CHAPTER - 1 INTRODUCTION

Introduction

Barack Hussein Obama born August 4, 1961 is an American politician,

lawyer, and author who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009
to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first
African-American president of the United States. He previously served as a U.S.
senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997
to 2004.

Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. After graduating from Columbia

University in 1983, he worked as a community organizer in Chicago. In 1988, he
enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he was the first black president of the
Harvard Law Review. After graduating, he became a civil rights attorney and an
academic, teaching constitutional law at the University Of Chicago Law School
from 1992 to 2004. Turning to elective politics, he represented the 13th district in
the Illinois Senate from 1997 until 2004, when he ran for the U.S. Senate. Obama
received national attention in 2004 with his March Senate primary win, his
well-received July Democratic National Convention keynote address, and his
landslide November election to the Senate. In 2008, a year after beginning his
campaign, and after a close primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, he was
nominated by the Democratic Party for president. Obama was elected over
Republican nominee John McCain in the general election and was inaugurated
alongside his running mate Joe Biden, on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, he
was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, a decision that drew a mixture of
praise and criticism.

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CHAPTER - 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Studies

At the age of six, Obama and his mother had moved to Indonesia to join his
stepfather. From age six to ten, he attended local Indonesian-language schools:
Sekolah Dasar Katolik Santo Fransiskus Asisi (St. Francis of Assisi Catholic
Elementary School) for two years and Sekolah Dasar Negeri Menteng 01 (State
Elementary School Menteng 01) for one and a half years, supplemented by
English-language Calvert School homeschooling by his mother. As a result of his
four years in Jakarta, he was able to speak Indonesian fluently as a child. During
his time in Indonesia, Obama's stepfather taught him to be resilient and gave him a
pretty hardheaded assessment of how the world works.

In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal

grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham. He attended Punahou School—a
private college preparatory school—with the aid of a scholarship from fifth grade
until he graduated from high school in 1979. In his youth, Obama went by the
nickname "Barry". Obama lived with his mother and half-sister, Maya Soetoro, in
Hawaii for three years from 1972 to 1975 while his mother was a graduate student
in anthropology at the University of Hawaii. Obama chose to stay in Hawaii when
his mother and half-sister returned to Indonesia in 1975, so his mother could begin
anthropology field work. His mother spent most of the next two decades in
Indonesia, divorcing Lolo in 1980 and earning a PhD degree in 1992, before dying
in 1995 in Hawaii following unsuccessful treatment for ovarian and uterine cancer.

Of his years in Honolulu, Obama wrote: "The opportunity that Hawaii

offered to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect became an
integral part of my world view, and a basis for the values that I hold most dear.
Obama has also written and talked about using alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine

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CHAPTER - 1 INTRODUCTION

during his teenage years to "push questions of who I was out of my mind. Obama
was also a member of the "choom gang", a self-named group of friends who spent
time together and occasionally smoked marijuana.

After graduating from high school in 1979, Obama moved to Los Angeles
to attend Occidental College on a full scholarship. In February 1981, Obama made
his first public speech, calling for Occidental to participate in the disinvestment
from South Africa in response to that nation's policy of apartheid. In mid-1981,
Obama traveled to Indonesia to visit his mother and half-sister Maya, and visited
the families of college friends in Pakistan and India for three weeks. Later in 1981,
he transferred to Columbia University in New York City as a junior, where he
majored in political science with a specialty in international relations and in English
literature and lived off-campus on West 109th Street. He graduated with a Bachelor
of Arts degree in 1983 and a 3.7 GPA. After graduating, Obama worked for about a
year at the Business International Corporation, where he was a financial researcher
and writer, then as a project coordinator for the New York Public Interest Research
Group on the City College of New York campus for three months in 1985.

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CHAPTER - 2 INITIAL STAGES OF POLITICS

Initial stage of Politics

Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, succeeding Democratic

State Senator Alice Palmer from Illinois's 13th District, which, at that time,
spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park–Kenwood south to
South Shore and west to Chicago Lawn. Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan
support for legislation that reformed ethics and health care laws. He sponsored a
law that increased tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform,
and promoted increased subsidies for childcare. In 2001, as co-chairman of the
bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican
Governor Ryan's payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending
regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures.

He was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, defeating Republican Yesse

Yehudah in the general election, and was re-elected again in 2002. In 2000, he lost
a Democratic primary race for Illinois's 1st congressional district in the United
States House of Representatives to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush by a margin
of two to one.

In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health

and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority,
regained a majority. He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of
legislation to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of
drivers they detained, and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate
videotaping of homicide interrogations. During his 2004 general election campaign
for the U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active
engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms. Obama

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CHAPTER - 2 INITIAL STAGES OF POLITICS

resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the
U.S. Senate.

In May 2002, Obama commissioned a poll to assess his prospects in a 2004

U.S. Senate race. He created a campaign committee, began raising funds, and lined
up political media consultant David Axelrod by August 2002. Obama formally
announced his candidacy in January 2003.

Obama was an early opponent of George W. Bush administration's 2003

invasion of Iraq. On October 2, 2002, the day President Bush and Congress agreed
on the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War, Obama addressed the first
high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq War rally, and spoke out against the war. He
addressed another anti-war rally in March 2003 and told the crowd "it's not too
late" to stop the war.

Decisions by Republican incumbent Peter Fitzgerald and his Democratic

predecessor Carol Moseley Braun to not participate in the election resulted in
wide-open Democratic and Republican primary contests involving 15 candidates.
In the March 2004 primary election, Obama won in an unexpected landslide which
overnight made him a rising star within the national Democratic Party, started
speculation about a presidential future, and led to the reissue of his memoir,
Dreams from My Father. In July 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the
2004 Democratic National Convention, seen by nine million viewers. His speech
was well received and elevated his status within the Democratic Party.

Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary

winner Jack Ryan, withdrew from the race in June 2004. Six weeks later, Alan

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CHAPTER - 2 INITIAL STAGES OF POLITICS

Keyes accepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan. In the November 2004
general election, Obama won with 70 percent of the vote, the largest margin of
victory for a Senate candidate in Illinois history. He took 92 of the state's 102
counties, including several where Democrats traditionally do not do well.

Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2005, becoming the only

Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus. He introduced two initiatives
that bore his name: Lugar–Obama, which expanded the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative
Threat Reduction concept to conventional weapons; and the Federal Funding
Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which authorized the establishment
of USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending. On June 3, 2008,
Senator Obama along with Senators Tom Carper, Tom Coburn, and John McCain
introduced follow-up legislation: Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in
Federal Spending Act of 2008. He also cosponsored the Secure America and
Orderly Immigration Act.

In December 2006, President Bush signed into law the Democratic

Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, marking
the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor. In
January 2007, Obama and Senator Feingold introduced a corporate jet provision to
the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, which was signed into law in
September 2007.

Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense

Authorization Act to add safeguards for personality-disorder military discharges.
This amendment passed the full Senate in the spring of 2008. He sponsored the Iran
Sanctions Enabling Act supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil

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CHAPTER - 2 INITIAL STAGES OF POLITICS

and gas industry, which was never enacted but later incorporated in the
Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 and
co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism. Obama also sponsored
a Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program, providing
one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with
combat-related injuries

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CHAPTER - 3 PRESIDENT LIFE

President life

Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began
with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017.
Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following a decisive victory over
Republican nominee John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Four years
later, in the 2012 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee Mitt
Romney to win re-election. Obama was succeeded by Republican Donald Trump,
who won the 2016 presidential election. He was the first African American
president, the first multiracial president, the first non-white president, and the first
president to have been born in Hawaii.

Obama's first-term actions addressed the global financial crisis and

included a major stimulus package, a partial extension of the Bush tax cuts,
legislation to reform health care, a major financial regulation reform bill, and the
end of a major US military presence in Iraq. Obama also appointed Supreme Court
Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, the latter of whom became the first
Hispanic American on the Supreme Court. Democrats controlled both houses of
Congress until Republicans won a majority in the House of Representatives in the
2010 elections. Following the elections, Obama and Congressional Republicans
engaged in a protracted stand-off over government spending levels and the debt
ceiling. The Obama administration's policy against terrorism downplayed Bush's
counterinsurgency model, expanding air strikes and making extensive use of
special forces, and encouraging greater reliance on host-government militaries. The
Obama administration orchestrated the military operation that resulted in the death
of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011.

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CHAPTER - 3 PRESIDENT LIFE

In his second term, Obama took steps to combat climate change, signing a
major international climate agreement and an executive order to limit carbon
emissions. Obama also presided over the implementation of the Affordable Care
Act and other legislation passed in his first term, and he negotiated rapprochements
with Iran and Cuba. The number of American soldiers in Afghanistan fell
dramatically during Obama's second term, though U.S. soldiers remained in
Afghanistan throughout Obama's presidency. Republicans took control of the
Senate after the 2014 elections, and Obama continued to grapple with congressional
Republicans over government spending, immigration, judicial nominations, and
other issues.

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CHAPTER - 3 PRESIDENT LIFE

3.1 Biography

❖ Full Name : Barack Hussein Obama

❖ Profession : Politician

❖ Political Party : Democratic Party

❖ Date of Birth : 4th August 1961

❖ Birthplace : Honolulu, U.S

❖ Nationality : American

❖ Hometown : Kalorama (Washington, D.C.)

❖ School : St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School

❖ College : Harvard Law School

❖ Degree : Harvard University

❖ Height in cm :185 cm

❖ Eye Colour : Dark Brown

❖ Hair Colour : Balck

❖ Favorite Food : Chips and guac

❖ Favorite Books : Matrix by Lauren Groff

❖ Favorite Author : Stephen King (USA)

❖ Favorite Movie : Star Wars

❖ Favorite TV show : Sherlock, The American

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CHAPTER - 4 SWOT ANALYSIS

SWOT Analysis
Strength
● Strengths are the Obama Campaign capabilities and resources that it can
leverage to build a sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Strengths come from positive aspects of five key resources & capabilities
- physical resources such as land, building, human resources, past
experiences and successes, financial resources, and activities.
● Strong Brand Equity and Brand Awareness – Obama Campaign has
some of the most recognized brands in the domestic market it operates in.
According to Mark Vandenbosch, Dan Tolhurst, brand recognition plays a
significant role in attracting new customers looking for solutions in
Government, Marketing adjacent industries.
● Robust Domestic Market that Obama Campaign Operates in - The
domestic market in which the Obama Campaign is operating is both a
source of strength and roadblock to the growth and innovation of the
company. Based on details provided in the The Obama Campaign
Strategy case study – Obama Campaign can easily grow in its domestic
market without much innovation but will require further investment into
research and development to enter the international market. The
temptation so far for the managers at the Obama Campaign is to focus on
the domestic market only.
● First Mover Advantage – Obama Campaign has first mover advantage
in number of segments. It has experimented in various areas of
Government, Marketing. The Sales & Marketing solutions & strategies
has helped the Obama Campaign in coming up with unique solutions to
tap the un-catered markets.

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CHAPTER - 4 SWOT ANALYSIS

● Managing Regulations and Business Environment – Obama Campaign

operates in an environment where it faces numerous regulations and
government diktats. In Government, Marketing areas, the firm needs to
navigate the environment by building strong relationships with lobby
groups and political networks.
● Strong Balance Sheet and Financial Statement of Obama Campaign can
help it to invest in new and diverse projects that can further diversify the
revenue stream and increase Return on Sales (RoS) & other metrics.

Weakness
● Weaknesses are the areas, capabilities or skills in which the Obama
Campaign lacks. It limits the ability of the firm to build a sustainable
competitive advantage. Weaknesses come from lack or absence of five
key resources & capabilities - physical resources such as land, building,
financial resources, activities & processes, human resources, and past
experiences and successes.
● Inventory Management – Based on the details provided in the The
Obama Campaign Strategy case study, we can conclude that the Obama
Campaign is not efficiently managing the inventory and cash cycle.
According to Mark Vandenbosch, Dan Tolhurst, there is huge scope of
improvement in inventory management.
● Implementation of Technology in Processes – Even though the Obama
Campaign has integrated technology in the backend processes it has still
not been able to harness the power of technology in the front end
processes.
● Organization Culture – It seems that the organizational culture of the
Obama Campaign is still dominated by turf wars within various divisions,

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CHAPTER - 4 SWOT ANALYSIS

leading to managers keeping information close to their chests. According

to Mark Vandenbosch, Dan Tolhurst of The Obama Campaign Strategy
case study, this can lead to serious road blocks in future growth as
information in silos can result in missed opportunities in the marketplace.
● Customer Dissatisfaction – Even though the demand for products has
not gone down, there is a simmering sense of dissatisfaction among the
customers of the Obama Campaign. It is reflected on the reviews on
various on-line platforms. The Obama Campaign should focus on areas
where it can improve the customer purchase and post purchase
experience.
● Low Return on Investment – Even though the Obama Campaign is
having a stable balance sheet, one metric that needs reflection is “Return
on Invested Capital”. According to Mark Vandenbosch, Dan Tolhurst in
the area of Government Marketing that the Obama Campaign operates in,
the most reliable measure of profitability is Return on Invested Capital
rather than one favored by financial analysts such as – Return on Equity
& Return on Assets.

Opportunities
● Opportunities are macro environment factors and developments that the
Obama Campaign can leverage either to consolidate existing market
positions or use them for further expansion. Opportunities can emerge
from various factors such as - economic growth, changes in consumer
preferences, increase in consumer disposable income, technological
innovations, and political developments & policy changes.
● Opportunities in Adjacent Markets – Obama Campaign can explore
adjacent industries Government, Marketing to further market growth
especially by extending the features of present products and services.
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CHAPTER - 4 SWOT ANALYSIS

● Lucrative Opportunities in International Markets – Globalization has

led to opportunities in the international market. The Obama Campaign is
in a prime position to tap on those opportunities and grow the market
share. According to Mark Vandenbosch, Dan Tolhurst, growth in the
international market can also help the Obama Campaign to diversify the
risk as it will be less dependent on the domestic market for revenue.
● Developments in Artificial Intelligence – Obama Campaign can use
developments in artificial intelligence to better predict consumer demand,
cater to niche segments, and make better recommendation engines.
● Changing Technology Landscape – Machine learning and Artificial
Intelligence boom is transforming the technology landscape that the
Obama Campaign operates in. According to Mark Vandenbosch, Dan
Tolhurst , the Obama Campaign can use these developments in improving
efficiencies, lowering costs, and transforming processes.
● Reducing Cost of Market Entry and Marketing into International
Markets – According to Mark Vandenbosch, Dan Tolhurst, globalization
along with the boom in digital marketing and social media has
considerably reduced the risks of market entry and marketing in the
international market.
● Increase in Consumer Disposable Income – Obama Campaign can use
the increasing disposable income to build a new business model where
customers start paying progressively for using its products. According to
Mark Vandenbosch, Dan Tolhurst of The Obama Campaign Strategy case
study, the Obama Campaign can use this trend to expand in adjacent areas
Government, Marketing.

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CHAPTER - 4 SWOT ANALYSIS

Threats

● Threats are macro environment factors and developments that can derail
the business model of the Obama Campaign. Threats can emerge from
various factors such as - changes in consumer preferences, increase in
consumer disposable income, political developments & policy changes,
economic growth, and technological innovations.
● Threats of New Entrants because of Reducing Costs and Increasing
Efficiencies – As the Obama Campaign can leverage low cost of reaching
customers using social media and e-commerce, so can the competitors –
both local and international competitors.
● Government Regulations and Bureaucracy – Obama Campaign should
keep a close eye on the fast changing government regulations under the
growing pressure from protest groups and non-government organizations
especially regarding environmental and labor safety aspects.
● Squeezing the Middle Class in Developed and Developing World – The
growing inequality is one of the biggest threats to not only globalization
but also to capitalism. The Obama Campaign first hand witnessed the
impact of it where it has seen lower demand of its products from middle
class customers in the US and EU market.
● Credit Binge post 2008 Recession – Easy access to credit can be over any
time, so the Obama Campaign should focus on reducing its dependence
on debt to expand. The party has lasted for more than a decade and
rollback from the Fed can result in huge interest costs for the Obama
Campaign.
● Culture of sticky prices in the industry – Obama Campaign operates in an
industry where there is a culture of sticky prices. According to Mark

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CHAPTER - 4 SWOT ANALYSIS

Vandenbosch, Dan Tolhurst of The Obama Campaign Strategy case study,

this can lead to inability on part of the organization to increase prices that
its premium prices deserve.
● International Geo-Political Factors – Since the Trump election,
geo-political factors have taken a turn for growing protectionism.
Developments such as Brexit, Russian sanctions, foreign exchange crisis
& inflation in Venezuela, lower oil prices etc are impacting the
international business environment. The Obama Campaign should closely
focus on these events and make them integral to strategy making.

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CHAPTER - 5 REASON FOR INSPIRATION

Reason for Inspiration

● Situation Handler - Obama on a fold-up chair watching drone images of the

raid in Abbottabad during which Navy SEALs killed Osama Bin Laden. The
President should have been in another room getting read-outs but wanted to
see the footage, along with Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton. He sat in that room on 1 May 2011 until all the SEALS had
returned to Afghanistan. Then he told the world: "Tonight I can report to the
American people, and to the world, that the United States has conducted an
operation that kills Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qadea and a terrorist
who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and
children.”
● The moment he let a five-year-old boy touch his hair - It was taken by
White House photographer Pete Souza on 8 May 2009. The boy in the
picture is Jacob Philadelphia, the son of a White House staffer who was
leaving.
Jacob had asked Obama: "I want to know if my hair is just like yours." The
President replied: "Why don't you touch it and see for yourself." When Jacob
hesitated he said: "Touch it dude." Then he asked him: "So what do you
think?" and Jacob replied: "Yes it does feel the same."
Obama has often been criticized for failing to tackle race relations but the
image was described by the New York Times as showing how the President
was such a "potent symbol" for black Americans. The Washington Post said
it "speaks volumes about Obama and race".
● That "Obama out" mic drop - At his final White House correspondent’s
dinner, Obama put two fingers to his lips, kissed them and dropped his mic,
saying: "Obama out". It will endure as a powerful image of his farewell to
the US but it is also a nod to the basketball star Kobe Bryant.

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CHAPTER - 5 REASON FOR INSPIRATION

Two weeks before Obama gave his speech, LA Lakers giant Bryant, known
as Black Mamba, played his last NBA game. Afterwards he put two fingers
to his lips, kissed them and then dropped the mic. A fitting way to bow out.

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CHAPTER - 6 COMPARING MYSELF

Comparing Myself

● He Is Thoroughly Organized - He critically plans his time, schedules and

engagements, carefully organizing every element or semblance of
distractions out of his life. Likewise, I also organize the work in an elegant
way and follow it in such a manner.

● He Is Courageous and Fearless - From ages, timidity has always been a

chronic enemy of successful endeavors. Barack Obama is a fearless
chronic-risk taker, a hallmark of all great leaders in the world. For instance,
in 2004, against the caution of close friends and aides, took a big gamble by
running for presidency, and terribly lost the primaries. In such a way in my
professional life and personal life, if I’m correct I won’t be afraid to deliver
those things to everyone.

● He is a Positive influencer - Barack Obama is no doubt an unashamed

student of the school of the power of positive thinking, critical thinking and
meditations. He never fails to give a deep dose of "morphine of hope" and
"opium of reassurances" to the hopeless and depressed. His acts of giving
hope are inbuilt and legendary! For these very reasons, he remains an
undiluted inspiration to billions of people worldwide. He never fails to
show the citizens of the world that with the right doses of hope,
determinations and hard work, all dreams are achievable. I also inspired this
thing from my eminent leader and follow to be a positive thinker and
influencing others in a positive way in most of the situation.

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CHAPTER - 6 COMPARING MYSELF

● His Exhibits State-manly Confidence - He as a leader, regularly exhibits

leadership cautions, realizing the vulnerability of the throne and the
ultimate limits of human frailty. He remains unruffled in the faces of
provocation and harsh criticism. Confidence is the most important part of
our life, so building confidence in my profession and personal life.

● He Has a Deep Sense of Commitment and Gratitude - Barack Obama is

a true patriot and a believer in America's dream, not only the dreams of his
father. He shows gratitude effortlessly. He never failed to pay back his debt
of gratitude, through the college loans he got to sponsor his education at
Harvard University. He paid up all the loans he got in 1991 only in2004,
totaling 13 years.

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CHAPTER - 7 LESSON LEARNT FROM BARACK OBAMA

Lesson learnt from Barack Obama

Despite the election of our nation’s first black president—and in some

ways, perhaps because of that fact—America, in the realm of race, remains
embroiled in crisis, controversy, and catastrophe. That need not be the case,
especially if we as a nation, and our new president individually, are willing to learn
hard lessons from the Obama era and move forward with renewed determination to
contend with our tattered racial legacy.

Over his two terms in office, President Barack Obama often was loath to
lift his voice on race lest he be relegated to a “black box,” although his reluctance
kept the nation from his wisdom and starved black folk of the most visible
interpreter of their story and plight, an interpreter who also carried the greatest
political clout in the nation’s history. His radio silence often sent the wrong signal
that race, and black concerns, did not count as much as other national priorities.

Henry Louis Gates Jr.

After Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was arrested for trying to
get into his own house, President Obama made a statement that was harshly
criticized. The event made Obama hesitant to speak about race.

Questions of race explicit and implicit suffused the Obama presidency, for
obvious reasons. Early in his tenure, the first black president was confronted with
a test of how he would engage on what became the signature racial issue of his
presidency: police treatment of African Americans. After Cambridge, Mass.,
police arrested black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. for disorderly
conduct in 2009, Obama said the officers “acted stupidly.”

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CHAPTER - 7 LESSON LEARNT FROM BARACK OBAMA

Gates had returned home from a trip to China to discover that his door was
jammed, and as his driver helped him gain entry to his house, a passerby called the
police, thinking it might be a break-in. The ensuing conflict between Gates and the
police officer who responded to the call led to Gates’ arrest and a national debate
about race and law enforcement.

Obama’s comment as tepid as it would come to appear in contrast to the

police misconduct controversies that would ensue later in his administration—was
harshly criticized. The Gates confrontation made Obama deeply hesitant to speak
on race and led him to three fateful conclusions:

Race is primarily the business and burden of blacks.

Never speak of race in a way that holds whites even partially responsible
for black suffering. The subject of white guilt of any sort—even in circumstances
of clear white culpability is to be avoided at all costs. This is another way of
saying that race is primarily the business and burden of blacks.

Although they read it quite differently, both white and black communities
were eager for Obama to excoriate perceived black error for instance, in his
warning in a 2013 commencement speech to Morehouse College graduates against
using racism as an excuse for failure and to damn black pathology, such as
absentee fathers. In black life such gestures are often read as tough love; in white
America they are seen as heroic battles against black deficiency.

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CHAPTER - 7 LESSON LEARNT FROM BARACK OBAMA

When the structural features of black suffering cannot be ignored, it is best

to soften the blow with ample mentions of black criminality or black moral failure.
A single event smoked Obama out of his presidential cubbyhole of racial no
engagement and thrust him into his bully pulpit to, in part, define, and then defend,
black people—really to represent them, an extraordinary feat in itself.

It was the epic grief that gripped black America with the 2013 not-guilty
verdict in Sanford, Florida, in the trial of self-styled neighborhood watchman
George Zimmerman for the fatal shooting of black teen Trayvon Martin. That
verdict, and the persistent injustice it highlighted, contrasted sharply with the
broadly accepted narrative equating Obama’s ascent with the end of race (or racial
problems/tensions) in America.

Obama spoke about Trayvon Martin to explain to white Americans why so

many black folk were enraged over the verdict. Many white conservatives viewed
Obama’s “one-sided” explanation of black suffering—a radical departure from the
tough blows he had thrown black people’s way in most of his public
pronouncements on blackness—as a surly betrayal of a “racial agreement”
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CHAPTER - 7 LESSON LEARNT FROM BARACK OBAMA

accepted by the president. Some whites believed that agreement was as follows:
Do not speak much on race, and when you do, go after your own kind; offer the
blandest platitudes possible about the progress made and the racial work that
remains to be done.

The rash of racial crises during his presidency—from the Henry Louis
Gates affair to the murders in June 2015 by a white supremacist of nine black
people in a Charleston, South Carolina, church—led to calls for presidential
leadership from the office’s famous bully pulpit, and yet Obama was often slow to
command the rostrum to address race. “I’ve found in this position that it’s not
always true that an incident automatically triggers a useful dialogue,” he told me,
in an interview. “What you have to do is be able to create a place where people are
willing to look at things in new ways and the media is willing to look at things in
new ways. As president that means I’ve got to pick and choose my spots
effectively.”

“It is understandable that Obama preferred being seen as the black president
rather than the black president”

Obama’s record of effectively picking and choosing his spots was

hit-or-miss; he often sabotaged his own standards with rhetoric that was far from
organic, or surprising, perhaps because it grew from controversies that compelled
him to react. It is understandable that Obama preferred being seen as the black
president rather than the black president. But his refusal to address race except
when he had no choice—a kind of racial procrastination—left him little control of
the conversation. When he was boxed into a racial corner, often as a result of black

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CHAPTER - 7 LESSON LEARNT FROM BARACK OBAMA

social unrest sparked by claims of police brutality, Obama was mostly uninspiring:
He warned (black) citizens to obey the law and affirmed the status quo.

Yet Obama energetically peppered his words to blacks with talk of

responsibility in one public scolding after another. When Obama upbraided black
folk while barely mentioning the flaws of white America, he left the impression
that race is the concern solely of black people, and that blackness is full of
pathology. Obama’s reprimands of black folk also undercut their moral standing,
especially when his eager embrace of other minorities like gays and lesbians
validated their push for justice. Obama was fond of saying that he was the
president not of black America but of the entire nation. This reflected his faith in
universal rather than targeted remedies for black suffering: blacks will thrive when
America flourishes.

Obama’s views on race featured three characteristics, in various

combinations: strategic inadvertence, in which racial benefit is not the expressed
intent but the consequence of policies geared to uplift all Americans, in the belief
that they will also help blacks; the heroic explicit, whereby he carelessly attacked
black moral failure and poor cultural habits; and the noble implicit, in which he
avoided linking whites to social distress or pathology—or moral or political
responsibility for black suffering—and spoke in the broadest terms possible, in
grammar both tentative and tortured, about the problems we all confront. It was an
effort that, as we’ve seen with his famous race speech of 2008, drew false
equivalencies between black and white experiences and mistook racial effects for
their causes.
“Policies, like medicines, are most effective when they are targeted to the social ill
at hand”.

EMINENT LEADER 25
CHAPTER - 8 CONCLUSION

Conclusion

The role of leadership and management can work in different capacities, yet
be the same when developing an organization. Leadership is nothing if it doesn’t
build a systems’ based management structure, and management would have no
support without the work of leadership as the backbone of ideals

EMINENT LEADER 26
Reference

Reference :

● https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/barack-ob
ama
● https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1682433/bio
● https://www.britannica.com/biography/Barack-Obama

EMINENT LEADER 27