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The Audacity of Hope: Spoilers
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Lori, Super Mod
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Feb 01, 2009 04:20PM

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Seriously, I really enjoyed reading this! It gave me a much better sense of who President Obama is. It gave a glance behind the campaign face, the debate face, the trying-to-win-a-campaign face. I hope he'll be able to hang on to his core beliefs through all of the turmoil he'll face now. I'm comforted to know he came from such a strong base of beliefs.

To read this book, you would think the guy never did anything wrong or for the wrong reasons. Please!
Putting the sanitizing aside, his ideas frightened me as well. Too much socialism.
As you can tell...I'm not a fan of Obama.

Lisa - I got a different feel from the book - I was actually impressed with the shortcomings he did bring to light about himself (not that he shine a spotlight on the whole lot of them, but I didn't think he portrayed himself as saintly), and I appreciated the candid way he spoke about different issues - doubts he has had and how he often sympathizes with opposing viewpoints, even if he doesn't agree.
Was there a substantial bit of political rhetoric? Sure. He is a politician after all, and that's sort of an inherent quality for them. And he's a unapologetic Democrat, so it definitely doesn't toe the party lines. But I thought it was well written and well organized, and it gave me a better feel for the man now running our country.
Props to you, Lisa, for reading it even though you're not a fan. I think that's admirable! :)

Did you read it and then not like him or the other way around?

He performance during the first few weeks has reinforced my opinion. I guess that's not too surprising since I lean conservative and he is definitely a liberal.


And there's nothing wrong with being idealistic so long as you're also realistic. Having actually listened to the man speak, I see an idealist with his feet firmly planted on the ground. And that's what I got out of this book.

I apologize if I took my post in the wrong direction.

I apologize if I took my post in the wrong direction."
Rebbie -- I didn't make muy comment because of your post. I'm surprised that this book was chosen because it's just asking for the kind of posts I thought Lori had banned.

Let me start with that I did vote for Obama and do believe in a lot of the things he believes in. I have a bit of trouble reading this book, because he writes about being in the minority; I work for the Senate and the democrats are now in the majority. His section on partisanship and how the minority is treated was a little annoying to me, because of the fact that whent he Democrats came back to the majority, they did the same things to the Republicans -- having said that, I realize that he did expect that to happen and he even says that in the book.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to going out and buying this book, so I can take my time with the rest of it. I'm sure that I'm not going to agree with some of the things that he writes, as I can completely understand some people seeing him as an idealist and all that jazz and I see it sometimes, too.

I was a little surprised by how forthright and blunt he was about some things, but how he still walked that fine line between honesty and political correctness. Of course, I can't think of any examples of what I'm trying to say right now.
His stories about how opponents "spin" some of his ideas opened my eyes somewhat, but at the same time I wondered what spin he's put on someone else's ideas. All that frustrated me and left me wondering why they can't just present things as they are.
I liked the way he balanced history, politics, and personal memoir. I also liked that he backed up his thoughts with the reasons he felt the way he did.
Overall, this left me saying what I've said all along: I love the way this man thinks.