wrighters.net

After reading Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope, I feel like I could vote for this man for president. I think the book did a good job of laying out his overall goals and tendencies as a legislator. He seems to be reasonable on most issues, taking a stance that would be similar to my own. There are a few things that he brought up in the book that stick out to me as reasons to vote for him.
* He was against the war from the beginning. This doesn’t mean that he has all the answers, but he has the credibility to say it was always a bad idea. Not many of the candidates can say that, especially Hillary. This gives him credibility on the major issue of the campaign.
* He is against the current policies of the Bush administration to cut taxes on the rich. He makes a good point that it is unheard of for a president to cut taxes and go to war at the same time. If we really are at war, then we need to pay the price as a nation.
* He is a reasonable man from reasonable beginnings. Unlike most recent presidents, he hasn’t lived a luxurious life up to this point. Compare that to Al Gore and George W. Bush - two prep school millionaire’s kids. As a black man, he has faced discrimination. As a son of a divorced couple, he has seen the pain of a broken family. He has lived overseas. This is a bit different from our current president. I saw an interview on the Daily Show with Joe Biden (about 5 mins in) where he talked about how George Bush, during his first term, asked Senator Biden to brief him on Europe before his first trip. Biden thought this was his first trip as _president_, but turns out it was his first trip ever. How did he ever get elected? And to think people say Obama doesn’t have enough experience. Bush didn’t have enough experience to lead a class trip to Europe.

The chapter on faith was a little weak. I think that he has reasonable perspectives on faith, but the impact of his faith on his life seems very general and not as personal as I might expect. He describes how he became involved in his church due to his involvement in community organizing. It almost has a feeling of being something that completes his image as opposed to something that is the driving force behind what he does. But he is not running for high priest, but rather president.

After reading the book, I wonder if the United States is really going to be able to elect a black man, or a woman, or a Mormon as the next president. I think we are ready, and this will be an interesting election - with race, gender, and religion less of a factor than ever before.

Finally, it seems that the country is headed for a time when we need to invest heavily in domestic programs - education, infrastructure, the environment - and we need to figure out Iraq. Obama looks like he has plans for these areas that will work. We’ll have to see how the race goes.