We are not ardent followers of politics as such. We don’t seem to be interested in Indian political scenario so we can’t expect ourselves to even look through international politics. But there are times when certain things tend to change our notions about things we hate from the bottom of our heart. One such thing was the race for Presidential candidacy and then the American general elections. It was not because we were concerned about global economic meltdown or recession or terrorism for that matter. It was because first time we saw the rise of someone very unconventional to the US supremacy. The duel between a black Obama and a white Hillary Clinton did not just make news; it depicted a beginning of history of sorts. Obama went on to take over as the first African-American and the first Hawaiian born President of the United States of America. At the age of 48 the kind of position that Obama is at this point of time is worth admiration.
In his second year at Harvard Law School, in 1990, he was elected the president of law review. As he was the first black to be elected for this position, it was a widely reported and much publicized event. Because of the publicity that he garnered at Harvard, he was offered a fellowship from the university and an office from where he could write the book. Most of the part of the book was written in Bali and the book was named Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. This manuscript was published in 1995.

Obama was born to a Kenyan father, Barack Hussein Obama II, and an American mother, Ann Stanley Dunham and hence had a multi-racial heritage. His father was of Luo tribe of Kenya. Hussein was the middle name as Barack Obama Sr. had adopted Islam. Ann Dunham was an American born and brought up in Kansas state. His father died in a car accident in a road accident in the year 1982. Before his death, his father had met Obama only once in 1971. So all he knows about his father is through his stories and photographs. Obama’s mother married an Indonesian student Lolo Soetoro and after that they all moved to Jakarta, Indonesia. Till his fourth grade Obama lived in Indonesia and attended all local schools over there.
Barack Obama has admitted in his autobiography that all through his childhood he tried hard to find answers for his questions on his multicultural and multi racial heritage. After his law study he could have easily taken a job but his values and mother’s teachings him to do something for the society and the less privileged ones.

Barack Obama had five major reasons for failing in his motive – his black ancestry, a white country, his young age, his dark past (Obama is said to have gone through a phase of drug and alcohol addiction) and his inexperience. But the fact that he won the elections of the supreme power that is USA renders all pre-conceived notions futile and worthless. He has shown through his persona that inabilities and inefficiencies are not so powerful as to block the paths. Your ambitions and aspirations can nevertheless be fulfilled if you have the required gumptions and will-power to defend yourself and attack the other when the need be. There are a lot of candidates that stand for elections. None of usually feel positive about many of them. Some are too old, some are too cheesy, some are too fat, some are too corrupt and some of them are just nothing at all. There is ‘n’ number of reasons to criticize our politicians. But Obama’s existence keeps our hopes alive that there still are sensible politicians out there who definitely care about their people and not just their people but others as well. When Obama gave his victory speech at Chicago’s Grand Park, you could see people stepping up and acting, even if they’ve never been involved in politics before. Every eye had a tear that day and November 4th 2008 was written in the books of American history.

Let’s just read some extracts from his historic speech in Chicago –

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

“Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.”

“Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.”
“To those — to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.”

The extracts are just a few inspiring ones while the fact remains that Obama is always worth listening. We see every American and global issue referred right from the economy, the Iraq war and the Global Warming, It was to America’s friends and foes and to every single citizen who is going to be affected by the elections. The likes of Jesse Jackson and Oprah Winfrey were seen weeping in the crowd.
Such a personality is always worth a read.

“Dreams from My Father” covers everything from Barack Obama’s childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia to his community work in Chicago, his inspiring journey to meet his father’s family in Kenya coming to terms with the death of his absent father, the fact of being raised primarily by his white grandparents and the ins and outs of being a community organizer in Chicago. It’s very motivating to watch Obama move through his problems and always looking at two sides of the issue while resolving it, something that can be used in the managerial life that we as a corporate are going to face in coming years. Obama has shown this both in personal life as well as in his political career. It’s always easy to prove bad guys wrong but the fact that Obama simply thinks his way through them and goes far beyond them much too all our knowledge to become the President of USA.

Let’s now go through some of the quotes used in the book:

“Our rage at the white world needed no object, he seemed to be telling me, no independent confirmation; it could be switched on and off at our pleasure”. [Page No. 62]

“That’s just how white folks will do you. It wasn’t merely the cruelty involved; I was learning that black people could be mean and then some. It was a particular brand of arrogance, an obtuseness in otherwise sane people that brought forth our bitter laughter. It was as if whites didn’t know they were being cruel in the first place. Or at least thought you deserving of their scorn”. [Page No.62]

"I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites."

The above quote depicts that insecurities can grapple you at any age and any time and can be the master players in pulling you down.

"I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa, that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, Dubois and Mandela."

Obama made sure that he gave due credit to people who deserved it.

"It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names."

The above quote points out the fact that great personalities also have gone through tough times and pressures where there were situations where you needed to choose between your ideals and your fate.

“Sister Regina,” Marcus said. “You know Barack, don’t you? I’m trying to tell Brother Barack here about this racist tract he’s reading.” He held up a copy of Heart of Darkness , evidence for the court. I reached over to snatch it out of his hands….
I tossed the book into my backpack. “Actually, he’s right,” I said. “It is a racist book. The way Conrad sees it, Africa’s the cesspool of the world, black folks are savages, and any contact with them breeds infection.”
Regina blew on her coffee. “So why are you reading it?”
because the book teaches me things,” I said. “About white people, I mean. See, the book’s not really about Africa. Or black people. It’s about the man who wrote it. The European. The American. A particular way of looking at the world. If you can keep your distance, it’s all there, in what’s said and what’s left unsaid. So I read the book to help me understand just what it is that makes white people so afraid. Their demons. The way ideas get twisted around. It helps me understand how people learn to hate.”
“And that’s important to you.”My life depends on it, I thought to myself. But I didn’t tell Regina that. I just smiled and said, “That’s the only way to cure an illness, right? Diagnose it.”

Now that’s the uncanny ability that Obama possesses. The ability to look towards the positive side of even something as sharp as hatred. The above extract substantiates the fact that it’s not just voicing our hatred that’s going to help us in our journey, it’s also the fact that we’ll have to change ourselves and our perceptions to get things right, to face problems, analyze them and then resolve.

Here are some quotes of Barack Obama while he has spoken – on TV, news, shows etc.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

“Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.”

“I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed of is a dumb war. What I am opposed of is a rash war.”

“If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.”

“Issues are never simple. One thing I’m proud of is that very rarely will you hear me simplify the issues.”

“It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little better than the one we inhabit today.”

“My job is not to represent Washington to you, but to represent you to Washington.”

“My parents not only showed improbable love, they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me a African name, Barack, or blessed, believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success.”

“The fact that my 15 minutes of fame has extended a little longer than 15 minutes is somewhat surprising to me completely baffling to my wife.”

“There is not a liberal America and a conservative America – there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America – there is the United States of America. “

“We can’t drive our SUV’s and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees all the times… and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen.”

“We have an obligation and a responsibility to be investing in our students and our schools. We must make sure that people who have the grades, the desire and the will, but not the money, can still get the best education possible”

“I am asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington… I’m asking you to believe I yours.”



1) Obama has epitomized the meaning on “Change” and has gone ahead and shown us how far a person go with a consistent grit and determination. This quote teaches us a very important fact of life that one can’t wait for things to happen. If things have to happen, they have to be brought about. Responsibility has to be taken to change things and not just play a victim to circumstances.
2) And Obama has shown it to everyone. During the time he was working as a community organizer he showed uncanny skills of leadership. His power to step into someone else’s shoes and think through his/her point of view and then making a decision helped him to realize and resolve the problems of the urban poor.
3) Barack Obama was always against the Iraq war and had always criticized Bush administration for not taking proper measures for Americans’ protection. He kept Iraq war on the priority list in his agenda and maintained it throughout his election campaign.
4) As mentioned at the start of this description, Obama had 100 reasons to feel inferior to others and many enemies who always tried to pull him down. But he kept on with his grit and gumption and followed the path that he always wanted to.
5) Obama has always been a staunch lover of humanity. He knew that things don’t happen easily and people put a lot of efforts to achieve them. He knew the power of appreciation and this is what made him a great leader.
6) Obama had a clarity of goals. He knew that he is not here just to win and play politics. He knows his job very well, which is to be for the people, by the people, of the people and to define the true meaning of democracy.
7) The power of positive thinking and strength of character can anytime help you to overcome any disasters that come your way. You always do things for the good and things that happen to you are also for good.
8) Through his graceful eloquence Obama has characterized a generosity of perception and spirit rare in young men of many gifts and charisma.
9) Obama’s life gives us the meditation on the questions and legacy posed by his absent father whom he saw only once. It is also a story of a son learning about frustrated dreams of his father, tragic flaws that he had. Obama had always held his father as a distant paragon but he learnt a hard lesson that there is no use looking into the past because all you have there is disappointment and a lot of questions with no answers to them.



People of mixed heritage raise interesting questions. But this book ends with a spirit of genuine, well-earned affirmation. Barack Obama gives us many lessons to be carried with us in our journey towards the corporate world. He also teaches us the value of hope and optimism in a world full of hatred and jealous people; he makes us realize that will power will always triumph may what come. Life has many questions and every answer cannot be found. But at least attempts should be made. Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst is what Obama teaches us.