Excerpts From 'A Promised Land': Listen To Former President Obama Tell His Story
On The Days Before The Raid To Kill Osama Bin Laden
Former President Barack Obama speaks during a drive-in campaign rally for Joe Biden on Oct. 31 in Flint, Michigan. Drew Angerer/Getty Images hide caption
Former President Barack Obama speaks during a drive-in campaign rally for Joe Biden on Oct. 31 in Flint, Michigan.
Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesFormer President Barack Obama's memoir A Promised Land, focusing on his political life from his time in Chicago through the killing of Osama bin Laden during his presidency, hits shelves Tuesday.
The book acts as a record of the former president's rise to the nation's top elected office — and his first two years on the job. But it also gives a window into his thinking along the way, about policy, his political life and his personal life.
Here, we present five clips of Obama reading from his memoir. The first is of his decision to approve the raid that led to the killing of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. But this recollection, like the others here, contains reflections on times spent with some of the women in his life, including his wife, Michelle; his mother, Ann; his grandmother "Toot"; his mother-in-law, Marian; and his daughters, Malia and Sasha.
On The Days Before The Raid To Kill Osama Bin Laden
On His Grandmother "Toot"
On Enjoying Life After Losing Bid For Congress
On Gaining Celebrity After Becoming Senator
On Michelle Verbalizing That He Was Going To Win The Presidency
Audio excerpted is courtesy of Penguin Random House Audio from A Promised Land, by Barack Obama, read by the author.