After 12 months of the disgusting Trump administration reading the words of President Obama was soothing. I surely don't agree with every word he says or has said but even when I disagree it is on substance and not garbage and attacks. I miss the days of having a president who was classy, smart, and well spoken.
I honestly don't remember when President Obama announced his run, if it was before or after the release of this book in 2006 but it sure reads like the kind of thing someone without much history in politics would write and put out near or just after announcing a run for President.
While there are points he makes in Audacity that I don't agree with in part or fully, but the main point he sets out to make, at least as I see it, is one I do agree fully with.
Things like "whenever we exaggerate or demonize, oversimplify or overstate our case, we lose" and "Whenever we dumb down the political debate, we lose." and "the pursuit of ideological purity, the rigid orthodoxy and the sheer predictability of our current political debate, that keeps us from finding new ways to meet the challenges we face as a country" but especially "What's needed is a broad majority of Americans- Democrats, Republicans, and independents of goodwill- who are reengaged in the project of national renewal, and who see their own self-interest as inextricably linked to the interests of others."
He is absolutely a smart and well spoken man. He writes like an academic, a little more so than the last book I finished, What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton which was a little warmer (intentionally so I think) but still smart, but it is still readable and full of interesting ideas.
(Finished February 3, 2018)
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