Former US President Barack Obama’s soon-to-be-released memoir ‘A Promised Land’ gives a detailed look of his life as the 44th US President and dealing with world leaders at the time. Obama described Russian President Vladimir Putin as “physically unremarkable” in the 700-page book. According to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s New York Times review of the memoir, Obama has described the Russian counterpart at the time saying that he had towered him.
Obama also wrote that Putin reminded him of “tough, street-smart ward bosses that ran the Chicago political machine”. He also explained that the relationship that was shared with the Russian President was ‘cordial’, something that Putin had also said. Even though the United States maintained diplomatic relations with Russia, there were some bumps on the way.
Sarkozy is ‘bold’, says Obama
In 2016, towards the end of his tenure at the White House, Obama had said that he did not “trust” Vladimir Putin. The 44th US President had said at one time that Putin had “kind of slouch, looking like the bored kid in the back of the classroom”. Meanwhile, Adichie has also written that Obama’s book has called former France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy as “bold and opportunistic” and that he always had his “chest thrust out like a bantam cock’s”.
Obama says Rahul Gandhi ‘lacks aptitude’
Among other leaders, Obama’s words on Rahul Gandhi have caused a stir among Indian politicians. In the same book, the former US President opined about Gandhi’s ‘lacklustre’ performance. According to a book review by the New York Times, Obama has opined on the Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi stating, “Rahul Gandhi has a nervous, unformed quality about him, as if he were a student who’d done the coursework and was eager to impress the teacher but deep down lacked either the aptitude or the passion to master the subject”.
Obama on Singh’s ‘impassive integrity’
He has also opined on 13th Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh as a ‘someone having a kind of impassive integrity’. Apart from these Indian politicians, Obama has reportedly described former Chinese premier and general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (2002-12), Hu Jintao.
Hu Jintao
According to NYT, Jintao read from ‘stacks of prepared papers’ that the former US President felt were ‘so monotonous’ that he nearly suggested: “that we could save each other time by just exchanging papers and reading them at our leisure.” The book – ‘A promised Land’ is an autobiography by Obama which is ‘more political than personal’, as per NYT’s review and will be published on November 17.
