Chuck’s Reviews > To Obama: With Love, Joy, Anger, and Hope > Status Update

“But I do think that when you hear someone like Marjorie, at her age, just take a leap of faith like that, then you can’t help but feel as if it is worth the effort. If we duplicate enough of those moments…over time we get better at this thing called democracy. And that is something all of us have the capacity to do. That’s not the job of the president… It’s the job of citizens.”

“A better future is earned,” he said. “It’s hard work. And democracy in a country this big, with such a diverse population, is especially hard. And complicated. And there are times in our history where we’ve had bad, ugly stretches. And so it’s important not to ever forget and to recognize that the ideals and the best version of America isn’t preordained.”

“I wanted to offer that corrective to the idea that, you know, empathy…somehow solves all the divisions and conflicts we have in the country. That’s wishful thinking. But what is true is that if a person is recognized, and how they’re feeling is validated as being true for them, then they are more prone to engage.”

“What was clear that my presence there signified to those families that they were important. Their loved ones were important. The grief they were feeling was important. That it had been seen and acknowledged”… Whatever people thought of his presidency, I think he was given credit for being a man who brought a solid well of empathy to the office.

Excerpt from a letter written 11/9/16 — “Where I, and every other college educated white male who voted for you in ‘08 and ‘12, failed you, is in our inability or unwillingness to address the structural racism that has given birth to president elect Trump… I am sorry. We let you down. When you leave office and return to civilian life, I will join you in whatever task you undertake.”

[When I meet Obama] I’m going to shake his hand. I’m going to make sure he knows who I am. I’m going to say, “My name is Kolbie, and I’m your voice.”

I love this plucky 22 year old who handcrafts letters from the President and her vision of how she will finally meet him.

“The human side of the story, the ideas you can’t squeeze into a briefing memo or translate into bar graphs or dots on a chart. The voices of letter writers were a constant chorus in the background, pop songs you couldn’t get out of your head, the tunes that defined a culture.”