I don’t read many of these political memoirs. But this one I enjoyed. And learned a lot.

I like Obama better. And appreciate more the difficult decisions he had to make over the 8 years.

His legacy is bigger than I gave him credit for.

As they point out frequently on his team, progress is rarely a straight line. Some of the things Obama pushed COULD yet be achieved by future American governments. Once that idiot Trump is gone, of course.

“Ben Rhodes, who served Barack Obama as a foreign policy adviser and speechwriter from beginning to end, has written a book that reflects the president he served—intelligent, amiable, compelling and principled.

And there is something more: The World as It Is is a classic coming-of-age story, about the journey from idealism to realism, told with candor and immediacy.

It is not a heavy policy book. There are anecdotes galore, but they illuminate rather than scandalize.

Even Donald Trump—a politician who seems the omega to Obama’s alpha—is treated with horrified amazement rather than vitriol. . . . Ben Rhodes is a charming and humble guide through an unprecedented presidency. . . . He never quite loses his idealism; in a crass political era, he impressively avoids becoming a cynic. . . . His achievement is rare for a political memoir: He has written a humane and honorable book.”

—Joe Klein, The New York Times Book Review