"THE AUDACITY OF HOPE"
 BARACK OBAMA

 Reviewed: Jim Abbott January, 07

If the U.S. is going to have a Black President—and the very real chance of that in two years is growing daily—people ought to do some finding out about who that person is.  And, if that person writes books about himself, well, that’d be an excellent place to start.

 Barack Obama, the young Black senator with the funny name and the exotic family history is that person.  Obama recently came out with his second autobiographical book, The Audacity of Hope.  And very recently—January 16—Obama announced plans to file a presidential exploratory committee on his website. Even before that however, most news organizations have placed Obama among the frontrunners for the Democratic nomination in 08.  The two prominent others being former first lady Senator Hillary Clinton (Another potential first: how about a first Woman president—and she’s got a book too!) and last campaign’s VP ticket runner, Senator John Edwards.

 The Audacity of Hope is definitely a political autobiography.  Here, Obama speaks but briefly of his early history of coming from a mixed racial family and of having a global traveling growing up. More detail on this fuller biographical picture can be found in his 1995 book, Dreams from my Father.  This is probably the more revealing, candid, and personal of the two books. In Dreams Barack talks about racial identity issues and adolescent confusion and is even descriptive of a time of cocaine and other drug use.  Much of Dreams is presented in dialogue form—making it, along with its surprising candor, perhaps the more “easily readable” of the two.

 But Audacity is also well written and speaks well to many things that people want to know about a potential president.  Obama gives full treatment to his educational, vocational, and political history. He demonstrates a thorough knowledge of constitutional law while blending it with an American dream that he subscribes fully to. Domestically, he has an admirable combination of working for civil rights and the disadvantaged while also being pro-individual and pro-entrepreneurship.  Foreign policy would seem to come naturally as family reunions are described as “looking like a UN general assembly.” He’s lived in Chicago, Hawaii, Indonesia and his father’s home, Kenya. Though not yet then a US senator, Barack accurately predicted the consequences of Bush’s ill-fated invasion, although his present stance, like others, on current Iraq policy is less simplistic.

   The book’s title comes from a sermon title that had a profound influence on Obama who is a self declared “Black American Christian.” This appears both politically advantageous and honest. Barack proclaims a strong and repeated admiration for his parents—especially his mother—who were atheist or agnostic or Muslim. Or a mix--and a strange mix with Barack’s assimilated Christianity--but convincingly portrayed. Obama comes off as a guy who is smart and religious and religiously tolerant all at once. That is a rare mix indeed.

  A sample: Barack points to the constitution’s separation of church and state as being not only the work of Jefferson and Madison (non Christian Deists admired by modern liberal theologians) but also by lesser known but low-class-popular people like Baptist minister John Leland whose exuberant evangelism was at that time viewed as radical by the established order.  Leland was fearful of government control and joined with the liberal Jefferson in effecting America’s unique Church/State separation.

 Joining different people for common causes. Isn’t that what George W. was going to do? Instead we’re finishing up (2 more years!) the most divisive time—excepting the Civil War-- in our nation’s history.  Barack Obama lays out an obviously intelligent if loosely defined plan for being a joiner rather than a divider. Will it, or can it, happen?  It does seem, after all, a bit audacious…but then, we can always hope.