Wow, this man is really going to be our President? I imagine most politicians except Dubya and Sarah Palin could recite some of the political and economic and foreign history that Obama talks about in this book, but they could never frame it so well or so inspirationally. Not only does he know the history, he thinks about it and clarifies it. He thinks! This president-elect loves America and Americans, what we are and what we can be. Fascinating book, and I loved getting a little glimpses into his personal life; such as how he forgot to buy a shower curtain for his Washington apartment when he came without his family and had to scrunch up against the wall to shower; I did that once while I was travel nursing, and it is funny and real. He is brilliant, but this book makes me even more proud of American for electing him; he is unlike any other president in my time, and I am hopeful for change.

3.5 stars.

This week was.........not a good time to read this book. I thought that it would be, that it would be the perfect time to read about the need for compassion in politics and how there's always hope for the future.

Instead? This was just...sad. 2006 Barack Obama had so much hope for the future, so much determination that we could make the world a better place. He talks so passionately about the godawful state of the US health insurance system, the arguments against marriage equality, the appalling state of many US public schools, America's repeated involvement in any political issue in a country that has oil.

And here we are, just over ten years later with all the work he did as President being unravelled.

In short: FUCK.

(As far as the book itself goes, some sections were fascinating, others were moving, some were...dry. I could have done without some chapters altogether, frankly)

Excellent book. When I found out he was the narrator had to buy it. Did read the hard copy back in 2007. Missed his voice so much, intelligent, inspiring speeches. Fall in love with him at the 2004 Democratic convention.
His work in Chicago, ambitious political journey, how he met his wife. Values, American history, family and his understanding of the issues we are facing. He had the Audacity of Hope to do something about them, but his hands was tied at his back, legs knocked under him.
One think I never understood; if we all are God's children and we all bleed red, why all this hate?

I'm late to the game. Barack Obama wrote The Audacity of Hope in 2006, before he'd even announced his intention to run for president. Here I am in 2019, hearing Obama's hopes and plans for the nation from the perspective of one who has seen his presidency play out, productive in many regards despite the concentrated wall of congressional obstruction, and passed along to the tin-pot dictator who currently, inexplicably holds the office. I listened to the Grammy-winning performance of Audacity, read by Obama himself, and it's refreshing to hear the thoughts of a politician who is reflective, curious, well-educated, and caring. I had also just listened to Michelle Obama's biography, Becoming, and it's fun to compare and contrast and hear him tell many of the same stories about their courtship and life together, but from his perspective.

Obama only refers occasionally to his upbringing (I assume most of that story is in his earlier book, Dreams of My Father), but picks up the story of his political campaigns and journey into becoming the junior senator from Illinois. It's partly a primer on running for office, the finances and scheduling nightmares involved, the trips on private planes, the ever-losing balancing act of maintaining family life, and what it's like to be a fresh new senator in the halls of congress. Obama talks a lot about the struggle to stay true to one's self and avoid the pitfalls of corporate influence while remaining open to the influence of individuals and voters who have aligned behind a cause. He also unpacks the impossibility of voting according to one's conscience when legislation is so rife with compromises and a hodgepodge of good and bad initiatives.

He can't avoid going into full professor mode, and I love it! A huge section of the book is Obama giving lecturing on the origins and functioning of the American system that is nuanced, multi-factorial, and a master class in economics. Another chapter on faith was intelligent, lucid, practical, and something all believers (and nonbelievers) should hear. I already respected Obama's views on religion, but this was a really powerful statement of them.

For these and more reasons, this is a quick, delightful and insightful read. Highly recommended.

He really is a great writer! And he's fricking brilliant. I enjoyed this immensely and can't wait to see him put these plans into action.

I didn't like it because it was fiction parading as non-fiction, from the story to the author. William Ayers wrote this book, not Obama. And it's filled from the first page to the last with evasions, omissions, obfuscations, skirtings of the truth, and outright lies.

‘The Audacity of Hope’ by Barack Obama is subtitled “thoughts on reclaiming the American Dream”. This immediately gives the reader a whiff of things to come: this book is written by a politician, on the make, with specific political objectives. And when one realises that it was first published in 2006, one immediately understands what the main objective is.

The so-called “American Dream” is about a utopia where anyone can rise up in life from the rock bottom by sheer hard work, without any support – whatever be your caste, creed or colour. Of course it’s a myth: but it’s a myth which has kept the country going ever since it coalesced into one. But after Reagan, with the rise of the right-wing and slipping of the Republican Party more and more into the hands of hard-line conservatives, this dream seems at risk to many liberals. Since they make up the major chunk of Democrat voter base, how to reclaim it is seen as the top priority by the Presidential aspirant: and rightly so, I would say.

From the measured voice he has kept throughout the narrative, I would consider Obama to be sincere about what he is speaking (and from hindsight, one can say that he has largely kept faith throughout his eight-year reign). The one thing he stretches is empathy: to view the world through the eyes of someone else, even your biggest antagonist.

I am obligated to try to see the world through George Bush's eyes, no matter how much I may disagree with him. That's what empathy does - it calls us to task, the conservative and the liberal, the powerful and the powerless, the oppressed and the oppressors. We are all shaken out of our complacency. We are all forced beyond our limited vision.

This is the tone Obama tries to keep throughout the book, and he succeeds on the whole (except in one area – but more about that later). We get the picture of a sincere politician (a career politician, true, but no less sincere for that) out to clear up the mess that two years of the Bush Presidency has pushed America into.

The book is divided into nine chapters.

n  Republicans and Democrats:n Here, Obama tackles what he feels to be the basic problem of modern-day American political sphere: divisiveness. Opinion on everything is divided and divided vehemently; and there is no effort to reach a consensus on any issue. It’s always ‘us’ versus ‘them’. But the majority of Americans are not interested in these sectarian battles – they have lives to live, and anxieties to overcome about how to do it. When they look at politicians, they see only a bunch of bickering partisans and they turn away from politics altogether. Obama says that they are waiting for a politics of realism and balance, based on common sense and not dogma: waiting for Democrats and Republicans to “catch up with them”!

n  Values:n Which brings us to the thing which divides people most – values. Today, values are at different ends of the spectrum for conservatives and liberals and nobody is willing to budge an inch. However, in this argument, people are forgetting one of the most important of all values: empathy. It is the basis of Obama’s vision, as evidenced by the quote above. As long as the American people cling on to their values at the same time respecting another’s right to do the same, there is no need for all these divisive battles. (This is one point where I agree vehemently with Obama; in fact, Indians could also benefit from obeying the “Golden Rule”.)

n  Our Constitution:n What does the constitution say and how is it to be interpreted? We see this debate in all democracies, between people who wants to keep to the letter and those who want to follow the spirit; between people who want to interpret it based on conservative archaism and those want to read liberal values into it (this is the centre of a raging debate in India now). There are also people who want to leave it all to the judges, as though they are some kind of ubermensch blessed with greater capabilities of comprehension than ordinary mortals. In this context, I could empathise with Obama’s viewpoint – though I doubt how much of it can be implemented in practice, given the pig-headed nature of most human beings.

The answer I settle on – which is by no means original to me – requires a shift in metaphors, one that sees our democracy not as a house to be built, but as a conversation to be had. According to this conception, the genius of Madison’s design is not that it provides us a fixed blueprint for action, the way a draftsman plots a building’s construction. It provides us with a framework and with rules, but fidelity to these rules will not guarantee a just society or assure agreement on what’s right.

Of course, politicians need to be mature enough for this conversation. When that will happen is anybody’s guess.

n  Politics:n Can a politician honestly implement value-based governance in today’s dirty, media- and money-driven politics? Obama is a realist enough to believe that it’s not possible fully, and honest enough to say it openly. However, he believes a sort of compromise can be achieved if the legislator connects with his electorate (and his domestic record does bear out his conviction).

n  Opportunity:n This is the longest chapter in the book – and the most impressive, according to me. Obama’s musings on how to get the American economy back on track with equitable justice to every section of the populace shows the breadth and depth of his vision. He totally rejects the “Social Darwinism” advocated by the GOP, modelled upon their darling Ayn Rand’s kooky ideas; at the same time, he is aware of the pitfalls of the welfare state. So to counter the “winner-take-all” free market chaos, he advocates strengthening the economic infrastructure, with government investments in the areas of education, science and technology, and energy.

Obama is wise enough to understand that these will not bring in a boom overnight. But a strategic investment today is a safety net for tomorrow: an educated populace with a strong grounding in science and technology, with alternative energy developments in full flow, will give rise to an America who is not dependent on the world to supply all these. Such an economy with a robust foundation will allow the country to provide succour for the underprivileged, through social security.

n  Faith:n America is a contradiction in terms. It is one of the most religious countries, yet one with a strict bifurcation between the Church and the State; and this dichotomy does make the country schizophrenic as a whole, at times. And in the current times, this has resulted in the Right moving more and more towards totalitarian religion, while liberals move away from it at an even faster clip. But to be secular, is the total abrogation of religion required? Maybe not:

When we abandon the field of religious discourse – when we ignore the debate about what it means to be a good Christian or Muslim or Jew; when we discuss religion only in the negative sense of where or how it should not be practised, rather than in the positive sense of what it tells us about our obligations towards one another; when we shy away from religious venues and religious broadcasts because we assume that we will be unwelcome – others will fill the vacuum. And those who do are likely to be those with the most insular views of faith, or who cynically use religion to justify partisan ends.

Golden words: not applicable only to America but the world in general. The fight against fundamentalism is to be won not through confrontation but engagement.

n  Race:n Maybe the most touchy subject for an African-American, but Obama handles his exposition on race issues in America brilliantly. Whatever one says, America is a “Melting Pot” and to bring it back to a segregated version is rather like trying to extract the contents of a masala into its individual components. So, the concept of a “black America or a white America or a Latino America” does not make sense, especially to a man whose “family get-togethers... take on the appearance of a UN General Assembly meeting”.

It does not mean race and racial issues don’t exist – they do. And they have to be tackled. But the onus should be on inclusion, and not exclusion, because “America is big enough to accommodate all their dreams.” (Incidentally, I believe India should also follow this advice, seeing the extremely xenophobic tendencies of late.)

n  The World Beyond Our Borders:n Well, after all the inspiring writing in the previous chapters, it is here that Obama falls flat. True, he questions Bush’s ill-advised Iraq invasion: but he reiterates that America will have to function as a “reluctant sheriff” to the world, so that the security of America is not threatened and totalitarian regimes are kept in their place, and democracy slowly established. He talks about the “rogue” states of North Korea and Iran but is silent on the international bully Israel. He talks about terrorism in Afghanistan but is silent about Pakistan. Talk about double standards! (This chapter is the reason I docked this book a star.)

n  Family:n The traditional family in America is under siege, with the increased number of divorces and out-of-wedlock pregnancies. With women gaining more independence, and both parents working to make ends meet, “happily married” couples are also under pressure. Obama, the family man par excellence, gives us an object lesson on work-life balance; how it can be achieved through government support to working mothers, and a bit of social enlightenment for males to accept that the woman’s place is no longer exclusively the home.

***

The “audacity of hope” was a phrase used by Obama’s pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., in a sermon. It is

...having the audacity to believe despite all the evidence to the contrary that we could restore a sense of continuity to a nation torn by conflict; the gall to believe that despite personal setbacks, the loss of a job or an illness in the family or a childhood mired in poverty, we had some control – and therefore responsibility – over our own fate.

Barack Obama had that audacity – and the audacity to pursue the hope, for country decimated by eight years of Dubya’s disastrous reign. But will America get anyone with the same mettle to take the country back to normal after the reign of the catastrophe called Donald Trump? That, to me, is the million-dollar question.

Obama’s reputation as an orator is something that precedes him, but what is not well known, only confined within the walls of US (since Trump is building them), is his ability to skillfully spread ink on paper, and his Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream is nothing short of a testament to this fact.

Obama starts by taking us through the escalating differences between the Republicans and the Democrats which are not just perceived, but real and sometimes unconceived; they disagree not only on the scope of their disagreements or the nature of their disagreements but also on the reasons of their disagreements. He reminisces the long lost days where both parties embraced civility to the betterment of the government. And one thing that comes out clear as Obama continues with his notations, is his grasp of the constitution and history of US politics, which is not entirely surprising given his disposition, but one cannot help admire his eloquence of the subject. The constitution is literally in the palm of his hands something I believe should be a prerequisite generally to all citizens but particularly to the lawmakers.


As a reader I was disappointed when Obama deliberately decided to wrap all his flaws under the carpet. He was too conscious to admit or acknowledge any weakness or mishap he has as a man but most importantly as a human being. From his debates in the Senate, his public speeches, his interactions with his constituents and even as a father and a husband, Obama comes out as a saint and there’s no error you will find in his ways. And that’s where I think he missed the point. There is beauty in expressing your own vulnerabilities, and I think there is even a word for it.

All in all, with exception of some overdramatized moments like a teenage Obama logically winning arguments over his old grandfather or a six year old Malia already blessed with the wisdom of choosing simplicity over affluence, and even as I think Obama was dodgy and negligent on certain issues including matters of faith, The Audacity of Hope is a good read to anyone who wants to understand the dynamics behind US politics and also have a glimpse at one of the most charismatic leaders of our generation.

Whether the reader agrees or disagrees with Obama's politics is of course the greatest factor in his or her enjoyment of the book. As an Obama supporter, I was a biased reader and indeed very impressed by his writing and reasoning. However, this book represents the core of his politics and is not simply the icing on the cake.

First of all, it must be noted that I was rather worried that he would disappoint as an author. Having read several politicians' books, I was used to that excessively friendly, angelic style meant to obscure the signs of ghostwriters and the general hypocrisy of compromising politics. (For example, Madeleine Albright's wailing about the inexplicable inhumanity toward juvenile war victims in Sudan looked rather over-the-top when conflated with her attempts to justify every U.S. bombing campaign she supported.) However, in THE AUDACITY OF HOPE the author avoids making promises he can't keep.

His approach to politics is based on the assumption that decency, optimism, and a willingness to hear the arguments of the opposition and understand their motivations is the only foreseeable path toward change in America. Everything else results either in a stalemate with both sides angry, or with a compromise wherein one side shortchanged. Cynics would call Obama's approach compromising, but compromising does not involve truly engaging the opposition with the hopes of finding a solution - it denotes abandoning one's own principles for the sake of personal political success. Having many friends with different political beliefs from my own, the book convinced me that JUST BEING RIGHT DOESN'T DO ANYTHING. With upfront respect and understanding, it is indeed possible to somehow discuss divisive issues like abortion, the war, gay rights, and universal healthcare, without insulting or simply silencing each other.

In closing, it must be noted that my grandmother who has voted Republican in every presidential election since the 1940's, has been known to make rather off-the-cuff racist remarks, and reads Ann Coulter, has also read THE AUDACITY OF HOPE and promptly vowed to vote for Obama in November. She may hold beliefs that I deplore, but Obama was able to appeal to her with his basic approach of optimism about America and respect toward all Americans. Such anecdotes of Obama causing party-crossover has been related before in many moments of this election year, but since it's my personal experience and I never, ever thought I would ever be voting with my grandmother for the same candidate, I cannot emphasize my awe enough. For me at least, this magnificent familial achievement is proof that his audacity of hope is in fact not at all naive.

I just finished Barack Obama’s “The Audacity of Hope,” which I started what feels like a year ago, but completing it at this point nicely dovetails in with all the unavoidable political coverage of late. While there’s certainly no way I would have started this book in the MIDST of all the conventions and coverage, I have to say it has come to a conclusion at a fitting time. I find Obama such a compelling, captivating figure, but I’m often frustrated at only being able to learn so much (of a substantive nature) about him and his philosophies through the mainstream media routes; I picked up a copy of this book in an airport when I decided I wanted to know more about the nuts & bolts of his policies and plans. The book ended up being an actual pleasure to read, not least because everything on TV – including Obama’s speeches and appearances – are tailor-made for the sound bites they invariably become. I wanted an uncompressed, unfiltered take on Obama’s thoughts, so what better route than to read his book, truly written, as far as I can tell, by himself (no ghostwriter necessary! Take THAT “John McCain with Mark Salter”!). Moreover, aside from getting the unvarnished details themselves, I found the writing spirited and for the most part elegant. Some passages were inspirational and I could hear Obama’s voice delivering the fiery words from a podium, but other passages were reflective and candid, with hints of an undercurrent of wry humor. (Of course this warms the cockles of my heart more than anything else. A smart, cool, youngish president with a sense of humor TOO? For real?)

Occasionally the book fell into some stock politician traps – like the classic “examples” that you typically get in speeches. You know the sorts of examples like: “America was built by hard-working men and women like so-and-so in Omaha, a lifelong butcher, who came up to shake my hand after a speech and told me…blah blah blah.” I find that technique both off-putting and ubiquitous in political speeches, and reading them in a book was no better. Yet those examples were kept at a relative minimum and didn’t do too much to distract from Obama’s words themselves. The book also suffered occasionally from repetition-syndrome, where certain examples keep coming back again and again to hammer some particular point home (and the reader over the head). Abortion is one such issue that continually got mentioned in the text as a thorny issue, an extraordinarily complicated debate, a source of powerful opinions, etc etc etc, ad nauseum. In those times I was reminded that this was, in the end, a book by a politician, carefully worded and cynically crafted for maximum impact (we can call it what it is without diminishing it, right?).

For the most part, I found the book refreshingly free of overt guile or manipulation. Just well-crafted prose expressing ideas, hopes, and opinions – some concrete, some theoretical. Some high-flown, some pure common-sense. I especially enjoyed the mini-bouts of constitutional history from the former constitutional law instructor. Overall, I found the whole work instructive and worthwhile from a political perspective, and found my already high esteem for Obama himself raised by my newfound appreciation of his writing abilities. It’s not a page-turner or a beach-book, but it was certainly enjoyable to read, and I would recommend “The Audacity of Hope” to anyone looking to get a little more detail and thoroughness than one can get in a 30-second rebuttal on TV. I have to say, reading it continued to get me excited about the prospect of a President Obama.

Fabulous explanations of his values & what he believes to be major problems facing the country 12 years ago (partisanship being one of the greatest). I especially love how humble he stays when discussing how he gets to campaign stops and meets constituents (private jet versus long highway), how he admits US senators can often lose touch with the people the sought to represent because of the people they need to schmooze for donations, and how hard it was to maintain a healthy relationship with Michelle & his daughters while they each pursued careers (he recalls one time when he was flying back home and instead of discussing his work Michelle reminded him to pick up ant traps on his way back from the airport). Can’t believe I only just read it now, as it is such a good outline of a platform to run on. It’s sad that despite his ideas for change he was unable in his two terms to make much come to fruition. I *hope* to see the same gaze on the future in our candidates in 2020.

This book was such a refreshing perspective on the changes in American politics. This was written by President Obama in 2006, while he was still a Senator for Illinois. He discusses the internal struggle to unite Washington while trying maintain a normal life in raising his children and keep his marriage strong. Despite how you feel about President Obama and his policies, this book will provide you an honest insight into his train of thought that really makes you wonder if every politician goes through the same sort of battle within themselves.