’s family.

Talking about Obama’s struggle, Abramsky says that, success rarely comes to those too stubborn or rigid to acknowledge that many problems have more than one legitimate solution and one needs to dive into the depth of it to come up with the best possible way. According to him Obama’s one of the best trait was his receptive attitude towards criticism without it affecting his confidence and his willingness to work on it constructively.   

The author has interviewed multiple individuals close to Barack Obama to come up with a detailed study on his thinking and attitude. He has repeatedly compared Obama with Lincoln and Kennedy and labelled him as a transformational leader who thinks out of the box to bring progressive changes in the country.