Obama-Rama

Every time I'm browsing the book tables at Costco, I linger over Obama: The Historic Journey, the gorgeous New York Times book about President Obama. The photos are magnificent, but I also find myself reading bits and pieces and learning about Obama's life from birth right on up through the inauguration. But I never give in and buy it for myself—I just "visit" it as often as I can.

So you can imagine my delight when my friends at Mom Central sent me a copy of Obama: The Historic Journey: Young Reader's Edition, which, as you can guess, is the same book in an abridged format specifically for kids ages 9–12. It's slimmer (96 pages, compared to 237 pages) and thus less daunting, and the prose has been adapted to be easier for kids to understand. I showed it to my kids and then just left it in the living room; every now and then I notice one of them flipping through it, and they frequently come show me a picture or something interesting they read.

As for me, every time I look at this book, I get that wonderful giddy feeling I had just after Election Day and again on Inauguration Day.

Comments

[dbroc]

How about the day Obama announced he was keeping certain detainees held at Guantanamo indefinitely without charge? That was the day the giddy feeling ended for me. I have great respect for our President and can't tell you how fortunate I feel to have him in place of Bush but I felt betrayed by this decision.

BTW, my resolution to this problem would be to either charge these men or to deport them. We are better off to be a little less safe than to throw away the values that I thought Obama would restore after the last 8 disgraceful years.

[Karen]

Yeah, I know. :-( I went through this with Bill Clinton -- and by "this" I mean learning that the person I was so ecstatic to have elected is not going to do everything the way I want it done. It was a hard lesson to learn, and I was very disappointed on a number of occasions ("Don't ask, don't tell"? Puh-leeze.). I've finally learned to (mostly) accept this reality.

[Elena]

I'm tickled by the Obamas' date night in NYC last night. How fun.

[Stephanie]

I am still happy with President Obama even though he has done some things that disappoint me as well. I think he's still finding his way in what is an incredibly difficult time for the country.

While visiting family in Phoenix, I was shocked to find that they all hate President Obama with a purple passion and can't wait for the chance to vote him out of office. I couldn't get a coherent reason for this reaction to him, just that they really hate he's in office.