Suffice to say, I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend this book. Prior to reading the book, I thought Obama seemed like a decent chap, but tended to back John Edwards as a political candidate (you just have to like Edwards' anti-corporate spunk:). With Edwards out, I'm pleased to say that I fully support Barack Obama's efforts for election as the next president of the United States. His book is just that good. Let me explain in more detail.
Though Obama is generally regarded as an extremely liberal (or, maybe we should say progressive) candidate, there is still much that every person should like about him. More than anything else, he is one of the most positive, optimistic people I've read, which is particularly refreshing for a politician. Not only that, but he doesn't then have the defeatist, status quo attitude that I find so darned frustrating. Moreover, he also seems to see things clearly, with a degree of idealism, that appeals strongly to me personally.
His views are really quite refreshing. Let me provide you with some quotes from the book to explain.
From the Prologue (p.8):
"I recognize the risks of talking this way. In an era of globalization and dizzying technological change, cutthroat politics and unremitting culture wars, we don't even seem to possess a shared language with which to discuss our ideals, much less the tools to arrive at some rough consensus about how, as a nation, we might work together to bring those ideals about."
From the chapter "Republicans and Democrats" (p33):
"But for a younger generation of conservative operatives who would soon rise to power, for Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove and Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed, the fiery rhetoric was more than a matter of campaign strategy. They were true believers who meant what they said, whether it was "No new taxes" or "we are a Christian nation." In fact, with their rigid doctrines, slash-and-burn style, and exaggerated sense of having been aggrieved, this new conservative leadership was eerily reminiscent of some of the New Left's leaders during the sixties."
From the chapter "Values" (p59):
"Values are faithfully applied to the facts before us, while ideology overrides whatever facts call theory into question."
From the chapter "Our Constitution" (p78):
"...what troubled me was the process - or lack of process - by which the White House and its congressional allies disposed of opposing views; the sense that the rules of governing no longer applied, and that there were no fixed meanings or standards to which we could appeal. It was as if those in power had decided that habeas corpus and separation of powers were niceties that only got in the way, that they complicated what was obvious (the need to stop terrorists) or impeded what was right (the sanctity of life) and could therefore be disregarded, or at least bent to strong wills."
Three more from the chapter "Our Constitution" (p93):
"...if there was one impulse shared by all the Founders, it was a rejection of all forms of absolute authority, whether the king, the theocrat, the general, the oligarch, the dictator, the majority, or anyone else who claims to make the choices for us."
and
"It was Jefferson, not some liberal judge in the sixties, who called for a wall between church and state - and if we have declined to heed Jefferson's advice to engage in a revolution every two or three generations, it's only because the Constitution proved a sufficient defense against tyranny."
and
"It's not just absolute power that the Founders sought to prevent. Implicit in its structure, in the very idea of ordered liberty, was a rejection of absolute truth, the infallibility of any idea or ideology or theology or "ism," any tyrannical consistency that might lock future generations into a single, unalterable course, or drive both majorities and minorities into the cruelties of the Inquisition, the pogrom, the gulag, or the jihad. The Founders may have trusted in God, but true to the Enlightenment spirit, they also trusted in the minds and sense that God had given them. They were suspicious of abstraction and liked asking questions, which is why at every turn in our early history theory yielded to fact and necessity."
From the chapter "Opportunity":
"What's preventing us from shaping that future isn't the absence of good ideas. It's the absence of a national commitment to take the tough steps necessary to make America more competitive - and the absence of a new consensus around the appropriate role of government in the marketplace." (p149)
"Hamilton's and Lincoln's basic insight - that the resource and power of the national government can facilitate, rather than supplant, a vibrant free market - has continued to be one of the cornerstones of both Republican and Democratic policies at every state of America's development." (p152)
"And we can be guided throughout by Lincoln's simple maxim: that we will do collectively, through our government, only those things that we cannot do as well or at all individually and privately." (p159)
"Education. Science and technology. Energy. Investments in these three key areas would go a long way in making American more competitive. Of course, none of these investments will yield results overnight. All will be subject to controversy." (p171)
"...the Ownership Society doesn't even try to spread the risks and rewards of the new economy among all Americans. Instead, it simply magnifies the uneven risks and rewards of today's winner-take-all economy. If you are healthy or wealthy or just plain lucky, then you will become more so. If you are poor or sick or catch a bad break, you will have nobody to look to for help. That's not a recipe for a sustained economic growth or the maintenance of a strong American middle class. It's certainly not a recipe for social cohesion. It runs counter to those values that say we have a stake in each other's success."It's not who we are as a people." (p180)
"Americans are willing to compete with the world. We work harder than the people of any other wealthy nation. We are willing to tolerate more economic instability and are willing to take more personal risks to get ahead. But we can only compete if our government makes the investments that give us a fighting chance - and if we know that our families have some net beneath which they cannot fall."That's a bargain with the American people worth making." (p187)
From this point on, I skimmed the rest of the book. He speaks about faith, race, family, and the world at large, and says some interesting, sensible things. My point in providing the above quotes is to highlight that Obama is a very intelligent, reasonable person. His positive outlook has yet to be corrupted and destroyed by the political establishment in Washington. In a nutshell, you just have to like his aspirations, even if you don't full agree with his personal stances in detail. He represents a significant enough departure from the norm, without being an idiot, that I believe he's exactly what this country needs to reset and get back onto a positive track.
