Barack Obama

Going with the flow doesn’t engender universal respect, though—far from it. Obama’s critics on the Left contend that if he’d fought harder he could have pushed the health-care debate further toward a public option that might have reined in costs and put the screws to profit-hungry insurance companies. But Obama held back, watching as Congress’ lawmaking process abraded the proposal into something 60 members of the Senate could swallow. Obama has made a point of talking about how basketball taught him important lessons in life. But maybe bodysurfing did, too. Both as a teenager and as an adult, he especially liked to go to Sandy Beach, which was the site of a signal battle between developers and preservationists. Nalu, Hawaiian for “wave riding,” is an ancient tradition in the islands, whether practiced with a surfboard or without. Either way, says Bowman, it stands for more than just a good time; it’s also a philosophical training ground. “In an ocean environment, you don’t just jump in; you study what you’re up against,” she says. “And once you are in the water, you use its force—fight it and you lose.”


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