ABOUT THE BOOK Barack Obama: Read, Fit to Lead: Road to the White House, was written for the Daily Challenge, New York City's Only Black Daily newspaper. The first article, "Which Way America?" was penned during the Democratic Primary on eve of the Democratic National Convention. By time of the National Election, nearly a dozen such articles were published in that newspaper, extolling Obama's candidacy, magnetism, strategy, tactics and successes, from the perspective of one person. Table of Contents reads: BARACK OBAMA: AN INTRODUCTION; WHICH WAY AMERICA?; OBAMA: THE PRAGMATIC PATRIOT; "ALL THE MARBLES"; OH, JOHN, NO!; OBAMA THE VISIONARY; BARACK OBAMA: READY, FIT TO LEAD; BARACK OBAMA: THE PEOPLE'S CHAMPION; THE BLACK MAN: "DID IT"; BARACK OBAMA: VICTORIOUS; CONVENTIONS, ELECTIONS AND OUR TIMES; BARACK OBAMA: NUTS AND BOLTS; CONCLUSIONS; BARACK OBAMA: A CONCLUDINJG PERSPECTIVE.
The driving force that fueled this effort is the tremendous interest generated by his candidacy, and not simply because BaraCk Obama was African American; but because of the suavity of the man, his cool demeanor, the depth of his intellectuality, his ability to learn fast, the manner in which he conceptualized readily and well, his big smile, consensus and coalition building, and organizational ability, and the manner in which he attracted untold persons interested in seeing change come to America and wanting to be part of it. As a student long ago, I remember my Professor saying, "Never let a historic situation pass you by without writing about it," and so I wanted to be part of that history. Naturally, as the campaign unfolded and "our candidate" faced the onslaughts, fire in the belly motivated the effort more and thus the work got completed. As all this unfolded a friend suggested, why not package these historic articles and distribute them for the significance of posterity.
