"A government that truly represents these Americans--that truly serves these
Americans--will require a different kind of politics. That politics will need
to reflect our lives as they are actually lived. It won’t 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 we’ll need to remind ourselves, despite all
our differences, just how much we share: common hopes, common dreams, a bond
that will not break."
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 listeners’ 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 "the audacity of hope."
Now, in The Audacity of Hope, Senator Obama calls for a different brand of
politics -- a politics for those weary of bitter partisanship and alienated by
the "endless clash of armies" we see in congress and on the campaign trail; a
politics rooted in the faith, inclusiveness, and nobility of spirit at the
heart of "our improbable experiment in democracy." He explores those forces --
from the fear of losing to the perpetual need to raise money to the power of
the media -- that 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 Obama’s 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 threats -- from terrorism to pandemic --
that gather beyond our shores. And he grapples with the role that faith plays
in a democracy -- 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 writes --- "waiting for Republicans and Democrats to catch up
with them. |
