Dreams from a politician's father

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Cheryl Chan Nolasco was one of the winners of The Philippine STAR’s Lifestyle Journalism awards in 2006, and is a contributing writer of People Asia magazine.

MANILA, Philippines - President Barrack Obama epitomizes the American dream that anyone, regardless of color, creed, race, gender or class, can aspire and become anything they want once they are able and willing to work hard for it.

I picked up a copy of Dreams from My Father expecting to be disappointed as a politician’s rhetoric usually puts me to sleep. But then Barack Obama is hardly your run-of-the-mill politician. The book is so beautifully written it was difficult to put it down.

Published nine years before the senate campaign that made him one of the most influential and compelling voices in American politics, Barack Obama published this memoir that traces his roots. He writes of his struggle to understand how having a black African father and a white American mother shaped him, painting a vivid picture of his childhood, the frustrations of his early years as a community organizer, and finally, his trip to Kenya where he learned about his father’s life. He’s open about a lot of skeletons in his closet, candidly revealing his early drug use and his father’s alcoholism.

This was the man destined to become the first colored president of the United States of America. He is truly multiracial and multicultural. His white grandfather was Scottish, his father an African, his stepfather, Indonesian. He already had the support of Europe, Africa and Asia under his belt even before he bagged the elections.

His paternal grandfather was Muslim, and he himself attended a Muslim school in Jakarta. Conservatives initially balked at this, but it is actually an advantage in the role he faces as president of the First World; President Obama and the Muslim world are likely to approach each other with mutual respect rather than a with a wary eye.

Hawaii has always claimed that Obama’s calm and easy vibe comes from growing up on the islands. He maintained his cool amid muck-racking during the presidential campaign; when the debates got heated he remained level-headed. He overcame racial fears and became the first black president of the United States probably because he goes against the stereotypes held by some about African-Americans. The easy vibe of Hawaii must have rubbed off on him, but his infinite patience must have come from his work as a community organizer.

In Dreams, he recounts the difficulty of the experience, as his program faced resistance from entrenched community leaders and apathy on the part of the residents. I read somewhere that Obama was not exotic to white Americans because he seemed familiar, the really nice guy who went to school with your son, a courteous, well-mannered black man who didn’t seem angry all the time. Would he have turned out this way had his white grandparents scorned his skin color? Would he be the same man if he grew up in the slums of Chicago? Hawaii is truly a melting pot of cultures, large waves of immigrants and tourists form a community that blurs the edges of color and creed. His first taste of the racial divide came a bit later, after he started school at the Punahou Academy. He was fortunate to have white grandparents who doted on him, and a highly motivated mother who woke him up at dawn to teach him supplemental classes in English while they were living in Jakarta.

People are impressed by his rhetoric and intelligence. Would he have turned out this way if his mother wasn’t so dedicated? He himself admits that he made bad decisions as a teenager, indulging in alcohol and drugs. He said he attended classes sparingly, drank beer heavily and tried drugs enthusiastically before political activism led him out of apathy. In a bygone era, such candid declarations would have instantly erased his chances for a political career, but in this day and age, his transparency was viewed as a plus. Aside from drugs, he also wrote about having a white girlfriend in college.

You know how a dog’s ears perk up at attention? I got so curious I Googled “Obama’s white girlfriend.” Hillary Clinton’s camp was supposed to have released the picture of the busty blond in a bikini, it’s such a pin-up shot I’m pretty sure the site is a hoax. But it does make you wonder, if he didn’t end up with Michelle, would he still be as popular? The demographics of Obama’s voters were young, educated, media- and tech-savvy. Could his easy acceptance have been due to the fact that white America has gotten used to having black people everywhere? There has been a generation of famous black people on TV, such as Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods and Morgan Freeman. Reverend Jesse Jackson never had a chance. He was born too soon. 

The book reveals a lot of skeletons in the family closet, perhaps because attaining the highest office in the land was probably not in his plans yet when he wrote this book, or perhaps it was precisely to expose all ills to spare him media scrutiny later on. Whatever the reason, Dreams from My Father was described by Time magazine as the “best written memoir ever produced by an American politician” and its audio book even earned Obama a Grammy for the Best Spoken Word Album in 2006.