U.S. President Barack Obama in this December 15, 2009 file photo.
Obama’s life narrative is transfixing. If it were a novel, it would
probably be a detective novel with a riveting and merciless plot;
unexpected twists and torturous turns that end with a heavy bang —
leaving us breathless. PHOTO | FILE
“It was early October 2007 in Iowa, the drying stalks still
stood in cornfields grown more precious in the age of ethanol, and far
away, in the moneyed precincts of both coasts, Barack Obama’s top donors
were anxious. Despite having raised heaps of cash, he was trailing
Hillary Clinton by more than 20 points in the national polls with only
three months to go before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus.
For
the worriers, it was getting late. But for Iowa voters, it was early
enough that many barely knew what to make of this biracial rookie
senator and still muffed his exotic name”.
These
words, written by Alec MacGillis, capture Barack Obama’s improbable
quest for the American presidency. Obama’s life narrative is
transfixing. If it were a novel, it would probably be a detective novel
with a riveting and merciless plot; unexpected twists and torturous
turns that end with a heavy bang — leaving us breathless.
From
the start, Obama’s quest for the presidency was doubtful — a black man
with a Kenyan father and an American mother and with a middle name
‘Hussein’ seeking the American presidency.
POLITICAL DYNASTICS
His
middle name, ‘Obama’, was easily confused with ‘Osama’, considered for a
long time, America’s public enemy number one until his death. With such
a name, someone else would probably have given up. After all, they are
used to people with names that sound Irish or Scottish.
However,
Obama’s life’s narrative arc picked up speed when he burst into the
national limelight with the dazzling intensity of a meteor. He wooed and
wowed Americans. With his two beautifully-written books, Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope, he swooped down and Americans swooned over his prose.
It
has been argued in some quarters that not since J.F. Kennedy has a
younger politician so captured America’s imagination. However, Kennedy
came from a dynasty.
As a brilliant
American journalist once wrote, “If America had a Shakespeare, he would
write the Kennedy story. He would understand immediately that here is
all the stuff of human life, out-sized and compelling: Ambition, wealth,
power, passion and love… He would see that this family’s saga is the
story of the whole American Century, distilled to archetypes. The
striving immigrant. The ruthless financier. The noble idealism. The
public’s infatuation with youth and glamour…The cult of celebrity…”.
After
the Kennedy dynasty, American politics has been dominated by known
names — the Bush dynasty and the Clinton juggernaut. The narrative arcs
of Obama’s life sometimes are so jarring in their odds that it seems
almost too good to be true. Indeed, in a way, Obama is the stuff of
American folktales, just like the Kennedys. He is indisputably the
self-styled ‘King of Cool’. In fact, when exiting the presidential
limousine in his black suit and sometimes black goggles, he at times
looks a little too sharp and stylish, like a Hollywood celebrity.
The
plot of his life thickened when then Senator Barack Obama was pitted
against then prohibitive frontrunner, Hillary Clinton, for the
Democratic presidential nomination. Hillary was a formidable opponent
with a terrifying iconography, from corporate lawyer to First Lady and
then to Senator. And she had the services of her husband, Bill Clinton,
the consummate American politician and campaigner. However, Senator
Barack Obama beat Clinton overwhelmingly in the Democratic presidential
nomination, leaving her and her supporters stunned and gasping for air.
CHICAGO WAY
After
the party nominations, then the suspense heightened when the rookie and
unknown senator had to battle it for the American presidency with the
Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, a decorated war hero and
an accomplished political maverick as solidly anchored as a rock;
threateningly unflappable and unmoving. However, it was Obama who proved
the tougher nut to crack.
Obama’s
political fights are fought with surprising intensity and ruthlessness,
reminding one of the words of a character named Jim Malone in the movie
dialogue The Untouchables. Malone says: “They pull a knife, you pull a
gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the
morgue. That’s the Chicago way”. And President Barack Obama likes to
say, “I am skinny but I’m tough. I’m from Chicago”.
When
President Obama entered the White House in 2008 with much aplomb,
ululation and cheers, his life’s narrative proved to be the stuff of
which fairy tales are made of. His life at the White House- the bullet
proof car, the cool plane (Air Force One) and the swift salutes are
straight from the movies. His is indeed an inspiring story made sweeter
for us because of its unique Kenyan roots.
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