Obamanos*

When I started reading Dreams From My Father; A Story of Race and Inheritance, by Barack Obama, the author was wrapping up his long campaign for President of the U.S. Just a week later as I was reading the last part of the book, he had become our President-Elect.

The book is divided into three parts: Origins (early days and family); Chicago (what it means to be an organizer on the South Side of Chicago); and Kenya (traveling around the country, meeting his relatives and finding out about African life and culture). I would go from reading about "Barry," as his Kenyan relatives call him, drinking tea outside his grandmother's hut, to watching the excitement on Election Night as the newly elected President-to-be greeted adoring crowds in Chicago and around the world. I couldn't help wondering what that far-flung family was feeling about their boy.

It's a fascinating book, written while he was still a law student, that will give you an idea of the background and character development of the man we will be getting to know even better. You will be there when he meets Reverend Jeremiah Wright and hears his first Wright sermon, entitled "The Audacity of Hope." That is also the title of the next Obama book that I'll be reading.

*****

*seen on a New Mexican bumper sticker shortly before the election. It would translate into something like "let's go for Obama."