Book Review: To Obama

To Obama: With Love, Joy, Anger, and Hope
By Jeanne Marie Laskas
Random House, 2018

I didn’t believe it when I first heard it: President Barack Obama read ten letters from constituents every night he was in residence at the White House. Over eight years, that added up to an estimated 20,000 to 23,000 letters. He answered many of them, some by hand on a White House notecard. On others, he jotted notes, wrote “Reply” at the top, and handed them back for a staff member to draft a response for him to approve and sign.

To Obama: With Love, Joy, Anger, and Hope by Jeanne Marie Laskas—a New York Times bestselling author, journalist, and University of Pittsburgh professor—tells the story behind that practice. She drew on deep research and many interviews with Obama staffers, especially those in the Office of Presidential Correspondence (OPC), and with the people who wrote to the president.

Why he read the mail

Obama said he learned as a senator how easy it was to end up in a “bubble,” out of touch with the people who elected you. Reading mail every night was his way of resisting it. “Ten a day,” he said, “is what I figured I could do. It was a small gesture, I thought, at least to resist the bubble. It was a way for me to every day, remember that what I was doing was not about me…It was about the people who were out there living their lives who were either looking for some help or angry about how I was screwing something up.”

The people behind the “10LADs”

As someone who has made it my mission to encourage people to write more notes and letters, I found his habit inspiring. Once I got into the book, I was even more amazed by the work that happened before those ten letters a day (“10LADs,” as the staff called them) reached him each night. According to Laskas, the OPC had fifty staff members, thirty-six interns, and a rotating roster of several hundred volunteers to handle about ten thousand letters and messages a day. They did their best to read, route, or respond to every one, even if the reply was a carefully chosen form letter.

Fiona Reeves ran the operation, and Laskas saw quickly that “Fiona cared deeply about people who wrote letters to the president.” Reeves hired staff and volunteers who shared that sense of duty and compassion and would treat every letter with respect.

The work took a special kind of person. Many letters were heartbreaking, and staff were allowed to step away when the emotional weight grew too heavy. About 100 letters a day contained threats against the president and first family, so one person handled those full time. Lacey Higley had a job I could hardly imagine: she received the “Red Dot” letters, some 200 a day, flagged as emergencies—a writer at risk of suicide, for instance, or one who posed a threat. Lacey was “in charge of rescuing people.”

What the letters changed

Again and again, staffers told Laskas the work changed them and deepened their compassion for others. One said, “I never thought about how powerful a letter was.” Obama himself said, “The letters, I think, that matter the most to me are the ones that…make a connection that speak to people’s lives and their values and what’s important to them.”

The transcribed letters show how much these writers shaped the president’s thinking, his administration’s priorities, and even legislation. The impact is astounding. One speechwriter told Laskas that letters often found their way into Obama’s speeches.

Between the letters, Laskas tells the story through the eyes of staffers and letter writers. I loved learning what moved each writer to pick up a pen and how they felt when a reply arrived. The book also offers a behind-the-scenes look at the Obama presidency and at what was happening in the country and the world at the time.

My one quibble: many of the reproduced letters and replies are hard to read, either because the print is small or the handwriting is difficult to decipher. The most important letters are transcribed, so you won’t miss the ones that matter most.

What note writers will take from it

• Answer the letters you receive. Some of the most moving moments in the book come when writers describe opening a reply. Obama answered many letters by hand, and those replies were saved, treasured, and often framed.
• Specific and personal gets noticed. The letters that mattered most to Obama connected to the writer’s own life and values.
• One letter can ripple outward. Some of these letters reached speeches, policy, and legislation. Most notes travel a smaller circle, and their reach can still surprise you.

My verdict

Laskas did a masterful job of telling the story of the Office of Presidential Correspondence, of President Obama’s faithful attention to his mail, and of the effort to make sure the people who wrote to him were heard. I was deeply moved by it, and I think anyone who believes in the power of a letter will be too.

And if you’ve ever wanted to write to the President of the United States, I say go for it. You never know what ripple effect your letter might have.

Find the book here:

• In the Heartspoken Bookshop, where proceeds support independent bookstores
• On Amazon, where you can also get it in Kindle format

When you purchase from these affiliate links, you pay no more than using other links, but the small affiliate fee I earn supports my work.

Frequently Asked Questions about this book review