He Can't Dunk, Wore His Hat Cocked To Look Cool And Danced Like Mick Jagger..

I'm in line to get this book at the library when it gets there. I think it will be a very interesting story!

Yep, one interesting and revealing accounts of many, Debbie.....

This was kind of interesting:

"Maraniss points out that Obama’s father and grandfather are members of the Luo clan, a 'fiercely patriarchal' tribe in Kenya, who believe that maternal lineage doesn’t matter. So, any child born to a Luo man, 'will always be a Luo and nothing but a Luo, and when his days are done they expect that he will be put to rest in the Luo burial plot in Nyang’oma Kogelo with his Luo relatives.' Let’s hope they’re not holding their breath."

Vanity Fair has an article too. I'll probably go to B&N and read parts of it, but I don't think it's what you think it's going to be, Sandy. It's a lot of book, but I don't think it's got a lot of depth.

Just take the last part of that quote, for instance. It gives an idea of the slant from which the bio has been written. "Let’s hope they’re not holding their breath." Sure, he's not going to get buried that way, obviously, and that's what I mean. So he didn't go anywhere with it, it doesn't seem to me. He isn't going to tell us how that belief affected him, though I've seen excerpts that Maraniss prefers to make you think had a profound effect on him, whether they really did or not.

From what I read in the Vanity Fair article, along with this, it tells me that he's got some facts that we probably didn't know but he didn't do much with them. He seems to use the facts he has to work in Obama's favor, to paint an overall pleasing picture.

There's a part in the Vanity Fair article where Obama reminisces about a play he saw with a date, but we never know what play it is and we never know with whom he saw it either. It's rather important in the context of the rest of the excerpt, though. So if you think it's going to be something very revealing, I think you're going to be disappointed. I haven't read the book, of course, so we have to wait and see for sure, but I have my doubts that we should get very jazzed over this one.

I totally agree, Sue....... Certainly not jazzed up much here either..... Probably shouldn't have taken the time to post this one but hey, maybe it helps to keep the willful ignorant wondering?

No, why not post it? It's going to come out and people are going say things like Karl said below, and so what? That's the readership for whom the book was written. He's just another normal guy who did all the usual things everyone did at one time or another. That's what the book is designed to do. Good heads up for what you can expect them to say about it after they read it.

That review headline killed me: "Maraniss doesn't miss a detail" Such hyped nonsense!

Gee, I know some habitual pot users. And a couple of genuine womanizers, and a couple of people who actually have a history of dreaming of being President. None of them are much like Barry, Obama or Goldwater.

That's exactly what I meant, Karl. This book is going to say just what you did.

Gee, I knew Goldwater and his wife personally.