John Rawnsley

Although I have read only a few Obama books, and within the range of middle-of-the-road authors (as far as can be), if ever there was a book which could delve into the narrative and detail of Obama's life pre-politics, this is it.  Nearly 600 pages long, this book offers a forensic account of each stage of his life, starting with his grandparents from both sides and across two continents to the honest and open accounts of family and friends. What impressed me most about this book was the research.  David Maraniss uncovered direct stories of people who knew and experienced Obama's various connections and brought it together in a single piece. Maraniss travelled to each location where Obama lived - Chicago, New York, LA, Hawaii, Indonesia (and Kenya where his father is from) - and went to great extents to learn of the history stretching back generations.  To understand Obama this is important, because the strands of his thinking and persona, like all of us, find common thre

Last year I was privileged to be able to travel to the US with a group of young leaders from Asian and Pacific countries as part of the International Visitors Leadership Program^.  Many of the meetings and sessions were organised by local volunteers and the content and context chosen by invited guests. This post* is part 1 about my experiences in Washington D.C. ******************* Introduction - one year on Washington D.C. was my first city to explore. Following the gruelling trip from Sydney to LA, and then across the vast width of the US, I remember arriving late at night at an airport where arrivals catch a tram to the luggage area.  The airport was new and crisp, its walls white and ceilings high.  All the shops were shut, and at one point I was unsure of where to go as our group of arrivals caught elevators down a story to wait for the tram.  Seeing no signs or people to point me in the right direction, I simply followed them. It was put to me the day before by a taxi

In the book, the Social Animal by David Brooks , the author draws on the experiences of a central character and writes: On his wall, Harold had tacked another quotation, from Benjamin Disraeli, 'the spiritual nature of man is stronger than codes or constitutions.  No government can endure which does not recognise that for its foundations, and no legislation last which does not flow from this foundation'. Everything came down to character, and that meant everything came down to relationships, because relationships are the seedbeds of character.  The reason life and politics are so hard is that relationships are the most important, but also the most difficult, things to understand. In short, Harold entered a public-policy world in which people were used to thinking in hard, mechanistic terms.  He thought he could do some good if he threw emotional and social perspectives into the mix.  Socialism  As Harold worked his way through the process of discovering how thi