The Audacity of Hope, Post #1

My choice for outside reading this quarter was Barack Obama’s book, The Audacity of Hope. In it, Obama discusses his own past as well as his opinions on the future of the United States. At first, however, Obama doesn’t talk about the immediate concerns of the country. He decides to first address his own life and how it has changed his interpretation of events. One of the first things he says in his book is how he came to be a senator from Illinois. Of course, Barack didn’t start out running for the US senate. Instead, he first ran for the Illinois state senate. He describes the lengths he went to get votes saying, “I went to block club meetings and church socials, beauty shops and barbershops. If two guys were standing on a corner, I would cross the street to hand them campaign literature” (1). Barack wasn’t some celebrity with hundreds of staffers. If he wanted the word of his candidacy to get out he would have to do it himself. I believe that kind of self-reliance is crucial to what he does in his current presidency. Luckily, he fostered enough believe in his constituency to have him elected to state senate. Later, though, he wasn’t so lucky. He failed in his first attempt at US senate. For his second attempt, Barack describes his efforts, “…I had to rely on friends or acquaintances open their houses to whoever might come, or arrange for my visit to their church, union hall, bridge group, or Rotary club. Sometimes, after several hours of driving, I would find just two or three people waiting for me around a kitchen table” (6). Obama didn’t start out with a massive following, but instead had to work for every last vote. As a result, I would say that Obama has a better understanding of the middle class because of his experiences along the campaign trail, and it was this understanding that helped him make choices in the senate.

Farther into the book, Obama expresses his interpretation of what is happening to the United States today. He starts off very quickly analyzing how party lines have split the country. Obama calls it a broken country saying, “It’s what keeps us locked in ‘either/or’ thinking: the notion that we can have only big government or no government; the assumption that we must tolerate forty-six million without health insurance or embrace ‘socialized medicine’” (40). Too many people are of the opinion that either we have a completely liberal way of thinking or have a completely conservative way. Rather than pick the most party-associated choice, the country should pick the best option for the situation. Looking at what he says, Obama’s future presidential staff will most certainly have a balance of opinions. He describes how ridiculous the stalemate that has come up between parties saying, “We paint our faces red or blue and cheer our side and boo their side, and if it takes a late hit or a cheap shot to beat the other team, so be it, for winning is all that matters” (41). All the negativity in Congress has had negative effects. The clash of liberals and conservatives, then, only helps to hurt the country. From where I stand, I have much more confidence in the politician who can make good decisions based on what is good for the country rather than an individual party.