"Barack Obama is what comes at the end of that bridge in Selma," said Congressman John Lewis.
David Remnick, Editor-in-Chief of New Yorker magazine, has stitched together another great book, The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama.
Remnick is the author of two of my favorite books. The first, Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire, which discussed the fall of the Soviet Empire in which Remnick deservedly, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1994. The second book is The King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero, the story of Muhammad Ali, the most detailed and gripping biography of the boxing legend.
Both books are still in print, which as a bookseller I recognize as a sign of endurance and sustainability. And both books are still with us, breathing life and healthy as ever. They are both classics. Neither book has been matched since their publications. Lenin's Tomb was released in 1993 and King of the World in 1998.
Lenin's Tomb tells the story of the fall of the Soviet empire from Remnick's perspective as a journalist in Moscow. It attempts and succeeds in answering the question of why communism and more importantly, the Soviet Empire fell. The book links us to a country far, far away. And Remnick puts you there.
In the King of the World, Remnick tells the story of a living legend that I admired because he was willing to give up everything important to him in defense of a principle. He would not fight in a war because he didn't have a beef with the Viet Cong. Ali was a true Profile in Courage, and dearly paid a price, giving up his peak boxing years for something he believed and felt inside. And Ali was someone I wished I had met and still hope to meet him one day so I can tell him my great admiration for his great sacrifice.
The Bridge, on the other hand, is about a subject that I have met, President Barack Obama. This book transforms for me what I wish King of the World were. In The Bridge, I had a ringside seat to American History. I was able to obtain the best tickets and had a great view of one of the most magical transformations in American History. The book is more fascinating to me because in many ways, I am part of the narrative of this book, unlike the other two books, has deeper emotion and feeling and tugs at our heart.
Not only can Remnick put sentences together in a gripping and compelling fashion, his research of his subject is top notch. He gets the interviews that few can snag. Ben Smith of Politico complained he tried to get Bill Ayers and others who attended an event when Obama was running for Illinois State Senate, to discuss the event at Ayers home. The event was immortalized by Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. But it took Remnick to actually get the interviews necessary to make for a clear narrative.
When I first wrote about that gathering at Ayers's and Bernadine Dohrn's house that helped launch his political career, it took days to get two people who had been there to confirm the event happened. But the same people — including Ayers — are far more comfortable talking to the editor of the New Yorker after the election has passed and, ironically, telling a story that helps confirm Obama's centrist past and give the lie to some of the more strident depictions of him today.
As I review others he interviewed that many could not get, I realize, that is part of Remnick's genius: hard work, tenacity, and dare I say, audacity. And having been involved with many of the events in my ringside seat to these events, my respect for Remnick jumps by leaps and bounds because for me it increases exponentially Remnick's credibility. He was not there for most of these events, but he re-creates them like a true master. And like any great historian such as Doris Kearns Goodwin, David McCullough, Stephen Ambrose, the historian puts you there. Doris Goodwin puts you with Lincoln in the Team of Rivals, David McCullough with Truman throughout his life. And Stephen Ambrose on the trail with Lewis and Clark in Undaunted Courage. All historians I admire and I now place Remnick in that class.
The Bridge is a must read for anyone fascinated by American History, which, frankly, is a very relatively small number, but it is a must read for anyone fascinated by this man Obama, which is becoming an increasingly large number. At this point in time, there is precious little about the time period that Remnick writes. Outside of Obama's own two book, Dreams from my Father and Audacity of Hope, the first book to really cover this time period is David Mendell's Obama: From Promise to Power. And my own book, Mr. and Mrs. Grassroots.
And now, the most comprehensive work to date, The Bridge. We all know and have read about the Reverend Jeremiah Wright and we viewed interviews with two of Obama's close friends and aides, David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett. And many others too. But in the book, you will learn about such people that came into Obama's life at seminal moments such as Jerry Kellman, Bettylu Saltzman, Ron Davis, Al Kindle, Toni Preckwinkle, Will Burns, and many others that had different degrees of influence in his life.
Remnick interviews all of these people and reveals never before discussed details. A solid basis for the foundation of American History of a President that will likely be written about and discussed hundreds of years from now. Obama's life and Presidency will likely challenge the number of books written (and certainly the number of words will overwhelm the Lincoln stuff) about perhaps our greatest President, Abraham Lincoln, who led the nation at a time of crisis when the union was in serious jeopardy.
President Franklin Roosevelt also led a nation in a time of crisis, led America out of the depths of the depression, and later, fought a World War in Europe and the Pacific.
It is no small coincidence, that Obama has a chance to achieve that same greatness as President because that is not possible without the nation being in crisis. The nation was on the verge of economic collapse, confidence was non-existent in the financial institutions, and it can be argued that Obama walked in like Moses parting the Red Sea and led the nation to safety.
With the stock market as a barometer of the future (rising significantly since he took office) telling us that things are getting better. It may one day be referred to as the "Obama rally." And the evidence is clear that the bleeding in employment has subsided with the March labor report showing an additional 136,000 jobs added to the economy and many economists predicting a sea change in this direction. The passage of an economic stimulus package is reaping many of these employment benefits, and the historic passage of the most significant legislation since the passage of Medicare: the health care reform bill.
The Obama Presidency is on its way. Barack Obama is the ultimate student. When he came into the United States Senate, he was reading Master of the Senate by Robert Caro to gain insight into the workings of the Senate. Obama then devoured books about Franklin Roosevelt when it became obvious to him he would be elected in late 2008 and applied what he had learned about how Roosevelt dealt with the Depression in his decision making as President.
And during the health care debate in Congress, Obama found his inner LBJ, who had a way of dealing with Congress that Obama studied and absorbed through books about LBJ.
Don Hewitt, the producer of 60 Minutes, often admonished his reporters in four words, "Tell me a story." This book, The Bridge, indeed tells us all a story. Some perhaps we had heard before. Obama aficionados have heard many of these stories before. But there are surprises. And for those that are not yet Obama aficionados, the book will enthrall, fascinate, and inspire. But this book breaks new ground in this national quest to answer the question: Where did Barack Obama come from? And what makes this student Obama tick?
The story of Barack Obama begins with his childhood in Hawaii, and later his move to Indonesia and then back to Hawaii. Then to his college days, including a short stint in the Eagle Rock community of Los Angeles at Occidental College, and onto New York city to attend Columbia College and graduate from there. He then found his way to Chicago through Jerry Kellman. In Chicago he worked several different jobs, all low-paying, but for the young Obama, gratifying. Then to Cambridge Massachusetts to Harvard Law school where he not only attended but excelled and made an impact. And then back to Chicago for a bigger impact. Met Michelle Robinson. Married. Wrote a book that he thought sure would be a bestseller (I know the feeling). It was, but not until much later than planned or expected. But everything in its time.
Through this all, David Remnick places us there with Barack Obama and the people he met and interrelated to on this journey. The book is a great mixture of personal detail of Obama's life from a large variety of sources, including dozens of books. We meet friends, relatives, allies, acquaintances, and others that either had a direct or indirect influence on his life.
The book does not delve deeply enough into the "grassroots" of the 2004 Senate campaign, which had planted seeds in the 2000 Congressional campaign. The seeds were firmly planted on March 7, 2000, at a candidates' forum held in the Beverly community of Chicago at Bethany Union Church. This forum was Obama's "Coming Out" party and was his first venture outside of Hyde Park. He mesmerized 600 19th Ward residents that evening, many of which became lifetime supporters and "grassroots" volunteers. This event was one of the very few bright spots of the 2000 campaign, but historically significant because it is the time and place that Obama met and enlisted many of his "grassroots" supporters and organizers. A newspaper columnist from the Daily Southtown (the newspaper is now renamed the Southtown/Star), Phil Kadner, a talented and critically-acclaimed columnist for the Southtown/Star, passed off the event as being dull and ineffective. This is a couple paragraphs from the column in which he grudgingly acknowledges Obama’s impact on March 8, 2000.
"Talking to a handful of residents after the meeting, I would say that Obama was the most effective in pleading his case.
I think Obama would be the most likely to sway opinions in Congress because he's more eloquent,'" said one woman, pretty much summarizing Obama in his closing remarks."
Obama confronted Kadner several years later and challenged Kadner's premise about that night. Kadner continued to defend himself, although both men agreed to disagree which is a common theme with Obama and shows his rich sense of history.
Remnick also passes off as "modest" the seeds of the "netroots" that formed in the summer of 2003 when volunteers outside of the inner circle of the campaign got involved with "meetup.com" and "Yahoo Groups for Obama." It was these seeds that started to spread and grew throughout the campaign and was instrumental in recruiting volunteers throughout the state of Illinois and beyond. I would like to have seen this area further explored.
These are some of the criticisms and shortcomings in the book, but in my view in no way detract from the book. I have no doubt these "grassroots" origins will be explored by historians and biographers.
The book relates many interesting and never before revealed details, such as the admonishment of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley about running Obama’s running against Bobby Rush. "Why did you do that?" Daley asked pointedly. I could just imagine Daley telling Obama that it was "Silly, silly, silly." But not so silly in the larger context of Obama's life and history. Because had Obama won, it would have changed history. Had Obama not run it would have changed history.
And Remnick got his title of the book from a quote by civil rights activist, author, and Congressman John Lewis.
Two years later, in Selma, Lewis led a march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge straight into a blockade set up by Alabama state troopers. The first nightstick came down on Lewis’s skull. The troopers used whips, horses, a hose wrapped in barbed wire. Along with Lewis, ninety demonstrators were injured. At the White House, Lyndon Johnson watched it all on television and deepened his resolve to push the Voting Rights Act. The day before Obama’s Inauguration, which marked what would have been King’s eightieth birthday, Lewis told a visitor at his office in the Cannon House Office Building, "Barack Obama is what comes at the end of that bridge in Selma."
In closing, I found the book to be rich in detail and rich in prose. Warmth and depth of the writer and of its subjects touched me to the core. At the end of The Prologue: The Joshua Generation, Remnick tells a touching story of the reenactment of the march across The Bridge in 2007. It was the warmth and compassion of Obama that I always will remember and it comes through loud and clear in this passage. It showed the compassionate and empathetic part of Obama, that he said came from his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham. I personally witness Obama marching in parades, stopping and talking to people in wheelchairs, despite the fact that the parade was moving along. He would talk for a minute or two and then with that quick burst of energy, he would catch up to the parade and continue waving and smiling, until he spotted another person in a wheelchair. At the time, the cameras weren't rolling. Only my eyes were watching and that is why I believe these events are genuine and mirror the real man. Would he act that way if the camera were not rolling? Yes! Yes! Yes!
Unlike the ritual re-enactments of the Battle of Selma, the reenactments of the crossing of the Pettus Bridge involved no mock violence. the skirmishes were limited to the jostling of photographers trying to get a picture of the Clintons and Obama. Would they stand together and link arms? They would not. But they did share the front row with Lewis and Lowery and younger politicians like Arturo Davis. Along the way, Obama encountered Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, a civil-rights icon in his mid-eighties, who had battled Bull Connor in Birmingham and survived beatings, bombings, and years of slanderous attack. Shuttlesworth had recently had a brain tumor removed, but he refused to miss the commemoration. On the bridge, he chatted awhile with Obama. And then Obama, who had read so much about the movement, who had dreamed about it, took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeve, popped a piece of Nicorette gum in his mouth, and helped push the wheelchair of Fred Shuttlesworth, across the bridge to the other side.
The Bridge by David Remnick, page 16
As John Lewis said, it was Obama who was on the other side of the bridge, pushing those in need and followed by a large crowd of people of all races, beliefs, and creeds. Why did John Lewis cross the bridge? To get to the other side and find Barack Obama. In a larger sense, John Lewis found hope and change and what they were really fighting for all these many years: freedom.
This is a must read for those interested in a gripping, compelling, and entertaining telling of American History and to learn more about this man Obama.
John Presta is the author of a book published by The Elevator Group, Mr. and Mrs. Grassroots: How Barack Obama, Two Bookstore Owners, and 300 Volunteers Did It. John is also a regular contributor to the progressive political blog, The Daily Kos and is a columnist on the Chicago Examiner as the Chicago City Hall Examiner and the Chicago Grassroots Politics Examiner.