βA government that truly represents these Americansβthat truly serves these Americansβwill require a different kind of politics. That politics will need to reflect our lives as they are actually lived. It wonβt be pre-packaged, ready to pull off the shelf. It will have to be constructed from the best of our traditions and will have to account for the darker aspects of our past. We will need to understand just how we got to this place, this land of warring factions and tribal hatreds. And weβll need to remind ourselves, despite all our differences, just how much we share: common hopes, common dreams, a bond that will not break.β βfrom The Audacity of Hope
In July 2004, Barack Obama electrified the Democratic National Convention with an address that spoke to Americans across the political spectrum. One phrase in particular anchored itself in listenersβ minds, a reminder that for all the discord and struggle to be found in our history as a nation, we have always been guided by a dogged optimism in the future, or what Senator Obama called βthe audacity of hope.β
Now, in The Audacity of Hope, Senator Obama calls for a different brand of politicsβa politics for those weary of bitter partisanship and alienated by the βendless clash of armiesβ we see in congress and on the campaign trail; a politics rooted in the faith, inclusiveness, and nobility of spirit at the heart of βour improbable experiment in democracy.β He explores those forcesβfrom the fear of losing to the perpetual need to raise money to the power of the mediaβthat can stifle even the best-intentioned politician. He also writes, with surprising intimacy and self-deprecating humor, about settling in as a senator, seeking to balance the demands of public service and family life, and his own deepening religious commitment.
At the heart of this book is Senator Obamaβs vision of how we can move beyond our divisions to tackle concrete problems. He examines the growing economic insecurity of American families, the racial and religious tensions within the body politic, and the transnational threatsβfrom terrorism to pandemicβthat gather beyond our shores. And he grapples with the role that faith plays in a democracyβ where it is vital and where it must never intrude. Underlying his stories about family, friends, members of the Senate, even the president, is a vigorous search for connection: the foundation for a radically hopeful political consensus.
A senator and a lawyer, a professor and a father, a Christian and a skeptic, and above all a student of history and human nature, Senator Obama has written a book of transforming power. Only by returning to the principles that gave birth to our Constitution, he says, can Americans repair a political process that is broken, and restore to working order a government that has fallen dangerously out of touch with millions of ordinary Americans. Those Americans are out there, he writesββwaiting for Republicans and Democrats to catch up with them.β
Media Buzz
Countdown with Keith Olbermann - December 23, 2010 Countdown with Keith Olbermann - August 23, 2010 Good Morning America - July 27, 2009 Today - July 25, 2009 Extra - January 21, 2009 60 Minutes - December 28, 2008 Good Morning America - December 22, 2008 Talk of the Nation - November 17, 2008 Morning Edition - November 10, 2008 All Things Considered - October 30, 2008 Morning Edition - October 29, 2008 NewsHour with Jim Lehrer - September 25, 2008 Inside Edition - July 31, 2008
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