Rising Star Reveals A Young Barack Obama Who S All Too Human

               As President Donald Trump came before the White House press corps last week     to swear up and down that he hadn’t colluded with the Russians to sway the     U.S. presidential election, I finished plowing through Rising Star, David Garrow’s massive new biography of Barack Obama.



               I have a different perspective. Yes, I know the book could have used a     tighter edit, and chunks of it—especially the final chapter about the Obama     White House years—could have been left out altogether.



               Please, people, the man’s not a saint—he’s a flesh-and-blood human being.





               To which Hendon said, “I stacked my few papers quietly on my desk in front     of me and said, ‘Okay, motherfucker, let’s go!’ ”



               I have a feeling it would have been much the same if Hendon and Obama had gone at     it.