The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama
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Book Reviews of The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
Book Review: All Style, very little substance
Summary: 2 Stars
Obama's book, is much like his political career, all style no substance. Look, I voted for Kerry in 2004-would vote for him again in 2008-but Obama just turns me off. I bought this book, thinking that it would change my opinion, but he seems much more like a "life-coach" and less like a Presidential candidate. Book Review: A Progressive Leader's View of Politics and the World!
Summary: 4 Stars
'The Audacity of Hope' is one of the most thought-provoking books centered on world and domestic politics recently written. Barack Obama offers his paragon of politics for the 21st century built upon a foundation of old guiding principles that stretch back to our Nation's forefathers to recent political figures and events that have shaped our political discourse over the last several years.
Though stretched in some areas, Barack pulls off an eloquently written prose of ideas that offer perspectives that are more practical than fresh (a dissertation so to speak). From family, values, faith, race, world politics, opportunity, and the constitution, he remains consistent in his love for country; however, skeptical of its future course. Specifically, on family his opinions on the erosion of the traditional family cannot be argued. Two-parent working households that compete with time spent with children is not opinion - it is fact. To further complicate matters, he points out - painfully - the erosion of the black family with startling statistics that pose no easy answer. Barack's approach however is a good starting point. From review of welfare laws that have separated families to engaging children as role model adults in order to compete against a pop culture filled with distractions (perceived and real).
His economic views are his strong point. Obama is able to pin-point in simple terms how globalization of manufacturing jobs, the emergence of low-paying service sector jobs, the complications and trade-offs of NAFTA and CAFTA have depressed our Nation's earning power, stagnated wages, and provided Americans with a lower standard of living despite our dominance as a economic superpower - the results now being felt primarily because of our cavalier approach to deal with crumbling infrastructure, job re-training, funding disparities in secondary education, and lack of affordable college-level education. Though Obama points out the difficulty in bold, fresh terms, his solution is based on the foundation of the past - Clinton's loose-ends with regards to NAFTA, the fallacy of 'No Child Left Behind' for Bush, and the missing link between teacher merit pay and performance. The solutions have been offered before. What Obama advocates is an executed, sequence-based series of action steps - a step-result-step-result format (a practical, perfect world format).
Adding to the texture and the value of this book is how Obama is able to talk about the role of faith without sounding preachy. He navigates his way through the role of faith in our politics, recognizing the difference in our religious views, but upholding the common ground found in most organized religion - value of life, respect for fellow men and women, and execution of the Golden Rule - common characteristics that stretch across the religious spectrum. His view is that faith within politics should be embraced from a world-view with the nuances of the differences down-played to prevent the widening of the gap that unites us all as Americans (or Americans to be) - a difficult view that he effectively framed.
On Race, Obama cannot win with everyone, but can relate to almost all of us. Being bi-racial, Obama tip-toes on this issue so not to alienate or shun his black roots, while opening-up enough allowing him to embrace his white roots. He discusses Race with the authority of someone given a "pass" to speak from both sides while leveraging his world experience to offer insight on the Latino and Asian American experience. It comes up short rather than flat primarily because a topic so complicated deserves its own work in and of itself - from Barack (maybe?). The decay of the black family, the resentment (real or perceived) of whites, the earning power (or lack thereof) for Latinos (and blacks), and the emergence (and impressive escalation) of Asians cannot be condensed within a short chapter. He points out the crumbling infrastructure and support system of the black family; however, his solutions break from past civil rights leaders and aims toward social responsibility, inclusion, and a "make it happen" approach to life - again, a hard explanation to condense. Latinos and blacks have common ground, but Obama doesn't really go into the details of the breaking (tipping) point that keeps these two races apart (only pointing out the obvious blue collar-low paying job battle - however, it's a lot more complicated). Instead he simplifies this discussion to the common threads we all share, the progress made, and the challenges ahead.
Finally, on world politics, Obama demonstrates the skill of knowledge, mastery of geography and government, and a "big picture" view of resolving our world standing. To this day (and as evident within this work), Barack is comfortable that he both voted against and spoke out against the war and therefore is able to write with conviction on the faulty reasoning that led the U.S. to war. At the same time, he realizes the outcome and conclusion of our presence in Iraq and increasing our world standing will be anything but easy.
Engaging, straight-forward, and beautifully written, 'The Audacity of Hope' is a book to be shared and reviewed with the passage of time. Consistent in his view to this day - Barack Obama is able to acknowledge the past and offer insight on how to shape our future based on the framework of what we have and share as Americans and world citizens.
Book Review: I Believe in the Tooth Fairy Too!!!
Summary: 1 Stars
WOW Obama is such a wonderful man, he is gonna change everything around, change it around for good! We finally have our savior on a black horse to save us from corruption and opression.
YES, tax those rich people, tax them GOOD, make them pay their fair share!
Sure I pay little and suck money from the government like a parasite, but rich folks OWE me. You got money dont ya rich folks? Give me something! Give me something! You can afford it.
We DESERVE free healthcare and vastly increased welfare. What do I give you? you ask? HOW DARE YOU! You OWE me all this and much more!
So please please please vote Obama in November, cuz if you dont, that aint right.
Book Review: Is this all there is?
Summary: 2 Stars
He says the energy solutions are corn Ethanol and more E85 pumps. He implies government workers are better then nongovernment workers, people in labor unions better then those who aren't. Advocates a higher minimum wage, has ideas about outsourcing which seem like Thomas Friedman's. That getting more people to graduate from college is going to solve economic problems.
He says math and science college degrees are so great, but I have math and statistics degrees and know that to be laughable. Most of the college curriculum doesn't apply to what most graduates are doing in the real world, because computers automate technical processes like correlations or finding fair value of securities, except for exotic, cutting-edge processes being done by guru level people. Why does having a college education add value? Is it the diploma, the networking, the education, or that the two groups are demographically different? Maybe college graduates are more conventional then other people. People always talk about average income differentials between college grads and others, but the average income of people that read the Wall Street Journal is something like 200000, while the average income of people that don't is something like 40000. Does this mean that if a typical person started reading the WSJ there income would increase 5x?
There has been tremendous change in the economy, few people's life, job, energy bill or food bill is the same as it was in January 2001. Some people think the country is changing too fast, others changing too slow.
The real question isn't what most people want and need, as almost everyone wants a growing economy, clean environment, etc., and with constant polling you can find and promise that. For every person who promises and delivers, others promise and fail. That leadership is reactive because what people view as the most important problems facing the country change over time. Anyone can read polls and state goals.
But how do you achieve those goals, like improving economic competitiveness, an effective energy policy, or achieving victory in Iraq or Afghanistan?
Obama belives people who sit behind computer screens at work are less worthy then others. It's unfortunate he doesn't have more compelling ideas about things that are more important.
Book Review: Informative and personal!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Impressed with Obama's knowledge and ideas. He covers generations of our history and its impact on our political system and its personal impact on his beliefs. With the hopes of being a more informed voter I felt it important that I read first hand, not from sound bites, who our democrat candidate truly is. I'm glad I purchased this audio book and succeeded in my attempt to become more informed. I would recommend it to those who have similar intentions and a love of history.