Obama's Writing Life

Examiner column for January 21.

    Barack Obama is not just the first black man to become President, he is the most literary writer to become President. Other Presidents have written books, usually after leaving office and even then with the help of a “real writer” to shape the narrative and smooth out wrinkles in the prose. But Obama became a writer before he ever became a politician--way back when he was in law school.

    Obama exhibits the habits of a writer. He keeps a notebook; he keeps a journal. He files away memorable events and hopes they will become anecdotes to illustrate a point in an argument, or represent a moment in time. As a writing teacher, one of my greatest pleasures is watching my students undergo this transformative process.

    “I’ve thought of writing about my grandmother, but never before had a reason to,” Aaron told me last semester. What he wrote will now become a part of his family history. We all have stories to tell and simply need to be bitten by the writing bug to realize the potential power our words have over others and over our perception of ourselves.

    Obama is now an important model for writing students. In the introduction to  “Dreams from My Father,” he tells us that his autobiography started out as a group of essays about race, using personal anecdote as illustration. Like Obama, students often begin to write one way and grow into something different.

    High school seniors usually begin their college essays by “telling” the college what they think they want to hear. They enumerate accomplishments in hackneyed prose, devoid of the singular “voice” that will set their dreams apart from everyone else’s.

    Like Obama, students rewrite, forcing themselves to “show” rather than “tell,” developing voice and humor in the process. Obama began his first book with a “list of topics” tracing an “intellectual journey,” and ended with “a record of a personal, interior journey—a boy’s search for his father, and through that search a workable meaning for his life as a black American.”

    That journey encapsulates the power of personal narrative, a power I’ve seen played out continually in my classrooms. But for the first time now we have a President whose writing process helped him to understand himself and his place in society.

    Will having a writer as President make a difference in writing classrooms? I think it will. At a speech last summer given at a local high school, Obama was asked about his views of the National Writing Project and the role writing could play in students’ lives. He responded by praising his writing experience as a process through which he was able to come to terms with uncomfortable realities in his own past, a process invaluable to his growth. His example might make classroom writing “hip.”

    Writing is not a path to self-congratulation, but a way to recognize truths, no matter how painful. As Aaron, Kate, and other students have discovered, those truths are empowering as well as humbling. We all admire Obama’s combination of humility and confidence, in words and actions. Those are the lessons of a writer, one who now resides in the White House—and maybe even in your own home.

Comments

[Mika]

If Obama is the most literary writer, then perhaps John Adams was the most epistolary writer? The volume of letters and diaries that he (and Abigail) saved (giving historians--and Americans--so much primary material) amazes me. I wonder what his motivations were, whether it was merely a family habit or whether he was saving them for future generations.

[Erica]

Hi Mika--Good point! I am always amazed by the 18th century's letter-writing habit.( One of the first novels, "Clarissa," was written as a series of letters.) Many presidents have been writers of one sort or another, but no one before Obama has written an autobiography this early and this revealingly. It says much about his character.

[Liz]

Hi Dr. Jacobs-
I still dabble in creative writing but have turned more to realistic fiction. What I do is I take my own situations and give them to fictional characters. I find it to be a cathartic process, and helps me to describe exactly how I was feeling.
Maybe when I become president in 2024, I'll be the first president to have a novel published. (Hey, wishful thinking never hurt anyone.)

Just to catch you up, I am back from study abroad in England and am starting my final semester at Goucher this coming week. After that, hopefully, my government career will begin. If you're interested in my study abroad trip, you can check out my blog which is linked below.

Hope you're doing well. Would love to catch up sometime.
Take care,
Liz

[Dr. Jacobs]

Hi Liz,
I'm so glad you are back in the U.S. and almost done with college! I will be leading a group of GMU students to Oxford this July--you know how valuable that experience can be! Good luck in your last semester. I'm no longer at Oakton, as you know, but I know Mr. Waxman would love a visit!