Audacity of Hope post #2

The Audacity of Hope, written by Barack Obama continues to be an enjoyable read. He is very adiment on how he wants to erase bipartisanship. Concerning the battles between republicans and democrats, he says, "Do any of these fights matter? For many of us, arguments over Senate procedure, separation of powers , judicial nominations, and rules constitutional interpretation seem pretty esoteric, distant from our everyday concerns -- just one more example of partisan jousting"(84). This goes to show that he does not believe the people of America are at all interested in the politics that go on behind the curtain such as the afore mentioned items. Rather, they are only interested in matters that concern them, which is a very good observation to realize if you are or want to become an elected government offical, because they'd have a better chance of getting elected if they know what the citizens want to keep and want to change.

Later on in the book, Obama begins to talk about the constitution. After giving the beliefs of what other important people have said on what they consider the constitution to be, Obama says, "Ultimately, though, I have to side with Justice Breyer's view of the Constitution -- that it is not a static but rather a living document, and must be read in the context of an ever-changing world"(90). I believe this is a very intelligent statement made by Obama because it's pretty true. Consider the second amendment, which is the right to bear arms and have an armed militia. In the current time period, does one really believe that we will need a militia anytime soon? It can be translated presently into the right to have a gun pretty much. He goes on to say, "In sum , the Constitution envisions a road map by which we marry passion to reason, the ideal of individual freedom to the demands of the community"(95). I think these are very wise words given by Obama. He seems to believe in the idea of the social contract, where citizens must give up certain freedoms for the greater good of their society.

The Audacity of Hope

The book The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama is very interesting. It is an autobiography of Obama recollecting how he got in to politics and his beliefs on certain issues. It starts off with a brief synopsis of how he first ran at the age of 35, fresh out of law school and married. He said that when he was beginning, "I'd get some version of two questions; 'Where'd you get that funny name?', and 'Why do you want to get into to something dirty and nasty like politics?'"(1). This shows that he has humility in answering that first question, and he says that he likes politics because he thinks people should stand up for themselves.

He talks of many interesting and fun facts like how "On most days, I enter the Capitol through the basement... through an underground tunnel lined with flags and seals of the fifty states"(3). I never knew that there was an underground tunnel under the capitol. An example of him traveling to the underworld could be him just going to Senate meetings because he describes it as "not the most beutiful space in the Capitol, but imposing nonetheless"(4) also it is sort of like going into the antagonist's lair with the antagonist being his opponents on bills and other matters concerning politics.