Anybody here read Obama's "The Audacity of Hope"

[Proud Liberal Dem]

Hoping to learn a little more about him since he is now officially our nominee this year, I recently borrowed and listened to Obama's book (written in 2006 I believe), "The Audacity of Hope", in which he talks about his childhood, family life, and some his thoughts and ideas on difficult political issues such as religion, the economy, and race. After reading this book, I have found that it really helps make a lot more sense out of his positions on various issues even though I don't always agree with him (particularly his more recent comments in regards to FISA) and would consider myself to be a lot more "left of center" and probably more "partisan" than he is in general. Contrary to conservative critics of Obama, most of whom have an almost reflexive tendency to label ANY Democrat as a "liberal", Obama actually presents himself as a VERY "centrist" Democrat in that he appears to take a "middle" road on a lot of issues like Bill Clinton did in the later stages of his presidency. Although, for the most part, I think Obama generally makes a good case for his positions and I think that his beliefs are sincere and not just "pandering" in order to win. I also don't think that there is much that he wrote in his book that most reasonable people could really argue with which makes attempts by critics and the MSM to paint him as some kind of "radical" (mostly because of some of his past and present associations) seem far fetched at best. I would say that I'm a bit disappointed that our party (of late) only seems to nominate more "centrist" Democrats rather than the more aggressive progressive/liberal ones that I think we need a few more of nowadays but I think that Obama would make for a great President and listening to him speak provides a stark contrast to the incuriosity and manichean outlook that has dominated our federal policies during the past 7 years and makes me yearn for the time when we had a leader who actually cares enough to take the time to sort through difficult issues.

Anybody else read his book and if so, what are your thoughts on it, particularly as it relates to his candidacy for President?

[sandnsea]

1. I read about half of it, he believes in democracy

And that the premise of democracy is ideas. Just because someone disagrees with your ideas, it doesn't make them evil in a democracy. That's very different than the traditional labels people are trying to use to pigeon-hole him.

[Born_A_Truman]

2. I'm reading it now

I am currently about half way through it and so far I haven't found anything I strongly disagree with him over. He has a great deal of respect for public service and the people he serves. He also understands that not everyone will be happy with the decisions he makes.

[democrattotheend]

3. I've read part of it

I was just reading it last night. I agree with you that it gives a better sense of where he comes from even if we don't always agree with him. Like, his Reagan comment made a lot more sense after I read a passage in his book that said something similar.

I don't know that centrist is the right way to describe him...I think he is hard to pinpoint ideologically because he's not really an ideologue. He thinks about what makes the most sense and doesn't always care if it's in line with liberal orthodoxy, but that's not the same thing as being a centrist per say. I think his instincts are pretty liberal but he is willing to consider different viewpoints and is not dogmatic about it.