Obama Vacation: The President's Martha's Vineyard Reading List

In addition to golf, tennis and family time, Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton has indicated that Obama will be covering a fair amount of literary terrain while vacationing on the Vineyard. On the reading list for the week:

--Tom Friedman's "Hot, Flat and Crowded"

--David McCullough's "John Adams"

--Richard Price's "Lush Life"

--Kent Haruf's "Plain Song"

--George Pelecanos's "The Way Home"

In all, this comes to about 2,300 pages, or 300 pages a day.

Comments

[LivingObamasTrainWreck]

Roots by Alex Haley - since Obama shares none of the African American heritage or experience, as he has lived a life of priviledge, raised by a well off white family, in a multicultural environment.

[Safire]

"Given his poor track record on understanding that intersection, he's in dire need of the knowledge in both of those texts"

Oh sure. You tr0//s are really funny to me. You are so turgid. The one who was in "dire" need to grow some grey matter got us into this mess by spending, borrowing and making sure the "have-mores" would have as much as they wanted.

You have the unmitigated gall to talk about President Obama "brushing up"? Pompous A$$!

[cliffhammond]

Tom Friedman? Oh please! No wonder half the time OB acts like he don't know wud up.

[vote2009]

list of companies that did run ads on Glenn Beck on August 24:

•DirecTV
•Binder & Binder
•EasyWater
•Liberty Medical
•Superior Gold Group
•Bank of America
•Rosland Capital
•Johnson Law Group
•Citrix (GoToMeeting)
•Carbonite
•Merit Financial
•Applebee's
•Discover Bank (Discover Card)
•Binder & Binder
•Pulaski & Middleman
•Bank of America
•Pulaski & Middleman
•Sandals Resort
•The Villages
•Smart Balance
•Rosland Capital
•Zero Technologies (ZeroWater)

[Netizen]

Excellent work, 'vote2009' .. thanks..

[FirstBiteBooks]

Thanks. You've listed Bank of America twice. :)

[janforgoodusfuture]

also Pulaski & Middleman is listed twice :)

[einstein10]

Good Work!

[whit4brains]

Thanks for the info.

[Berettasskeeter]

Hey, after hearing so many complaining that Bush took vacations, why aren't any here complaining, if for no other reason than to be intellectually honest?!
Semper fi

[alice09]

What are the stats on year to day since taking office vacation days for Bush and Obama? Complain about one week? Remember all the brush that got cleared? Bush's vacation numbers were tallied at the time and they were shocking.

[Berettasskeeter]

As all of Bush's vacations were working vacations, as I'm sure Obama's will be, what was the problem? That he was working around his ranch? That he actually owns a home? All presidents have taken vacations, all, or portions, of which were working vacations, done to get away from some of the stress of the office. I don't begrudge Obama any time he can get away from the White House with his family! I think it is unfair, and intellectually dishonest, to begrudge any president that same privilege!!
Semper fi

[John Warren Gotsch]

Three copies of Stephen F Cohen's "SOVIET FATES AND LOST ALTERNATIVES: FROM STALINISM TO THE NEW COLD WAR" for the three dunderheads: Obama, Clinton and Biden.

A secret but there are some of us working on resetting the button with Russia without the three stooges!

[stmu]

I read Plainsong. Good book.

[Perla]

I wonder if Prez Obama has read Chavez's gift yet, _ Open Veins of Latin America_, by Eduardo Galeano. I'd also recommend Galeano's _Days and Nights of Love and War_.

[yumap]

Consider me as one who had the highest of expectations for President Obama one who is beginning to feel deceived. And at my age I should have known better. On his Cuba policy, so he let Cubans in the U.S. go home to visit their families - that was white of him, but on the greater issues he and Hillary impose all of the same conditionality of Bush's regime change policy. A largely Afro Caribbean nation, the citizens were delirious with hope and admiration for the man and our country when he was elected. He stands to break some very fragile hearts if he doesn't do the right thing fast.

[smitallica]

How did Bush's regime change policy work out? Now Cuba is run by TWO Castros.

[gallon]

If it were possible to recommend one title to President Obama, mine would be this.

Hinton Helper "The Impending Crisis in the South"
Written in the 1850's, it was an expose of the southern system of plantation owners, poor white trash sharecroppers, and slaves. This was read by President Lincoln in his run up to the White House.
The situation echoes down through all these decades and is remarkably similar to today's Republican southern strategy. The book was banned in the South, and would probably be banned today by the Republicans. Available at Google books.

[whit4brains]

Thanks...sounds like an interesting read. Gonna check it out.

[Whale]

Threshold by Thom Hartmann. The crisis of Western Culture. Might open his eyes to what is really going on in the world.

[Godweiser]

Republicans: "What, why not something that represents OUR point of view."

Obama: "Sorry guys, I don't do coloring books anymore."

[Freesia2]

Wonderful. It also reminds me that I've kept meaning to read McCullough's "John Adams". I loved the mini-series and McCullough is a terrific biographer.

Our President reads. And retains. And thinks about what he retains. He's spoiling us. I could get used to this. I definitely could.

[jeanrenoir]

This is a very smart reading list, not least because of Lush Life. Obama's by far the smartest president we've had since Lincoln. We'll see this fall whether or not he has the toughness to go with his smarts. If he doesn't, he'll be the black Carter, who was, after all, trained as a nuclear scientist. My hope is that Emmanuel is the personification of Obama's veiled toughness, and that he and Obama will give the Dems the LBJ treatment in the clutch, thus snatching a great healthcare victory from the jaws of "moderate" and right-wing defeat. Even so, having saved us from Depression and given us national healthcare, Obama will have to be even tougher to rally America, Churchill-like, to accept the absolute life-and-death necessity of defeating the Taliban and Al Qaeda, lest they vaporize NYC and literally destroy our economy in "the fire next time."

[td74]

Jeez...nice to have a POTUS who reads AND comprehends!

[mawied]

Two novels written by writers of The Wire. Not only does our President read, he also reads some pretty cool stuff.

[whit4brains]

The Wire was the best series ever! IMO.