The man who looks out for Obama’s soul

Just in time for Advent, that season of preparation, of getting ready, of making sure we are in the right mind to weather the excitements of Christmas, the World Service gave us a short programme designed to get us in the mood. In Heart and Soul on Sunday, Jane Little talked to Joshua Dubois who since 2008 has been sending daily ‘devotional’ messages to President Obama.

Dubois began writing his emails during that first toughly fought election campaign. He was working for the Obama team in an outreach office, not close to the then senator but close enough to realise how tense and difficult the process of getting elected had become. He wondered whether in the midst of the crowd surrounding and supporting Obama there was anyone ‘thinking about his soul’, anyone helping him to cope with the pressure of the political attacks, the personal attacks, the full-on exposure to the media.