Obama’s narrative
Mixing historical perspective, personal reminiscence, and psychological analysis, Harvard Law School Professor Charles J. Ogletree Jr. kicked off a three-part lecture series titled “Understanding Obama” Tuesday at the Barker Center. “Barack Obama is a brilliant man — a really brilliant man — and sometimes that gets in the way of politics,” said Ogletree, the Jesse Climenko Professor of Law and director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice. In Tuesday’s talk, “From Barry to Barack,” Ogletree focused on Obama’s childhood, schooling, and early career, tracing the role race and religion played in forming his character. Ogletree covered what has become common knowledge about Obama’s upbringing, infusing the facts with fresh insight. The future president was born in Hawaii to a white American mother and a Kenyan father. “In each stage of his life, trying to understand race has become increasingly difficult,” Ogletree said. Obama’s sense of racial identity came largely from...