Thursday, November 13, 2008

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.

2 comments:

Monica G said...

This is amusing :). It's funny, because Minnesotans tend to use the word 'interesting' when they're being passive aggressive and think something is incredibly idiotic. Your use of the word had me rereading sentences several times to make sure that you did not follow this definition! Anyway, Barack Obama sounds like a fun person-- the basement thing made me smile. It reminds us politicians are humans, which we often forget. Good choice!

Mackenzie E. said...

It is interesting to read your post and then the post about Bill Clinton's life. They have several similarities and differences. It sounds like they both had to overcome challenges throughout their childhood, as we all do. I think that it is neat that Obama adds details to satisfy our curiosity about what its like to be in politics.