BARACK OBAMA
IN HIS OWN WORDS

E D I T E D B Y
LISA ROGAK


Introduction
SOME BELIEVE THE EYES are a mirror to the soul, but
others firmly believe it's a person's words that prove to be a more
worthy indication of what his or her true intentions are.
When the first edition of Barack Obama in his Own Words was
published in the spring of 2007, little was known about the firstterm
senator from Illinois, aside from an electrifying speech at the
2004 Democratic Convention-where he overshadowed the main
attraction, presidential candidate John Kerry. The quotes in that first
edition were meant to serve as an introduction for people curious to
learn where he stood on the issues of the day.
Fast forward to 2008, and oh, what a difference little more than
a year can make. When the primary competition began in earnest,
we didn't know how important Obama's use of language and words
would be to his campaign. Most candidates attract the attention of
potential voters with promises, but Obama drew their notice not
only with his words but also with his delivery style. I saw him speak
for the first time a few months after the first edition of this book was
published, when he was the keynote speaker at an annual meeting of
New Hampshire trial lawyers. It was like he was speaking with the
audience, not at them, and he spoke off the cuff, only occasionally
referring to a single sheet of paper. His tone was self-deprecating
and he peppered his speech with references to the life of a lawyer,
which were met with knowing chuckles. True, it was one lawyer
addressing an audience of other lawyers, but as I looked around the
room, the faces of the people were spellbound. And yes, you could
hear the proverbial pin drop.
People quickly realized that his sound bites were more
thoughtful and, well, more intelligent than the other candidates' in
a race where canned replies were the standard. As a result, he was
quickly thrust into the spotlight. The others scrambled to keep up
by altering their words and speeches, but it was glaringly obvious
that they lacked Obama's gift for turning a phrase.
He not only excels at the spoken word, but the written as well.
By the age of forty-six, he'd produced two well-written memoirs
that he penned without the help of a ghostwriter. Though they lack
the audible inflection and infectious energy of a Sunday preacher,
the words are not much different from his spoken words: they still
jump off the page.
While words have cast Obama into the limelight, they have also
earned him increased scrutiny, especially when uttered by others-
most notably the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. But in every case,
Obama continued to surprise us with his words. For example, in
response to Wright's rhetoric, the senator faced the situation head-on
by talking about what many people would feel uncomfortable saying
out loud in his landmark "A More Perfect Union" speech on race.
VI INTRODUCTION
"I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother-
a woman who helped raise me, a woman who loves me as
much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once
confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and
who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes
that made me cringe," he said.
Americans have rarely experienced a presidential candidate
whose rhetorical style was so crucial to his political platform. And
they have reacted enthusiastically. Some compared it to Martin
Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech; Robert Creamer of the
Huffington Post said that with that one speech, "Obama showed
America that he is the guy you want answering the red phone at 3
a.m." Perhaps more than anything else, and unlike many other politicians,
Obama doesn't talk down to his audiences. Rather, he
addresses adults as grownups, not as three-year-olds.
In this expanded and updated version of Barack Obama in his
Own Words, I've added more of the senator's quotes as well as excerpts
from several of his best-known speeches, including the famous speech
on race he gave in the spring of 2008. The resulting book acts both as
a guide to where he stands on the issues and a compendium of his
most famous words and phrases from the 2008 campaign.
Though a flurry of books have been published about the president-
elect since he first gained widespread attention during primary
season, this second edition of Barack Obama in his Own Words was
expanded and revised after Obama won the nation's highest office.