The Audacity of Hope review
Oct. 4th, 2008 11:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearDave has finally succeeded in getting me interested in the US election, and I appear to have gone from 0 to obsessed in less than 60 seconds.
Part of this newfound interest comes from reading Barack Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope - which, despite the ridiculously pretentious title, is really rather good. He comes across as human, personable and intelligent, with a lot of very good ideas about how to run the country. He lost me a little on his foreign policy, and I'm not keen on what he has to say about homosexuality, but I agree with a lot of his opinions, and can't help but thinking he may be just what America needs right now. Dave said he wasn't sure it he could believe the ideas in the book are geniune - I think they are - and, even if they're not, the book shows Obama has at least thought a great deal about all these issues, and it's surely better for him to be someone who wants to present himself as tolerant, practical and liberal than not.
My biggest reservation about him is that he says in the book that even being a senator has had a detremental effect on his home life - is it really fair to drag two small children into the circus surrounding the first family? The other problem is that, considering the current state of the US economy, he's unlikely to be able to put many of his good ideas into practice because he's going to have enough on his plate just sorting out the mess Bush has left for him.
Still, he'd definitely have my vote, even though he seems to have slowed down my brain - it took me nine days to read the book, which is about twice what i'd expect for a book that size. It's not long, and it's not heavy going, but for some reason it just took me bloody ages to read it!
Part of this newfound interest comes from reading Barack Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope - which, despite the ridiculously pretentious title, is really rather good. He comes across as human, personable and intelligent, with a lot of very good ideas about how to run the country. He lost me a little on his foreign policy, and I'm not keen on what he has to say about homosexuality, but I agree with a lot of his opinions, and can't help but thinking he may be just what America needs right now. Dave said he wasn't sure it he could believe the ideas in the book are geniune - I think they are - and, even if they're not, the book shows Obama has at least thought a great deal about all these issues, and it's surely better for him to be someone who wants to present himself as tolerant, practical and liberal than not.
My biggest reservation about him is that he says in the book that even being a senator has had a detremental effect on his home life - is it really fair to drag two small children into the circus surrounding the first family? The other problem is that, considering the current state of the US economy, he's unlikely to be able to put many of his good ideas into practice because he's going to have enough on his plate just sorting out the mess Bush has left for him.
Still, he'd definitely have my vote, even though he seems to have slowed down my brain - it took me nine days to read the book, which is about twice what i'd expect for a book that size. It's not long, and it's not heavy going, but for some reason it just took me bloody ages to read it!
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Date: 2008-10-04 10:46 am (UTC)I'm with Dave in wondering just how genuine this man and the views he presents in public really are. Unfortunately he would have my vote anyway because the alternative is far worse.
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Date: 2008-10-04 10:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-05 06:42 pm (UTC)Rather that than have them raised in a Republican America, surely? And I think it's just about possible to keep your kids out of the political circus: Gordon Brown certainly manages to do so on this side of the pond, in contrast to David Cameron, who chose not to...