The Audacity
Column originally published 12-28-06Obama's book offers a new perspective
While watching Barack Hussein Obama's electrifying keynote address at the 2004 Democratic Convention, I, like many Americans, thought I was witnessing the future first black president. After reading Obama's bestselling book, "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream," I'm convinced.
This week a poll from the Concord (N.H.) Monitor showed Sen. Barack Obama tied with Sen. Hillary Clinton in a hypothetical match up in the Democratic primary. Polls also showed Obama beating Sen. John McCain and former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani in a general election. Of course, 2008 is a long way away and frontrunners like McCain in 2000 and Howard Dean in 2004 often go nowhere.
But setting aside the presidential hype, "The Audacity of Hope" is a good read at this time in our history. However, Democrats or liberals hoping to find a tome full of red meat with slashing attacks on the Bush Administration will be disappointed. While Obama is a staunch progressive, he dials partisanship down and focuses on what's best for America first and the Democratic Party second.
The book truly is a book of hope. Obama's words are inspired, lofty and from anyone else, might sound contrived or corny. But his sincerity comes across in the many stories he imparts about being on the campaign trail or being in office.
He writes about the pitfalls of being a senator and describes how easy it is to become seduced to a cocooned life of privilege where you only answer to big money donors. He's struggled with it already.
Obama hopes to lead a new politics in America. He goes out of his way to see things from his political opponents' point of view. In the book, he demonstrates his commitment to finding common ground by stopping to talk to anti-abortion protestors who are picketing one of his speeches. While neither side is convinced, the fact that he took the time to listen builds bridges between them instead of a wall.
In his 2004 Senate race, his opponent, Alan Keyes, implied that blacks shouldn't support Obama since his father was Kenyan and his mother was a white woman from Kansas. Columnist Stanley Crouch made the same point in a recent column saying Obama doesn't share the same ancestry as most black Americans. No history of slavery and Jim Crow.
Obama deflects such criticism nicely by displaying his intimate knowledge of black history in the book as well as the obvious understanding that his skin color would've entitled him to the same decrepit treatment as blacks who trace their roots to slavery. And having lived in America, he's obviously lived the black experience like Crouch and Keyes.
Whites can embrace Obama because his message of hope doesn't inflame white guilt in the way that a Jesse Jackson would. While this civil rights attorney is obviously committed to equality, he knows that our similarities outweigh our differences.
Obama writes about his struggles with faith. He speaks of a broader faith that encompasses how we treat the sick, the poor and needy. He laments that the GOP's focus on faith tends to revolve around abortion and homosexuality.
If I have criticisms of the book, it's that his willingness to see the other side of his argument can seem like navel gazing. Eventually voters are going to want to see a laundry list of what a politician believes. And while his solutions to problems seem level-headed, the devil is in the details. Too often the details are MIA.
The book is worth a read regardless of your political stripe. This book is about the audacity of seeing purple instead of red or blue.
But setting aside the presidential hype, "The Audacity of Hope" is a good read at this time in our history. However, Democrats or liberals hoping to find a tome full of red meat with slashing attacks on the Bush Administration will be disappointed. While Obama is a staunch progressive, he dials partisanship down and focuses on what's best for America first and the Democratic Party second.
The book truly is a book of hope. Obama's words are inspired, lofty and from anyone else, might sound contrived or corny. But his sincerity comes across in the many stories he imparts about being on the campaign trail or being in office.
He writes about the pitfalls of being a senator and describes how easy it is to become seduced to a cocooned life of privilege where you only answer to big money donors. He's struggled with it already.
Obama hopes to lead a new politics in America. He goes out of his way to see things from his political opponents' point of view. In the book, he demonstrates his commitment to finding common ground by stopping to talk to anti-abortion protestors who are picketing one of his speeches. While neither side is convinced, the fact that he took the time to listen builds bridges between them instead of a wall.
In his 2004 Senate race, his opponent, Alan Keyes, implied that blacks shouldn't support Obama since his father was Kenyan and his mother was a white woman from Kansas. Columnist Stanley Crouch made the same point in a recent column saying Obama doesn't share the same ancestry as most black Americans. No history of slavery and Jim Crow.
Obama deflects such criticism nicely by displaying his intimate knowledge of black history in the book as well as the obvious understanding that his skin color would've entitled him to the same decrepit treatment as blacks who trace their roots to slavery. And having lived in America, he's obviously lived the black experience like Crouch and Keyes.
Whites can embrace Obama because his message of hope doesn't inflame white guilt in the way that a Jesse Jackson would. While this civil rights attorney is obviously committed to equality, he knows that our similarities outweigh our differences.
Obama writes about his struggles with faith. He speaks of a broader faith that encompasses how we treat the sick, the poor and needy. He laments that the GOP's focus on faith tends to revolve around abortion and homosexuality.
If I have criticisms of the book, it's that his willingness to see the other side of his argument can seem like navel gazing. Eventually voters are going to want to see a laundry list of what a politician believes. And while his solutions to problems seem level-headed, the devil is in the details. Too often the details are MIA.
The book is worth a read regardless of your political stripe. This book is about the audacity of seeing purple instead of red or blue.
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