The Obama You Don't Know by the Washington Examiner

But beyond the spin and the polls, a starkly different picture emerges. It is a portrait of a man quite unlike his image, not a visionary reformer but rather a classic Chicago machine pol who thrives on rewarding himself and his friends with the spoils of public office, and who uses his position to punish his enemies.

Introduction

The Obama you don't know

September 19, 2012 | 10:19 pm | Modified: September 20, 2012 at 12:06 am

Few if any of his predecessors took the oath of office with higher public hopes for his success than President Obama on Jan. 20, 2009.Millions of Americans hailed his election as an end to partisanship, a renewal of the spirit of compromise and a reinvigoration of the nation's highest ideals at home and abroad.

Above all, as America's first black chief executive, Obama symbolized the healing of long-festering wounds that were the terrible national legacy of slavery, the Reconstruction Era and Jim Crow. We would be, finally, one nation. Read All 10 Chapters at Washington Examiner