The Audacity of Running for President

I am famous for starting books that I will never finish. I fall in love with the title, get 50+ pages into the subject matter, and then Adult ADHD takes over. Next book, please. Part of the problem is that the majority of my reading material comes from the public library these days, and the folks at the library are pretty particular about me returning books in a timely fashion. Another factor is that most books, once opened, do not match the excitement of their titles. Anticipation is better than the real event. Occasionally, though, a book comes along that begs to be finished. Sometimes, the author speaks to me and I feel a twinge of guilt for not hearing him out. I am driven by a sense that the best part of the book might yet come. This week, I am reading The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama.

Let me first say that I read 50+ pages of his first book, Dreams of My Father, before the library police caught up to me. That book did not speak to me (perhaps because I had just finished The Pursuit of Happyness, a decidedly more dramatic, powerful story), but the writing was beautiful. I'll say that again - if this guy loses the nomination, he has a stellar career as a writer waiting. He can really capsulize a thought, an image, a moment, and relate it to a larger concept with poetic ease. Regardless of the election results, I hope he continues to publish.

He has this chapter on Values, and how the values debate is framed in the political world. He ends the section with this summation of the difference between values and ideology: "Values are faithfully applied to the facts before us, while ideology overrides whatever facts call theory into question."

He illustrates this point with a story from his Illinois Senate days, when a colleague argued against providing school lunches for 5 year olds because it would "crush their spirit of self-reliance." I think it is clear that ideology trumped logic in that instance.

So far in the book, he speaks to me of the commonality of American opinion, not the dichotomy of views so often emphasized in the press. Commonalities aren't interesting (unless we're talking about multiple birth couples), but differences? Makes for great TV.

About a year ago, I jotted down some of my positions on issues:

I do not believe in capital punishment - it is not a deterrent and it is arbitrarily enforced. There are cases, however, of serial murder and crimes against the most vulnerable (children and the elderly) where it is in the best interest of society to impose the ultimate punishment.

Pro-environmental policy can and should be seen as pro-business policy. I do not accept that these positions are mutually exclusive.

I do not believe that the Second Amendment guarantees the right of all Americans to have any type of firearm without reasonable restrictions. More guns do not make us safer.

Just because an idea is popular in Europe doesn't automatically mean it is bad for America, but we should also be confident to make American decisions that may run counter to world opinion.

I believe that there is legal immigration and illegal immigration, and that too often, the political rhetoric of our day combines the two groups to move an anti-foreigner agenda.

I believe that real life issues are solved in the middle.

I hear Obama echoing my sentiments in his book, at least the first 50+ pages. This might be a book I finish.

JS