Thanks, Obama Sheds Light on Obama’s Presidency

Excerpt

David Litt’s Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years provides an enlightening perspective on the historical US presidency of the first and only African American, Barack Obama, from one of the youngest White House speechwriters in history. The book is a memoir and primarily a story about Litt’s experiences, observations, and thoughts about serving as one of the president’s speechwriters, from 2011 to 2016. The author uses humor to tell an engaging story, and sets the tone by describing the moment he became obsessed with the Illinois senator (P. 18), who he believed could offer America the change it so desperately needed. Seemingly naïve and disgusted by some of the racism he describes as part of the backlash to Obama, Litt gives details about a few instances of the racial backlash he observed prior to his White House career while volunteering for Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign (during his senior year at Yale University) and for the 2010 democratic midterm elections. However, he neglects to give detailed explanations about the racial backlash he observed while working in the Obama White House. He refers often to the backlash perpetrated by the Republican Congress and other political opponents of Obama. Despite his lack of detail about racial backlash during his White House years, Litt ironically concludes that race is one of two issues that defines Obama’s legacy. A few years older and less idealistic about politics, Litt contemplates (in the next to last chapter) whether the first African American president’s legacy will be dismantled by the newly elected President Donald Trump and the congressional Republicans. …