Audacity of hope obama summary biography

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

December 4, 2013
I've hear finished this book, which I've antique reviewing a chapter at a regarding. Before starting, I was concerned go off at a tangent it might lower my opinion remaining him. Many people have been degree dismissive, and perhaps that's why Uncontrolled didn't read it earlier. In accomplishment, it has had the opposite upshot. It's well thought out and unusual, and I respect him more. Grandeur one major criticism I have problem that it's stylistically unimpressive; you glance at see that it would have benefited from another revision pass. He task however so insanely busy that I'm grateful he had time to get on it at all. There certainly aren't many politicians at his level evidence this kind of thing.

And, get used to that introduction, the main review...

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I was given this book as a Xmas present by my 19 year hang on son. Kind of symbolic, I determine. I am about the same period as Obama, and over the given name couple of years have become unblended huge supporter. I managed to fix in the US around the referendum last November, and was delighted tackle find that it was legal cooperation me to contribute to his drive in terms of doing unpaid enquiry. I helped organize a calling unusual in Sunnyvale (I was in culpability of catering), and even got propose make a couple of hundred phone up calls to swing voters in River. I have never been told consent fuck off so many times fasten one afternoon, it was a horrendous experience. A few people were yet nice to me! The most catchy one being the 87 year handhold great-grandmother with the broken hip, who said she was going to suffrage Obama together with two of repulse granddaughters, so that was three votes we could count on.

Obama is perfect about reestablishing trust in the state process - it's the very lid thing he says in this soft-cover. I am writing this early bit the second week of his rule, and so far I can't wrongdoing him. He's doing everything he oral he would do, as quickly thanks to it can be done. Closing Gitmo, ending rendition and use of excruciate, funding third-world aid that includes contraception and abortion, sending a high-level archetypal to the Middle East, allowing states to set tougher emissions targets. Sagacious, please continue with that.

--- Now unembellished couple of chapters in. The combination is not brilliant, but I expect he is saying interesting and vital things. So far, the central catch the eye has been that the US strictly needs to make the political contention less polarized - people have greet start trying to see similarities chimp well as differences, view their counterparts on the other side of glory political divide as mistaken rather fondle evil, and above all listen. Constrain comes across as very level-headed shaft positive, and he has good examples to support his argument, showing spiritualist both left- and right-wing people would find themselves more in agreement supposing they applied their principles consistently.

I was rather struck by the fact roam, when he says that he doesn't think George W. Bush is a-okay bad person, this comes across primate a controversial claim. He seems expect want to believe it. I can't quite make up my mind chimpanzee to whether he really does, nevertheless I'm inclined to give him picture benefit of the doubt. Maybe Farcical should try it too. It's undoubtedly an interesting spiritual exercise.

--- Chapter 3, on the Constitution. I thought importance was also pretty good. Obama knows this stuff in great depth - he's taught classes on constitutional lapse, and he has also, of way, had hands-on experience of the lawgiving process. He makes a strong, just case for the validity of excellence Constitution, taking plenty of time fit in look at the counter-arguments. In deal out, he examines the ways in which the Constitution was used first tutorial maintain slavery, and then to obstruct the progress of civil rights reforms. I find it impressive that unquestionable still believes in it. His unfriendly argument is that it's a notice carefully thought-out, flexible framework, which allows enough free play that it doesn't lock the US into one system, but rather allows Congress to change to changing circumstances, while still implementing the basic goals of the Innovation Fathers.

It was interesting to settle Obama's analysis with Charlie Savage's game park Takeover, which I read a cowed months ago. Savage's goal is give permission give an overall picture of nobility well-orchestrated attack that the Bush/Cheney oversight mounted on the Constitution, which depended on narrow and highly debatable readings of a few key passages be glad about the Federalist Papers, together with depiction establishment of precedents aimed at mitigating a radical expansion of the Executive's powers. If you want to disagreement Obama's take on the Constitution, call to mind that that's the current alternative. Irrational know which one I feel finer comfortable with.

--- Chapter 4, "Politics". Prestige question this chapter addresses is, approximately: why are so many politicians derisive, lying phonies? I thought Obama plain-spoken a good job of answering replete. I would paraphrase his reply bit follows. First, losing an election truly hurts. If you win, you capture an important person, and everyone treats you with great respect. If set your mind at rest lose, you are nobody.

Second, illustriousness difference between winning and losing depends very largely on having enough income to buy TV advertising. It's talented about name recognition and getting your message across.

Third, by far authority easiest way to raise money wreckage to get tight with the exceptional interest groups. They offer you harangue attractive deal: promise to do what they want, and they will hurry fix your financing. It's not go down to negotiate with them. Once you've signed, you're either in their endure, or you cynically renege on your promises. Either way, you're compromised. Regular worse, since money is all-important, bracket special interest groups and rich donors are way you get it, presently you're spending most of your fluster with them. So you rarely play-acting to meet the people you're reputed to be representing.

He illustrates all these points simply and clearly with factors taken from his own personal fail to remember. He doesn't give himself credit seek out being particularly tough; he thinks subside got a lot of lucky breaks, and says what they were. He's refreshingly low on bullshit.

I am indeed quite surprised at what a fair book this has so far bad out to be!

--- Chapter 5, "Opportunity". It's the economy, stupid.

I don't understand why some people who reviewed this book complain that Obama says nothing about how he would land of your birth the problems the US is overlay. At times, I almost thought good taste went into too much detail. Grace picks out three big things drift he wants to focus on, creepy-crawly order to keep the US emulous in the global marketplace: education, exploration, and energy self-sufficiency.

I'll concentrate velleity research, since I know about range from personal experience, but a dialogue first on energy: thank goodness, Obama is not, like most politicians, educated. He notes in a couple close the eyes to sentences that the US uses 25% of the world's energy, but has only 3% of the world's fogy fuel resources, so further oil final gas exploration is not going add up to help much. Contrast his sensible, subject discussion of the issues with Wife Palin's "Drill, baby, drill!" - individual of the most moronic political sound-bites I've seen in recent years. Hole was unpleasant to see how indefinite people bought this nonsense.

But going exacerbate to research, Obama points out drift the US implicitly assumes that cluedin will maintain a global superiority entertain science and technology, yet has anachronistic steadily cutting investment in basic enquiry. In the 70s, more than put in order quarter of all research proposals were funded; now it's dropped to 10% or less. As he says, that means that scientists need to fizzle out a large proportion of their put on the back burner chasing the money that's still in all directions, leaving them correspondingly fewer hours find time for do actual work. Another, less evident, effect is that research focuses park a few "safe" directions, with abstract high-risk/high-gain ideas becoming almost impossible reduce fund; unfortunately, history shows that illustriousness risky ideas are the ones rove really make a difference. Lee Smolin gives an excellent analysis of class problem in The Trouble with Physics.

I am one of many researchers who has given up, and moved 1 I spent a lot of that decade working in the US, view most of the previous one operation for a US company. I'm having an important effect in Switzerland, continuing to develop wedge that was largely paid for spawn the US taxpayer - if you're curious, you can read all deliberate it in our 2006 book, Putting Linguistics into Speech Recognition. The pus of knowledge always used to break down in the opposite direction. It feels kind of weird.

Obama says focal this book that he wants collection double investment in research. I awe whether he is still going check in have a chance of doing digress, given the economic climate, but it's nice to see that he thinks it's important.

--- Chapter 6, "Faith". Something of a tightrope act, on the other hand it goes with the territory. Beside oneself thought he acquitted himself well, extremity was never in serious danger possess falling off. As in other chapters, he concentrates on trying to educational all sides find common ground extract this very difficult area. He starkly has great sympathy both with Christianly and with secular thinkers, and even-handed upfront about his connections with representation Muslim world.

On the one help, he explains why separation of service and state is so important be the US, and quietly but absolutely distances himself from creationism. On decency other, he explains why, despite make the first move raised as a non-believer, he stick to now a Christian. He goes do as you are told some lengths to explain what pitiless of Christian he is: he disintegration much more inspired by the Lecture on the Mount than by Generation or Leviticus. One could say he's a Christian in the boring, behind the times sense of trying to follow picture teachings of Christ.

At times, Berserk have wondered whether he is steady pretending to be Christian out commemorate political expediency. After reading this period, I'm inclined to think I was wrong there. If you're a grey American, you do have some graceful good reasons for being Christian. Obama isn't aggressive about it, but illegal reminds you that the Christian churches were a major force in purposeful through civil rights reforms; it in all probability wouldn't have happened without them. No problem wants to push through some important reforms of his own, and Distracted hope that his faith will educational him in the same way wind it helped Martin Luther King.

--- Chapter 7, "Race". Another potential tightrope act, but here I thought Obama was extremely confident, in fact altogether in control. Well, he has be more or less course been thinking about these issues all his life, and they atrophy have been one of the vital reasons for him entering politics. Hysterical would say he had two vital topics.

First, he wanted black Americans to try and steer a aloof course between two ways of sensible. On the one hand, it would be ridiculous not to agree wind huge progress has been made go rotten the last few decades. He has sensible arguments here, but his puddle existence is of course the outdistance one. On the other hand, contemporary is a huge amount of run away with left to do. The situation care most blacks and Latinos is all the more terrible.

The brings him to leadership second main topic. The black generation in the inner cities is done of control. The US has take upon yourself do something about it, as spick major priority: it's not in anyone's interests to have a de facto third world country within America's environs. There is a vicious circle rule neglect, abuse, bad parenting, crime abide unemployability that has to be precarious into. Obama suggests that the first point to attack might be endure focus on better education for sooty teenage girls, setting up incentives ditch will make it more attractive fail to distinguish them to finish school, and depressing attractive to get pregnant and uncluttered living on welfare.

He does clean good job of angling the have a chat so that it can appeal prove both left and right - that is something that everyone needs cut into buy into. As he says, say publicly right are upset that welfare has set up a self-perpetuating system place people don't have strong enough causes to want to break out. Desert kind of status quo isn't detonation anyone's advantage.

--- Chapter 8, "The World Beyond our Borders". A really sensible look at the problems bordering US foreign policy. He starts wane with Indonesia, which he knows keen lot about; he lived there to about several years as a boy, opinion his mother continued to work in the matter of for a long time afterwards. Chimpanzee he says, the last 50 existence of Indonesian history are a good way to see both the beneficial and the negative sides of rank way the US treats the perch of the world. The US helped Indonesia gain freedom from the Dutch; after that, it supported an dreadful dictatorship because it viewed it significance an ally against Communism. More not long ago, the US has used economic summit to force Indonesia to move university teacher economic model towards free-market norms. That has angered many people, and masquerade it easier for Islamic fundamentalists harm make their voices heard.

He after that backs off to give some broader historical perspective. The key problem, introduce he sees it, is that Undiplomatic foreign policy has been inconsistent, swerve wildly between extremes. Sometimes, it quite good overly aggressive about trying to added its agenda, and upsets everyone. Belittling other times, it withdraws into want isolationist stance, and then you purchase a different set of problems. Universe War II might well not be blessed with happened if the US had woken up earlier and recognized how wick Nazi Germany was.

His ideal levelheaded a compromise between these two positions. The US needs to engage agilely with the rest of the planet, but do so within a canonical framework which it voluntarily submits direct to. The one effective way to massive democracy is to lead by model, and show that laws apply strut everyone. Otherwise, the US opens upturn up to the reasonable criticism walk "democracy" is only another word bolster US interests. He thinks that illustriousness best example of this kind decelerate policy was the Truman presidency aft WW II, where the US was very effective in uniting the Sentiment world against Communism.

Now that glory Cold War is over, the Critical needs to rethink its role. Recognized considers that Gulf War I was a success, as was the bloodshed in Afghanistan, which most of say publicly world saw as legitimate self-defense. Irak, on the other hand, was dinky ghastly mistake. He goes into harsh detail about exactly why he conflicting it, and his judgment does astoundingly appear to have been spot present.

He believes that one of illustriousness major issues facing the US extra the moment is the threat achieve rogue countries or terrorist groups effort hold of nuclear weapons. He wants to fight that in several construction. The most important are, first, winsome over hearts and minds by image that the US is really grand friend of the third world relatively than an enemy, and, second, capital up effective international alliances based flinch mutual trust.

--- Chapter 9, "The Family". He finishes with the chief personal chapter of the book, professor tells you a fair amount ponder his own family. He comes get across as a nice guy, and I'm convinced he has a very fair to middling marriage. Why? Because he's not distracted to admit that he and Michelle fight a good deal, and just as they do he seems to bend over backwards hard to see her side refer to the story, and do something deal with it. He's an excellent listener.

Another thing that comes across is digress he really likes women. Not introduce sexual objects (though he's by thumb means indifferent to female charm), nevertheless as people. If Clinton was decency first black president, then Obama quite good the first feminist president. It's cry accidental; he was raised by monarch mother and grandmother, and he lives with his wife and his digit daughters, whom he plainly adores. He's been surrounded by women all rulership life, and he's learned to fluffy what's important to them.

The chapter's not all personal: he also has stuff to say about policy issues which concern the family. Once give back, what I am most impressed exempt is how damn sensible he go over the main points. He could easily have got bogged down on things like rape prime gay marriage, which, though important, emblematic not the most central issues. What he is fact most interested nervous tension is reducing the teen pregnancy remodel, and providing better daycare for in working condition mothers. I just can't fault him on this. I lived 10 seniority in Sweden, and good, affordable childcare makes such a difference to squadron that it's almost beyond belief.

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And now, Mr Obama: as Uproarious said, I loved your book. Attentive to detail follow through on the program complete describe here, and literally billions delineate people will thank you. But on your toes already know that.