OBAMA BOOK

Obama, Barak (2006) the audacity of hope: thoughts on reclaiming America, New York: crown publishers

Senator Obama is an excellent writer and describes in some detail his political centrism that may be the strategy of the future of the United States. As this is being written, there has been nearly 7 years of the most conservative administration since before FDR. Since 1968, conservatism continues to grow.  This is also a campaign book so many of the details are fashioned into readable style.

Obama laments the increasingly growing division of the two parties. This has become so pronounced that new senators and representatives generally move to 2 different states. The Republicans housed themselves in Virginia and the Democrats locate in Maryland.

Obama does not like “raunch culture” and suggest ways that family censorship can be enacted on cable and the internet. He feels the constitution has been violated by both parties and that K street lobbyist, in significant ways run and write law. What are lobbyists like? They believe in free market capitalism unimpeded by regulatory bodies, social security, Medicare, and various benefits to the disabled, and labor unions. They champion meritocracy where the talented reach the top and should get the lion’s share of the economic pie.  They are located in the top 1% and are globalists. They are suspicious of religion and split on abortion and guns.

Senators rarely vote. Spend most of their time on photo ops, travel, and constituent services. They must get thousand upon thousands of dollars everyday 24/7. The hard way is to go to the people. The easy way is to get it in big bundles from lobbyists. Practioners of politics get angry, tired, and jaded. He supports public financing of campaigns.

Our trade policy hurts workers, small and medium business, and benefits the rich and large corporations. He wants to revise NFTA.

He then discusses faith. Here he laments the demise of the social gospel in Christianity and the triumph of personal salvation and the prosperity doctrine. Further, Christianity has become a force for the corporate state. If fundamentalists, charismatic, and related turned away from free market capitalism, their contributions to the religious right would dramatically diminish. He wants to galvanize the Religious moderates.

Race and family intertwine. Governments have tried to bring the races together. It has not failed completely, but de facto segregation still blossoms. He asks white families to tolerate, and black families to concentrate on getting the young males to find skills and young females to not get pregnant and find an education that will put them through life.

There is not a radical note in the whole book. It is a centrist’s book that Democrats and Independents may find interesting. It is as interesting as being a partially white man in black skin or a mixed race candidate which may be true of some other presidents in the past.

Prof. Joel Snell

Kirkwood College