Every White House Has Had Its Intellectuals,

Seattle Is A Liberal City, Its Politics Not So Much Blue In The American, Not The British, Sense As Deep Ultramarine, And Its Manners Are Studiously Polite.

In An Underdeveloped Country Don't Drink The Water. In A Developed Country Don't Breathe The Air.

In The City One Clings To Nostalgic And Unreal Signs Of Community, Takes Forced Refuge In Codes, Badges And Coteries; The City's Life, Of Surfaces And Locomotion, Usually Seems Too Dangerous And Demanding To Live Through With Any Confidence.

Trouble Defies The Law Of Gravity. It's Easier To Pick Up Than To Drop.

'dreams From My Father' Reveals More About Obama Than Is Usually Known About Political Leaders Until After They're Dead. Perhaps More Than It Intends, It Shows His Mind Working, In Real Time, Sentence By Sentence, In What Feels Like A Private Audience With The Reader.