Garen Thomas - Yes We Can. A Biography of President Barack Obama

I would like to thank my editors at Feiwel and Friends, Jean Feiwel and especially Liz Szabla, for giving me the flexibility to write this story from a perspective not often seen in childrens books. I appreciate your faith in my vision and ability to carry it out from start to finish. Martin Baldessari worked nonstop to locate and get permission for the array of images you see here. Thanks to Rich Deas and the design team for an amazing layout and cover, which capture the spirit of this work beyond anything I could have imagined. I am grateful to Professor Ronald Loui, for all his effort and support as I slogged through this process, and to Bernice Bowers, for her kind contribution. Thank you to Gabby, Dave, and Holly for keeping me on track.

I would like to dedicate this work to my parents, who always believed I could. And to Zuri, whom I know also can.

Many of you reading this work have only known one person in your lifetime to have held the position of president of the United States of America. The president can only serve a total of eight years in office (four in his first term, plus four in his second). The current president is serving his eighth year and cannot run again. Therefore, it is time for a change. Change, in this case, is inevitable.

But sometimes people have to take it upon themselves to make a difference and make change happen. One of the most exciting things about this current election is that the United States is going to make history, when the Democratic Party chooses either a man of color or a woman to represent it in the race for the White House. That has never happened before in our union. That is the definition of changeand what many would call progress.

As this election cycle began, I did not know whom to support. All I knew was that as the days passed, each issue our country was facingthe faltering economy, global warming and the erosion of the natural world, the loss of military and civilian lives in the unending war in Iraqseemed to grow more and more urgent, while our government seemed to offer fewer and fewer solutions. The good thing about a democracy is that the voters have the right to change who is running the government when it isnt running wellwhen it is in need of an overhaul.

People of my parents generation seemed to have lost some hope for a better future, having experienced the negative ways this country has treated many of its own. I am their immediate descendant, so I remain closely tied to that reality. It is difficult for me to tuck my parents pain away when I recognize how many people, including people in government, have tried to silence the leaders of their generationleaders who had given them hope.

There has emerged a new leader who seems to be granting Americans a renewed license to dream. Barack Obama has proven repeatedly that he can touch people from all genders, political affiliations, and across racial divides. What people find unique about this candidate is that he has managed to move those of my generation, as well as people from yours and my parents. Perhaps this is because his caregivers came from different continents, different generations, different religions, different incomes, and different ethnic identities. People believe he understands them, because by some measure he is them and has cared deeply for individuals just like them. He manages, through what appears to be genuine concern, to uplift those who have fallen and bring hope anew to both the cynic and the idealist.

It is encouraging that you, the next generations, have taken an interest in this election, and seem to be hoping for a less predictable outcome. Your optimism, despite all the worlds crises, is increasing. You see hope for the future, which has amazed the rest of us and sparked many of us to work with you toward that goal, that change.

There are few times in your life when you have a real opportunity to alter the course of history and put civilization back on a course toward prosperity and unity for all races and genders. If you were to look at dates in your history books, you might see centuries pass before something remarkable and worth noting occurred, when one person or a group of people stood up for change, making an enlightened leap in the evolution of the human story.

I hope, for the sake of the optimism you carry so boldly in your open palms, the time for that next leap is now, for hope can be as fragile and fleeting as a snowflake. Whoever the next president turns out to be, and however heor shetoils to right past wrongs, making the country a little more free, a little more equal for all, know that you always have the power and voice and responsibility to push for more progress and insist on change in order to protect the dreams of your children and elders.

You have changed me.

In the end, that is
Gods greatest gift
to us
a belief in things
not seen.