Barack Obama called his 2008 Presidential campaign “an improbable quest,” but not an impossible one. Whether the quest will go on for another four years is not addressed by the A&E Network biography “Barack Obama: From His Childhood to the Presidency,” nor does the upbeat special address the rabid weirdness of some of those who despise him. Chronicling the highpoints of his pre-Presidential life with insights from the Chicago Tribune’s David Mendell (who began covering Obama during his Illinois years) and others, the program identifies the core of his personality in his ability to negotiate the differences between his white and black identities. Obama’s comfort in finding common ground was expressed with rhetorical flourish in the 2004 DNC speech that gained him the national spotlight. “There is no liberal America. There is no conservative America. There is a United States of America!” he proclaimed. What a pity if he’s proven wrong on that one.
The A&E biography is out on DVD.
