Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope and the Wounded Healer

Which of us hasn't at some stage had a difficult relationship with a parent or grandparent?!
I guess what I am about to say may be controversial, and I realise Barack Obama may not be "flavour of the month" to everyone. But writing on the difficulties he sometimes experienced in his relationship with his grandfather, Obama observes “that sometimes he really did have a point, and that in insisting on getting my own way all the time, without regard to his feelings or needs, I was in some way diminishing myself.” He goes on to say: “I believe a stronger sense of empathy would tilt the balance of our current politics in favor of those people who are struggling in this society. After all, if they are like us, then their struggles are our own. If we fail to help, we diminish ourselves.”
This story comes from Obama's book The Audacity of Hope that I am reading for the second time. I really recommend it. In a very easy style he writes with clarity and honesty on the political divide, values, faith, race, the American Constitution, opportunity. Written as a senate before he made it to the White House, these are his personal reflections on his values and ideals and how change may be brought about for the common good. 


He reaffirmed his message of empathy later on the campaign trail, when he spoke of those he had met “whose dreams and struggles become my own; they will stay with me in the White House.”

This is a great show of the importance of empathy in our relationships, and in our lives, and is but a step away from the power to heal of the Wounded Healer. Barack Obama a Wounded Healer? Some may disagree but surely he has borne his own wounds of upbringing that he can bring with empathy, compassion and understanding to the world, to "tilt the balance of politics?" 

I would like to hear from you to let me know what you think. And where in your life do you see the Wounded Healer at work? Can you identify with the motif in your work place, in your own home, in the work of the physician?