For some reason, I thought that this book would be a "part 2" to Dreams from My Father, but it was definitely much different: less biographical, a lot more about "the issues." In this book, Obama writes in depth about his personal views on faith and values, repairing the broken political process, and issues like education, renewable energy, and the partisan divide.I appreciated the way that Obama did not hide from the fact that he is a Democrat - but he was not as incendiary as Sarah Palin. From one part:
... Conservatives, for instance, tend to bristle when it comes to government interference in the marketplace or their right to bear arms. Yet many of these same conservatives show little to no concern when it comes to government wiretapping without a warrant or government attempts to control people's sexual practices. Conversely, it's easy to get most liberals riled up about government encroachments on freedom of the press or a woman's reproductive freedoms. But if you have a conversation with these same liberals about the potential costs of regulation to a small-business owner, you will often draw a blank stare.
I really admire and respect his more balanced approach - especially because he still stands his ground on what he believes.
I also really liked reading about an insider's perspective of Washington. The stories that he told about his interactions with Senator Byrd and President Bush were great! This part was also revealing:
If you ask my eight-year-old what I do for a living, she might say I make laws. And yet one of the surprising things about Washington is the amount of time spent arguing not about what the law should be, but rather what the law is. The simplest statute - a requirement, say, that companies provide bathroom breaks for their hourly workers - can become the subject of wildly different interpretations, depending on whom you are talking to: the congressman who sponsored the provision, the staffer who delivered it, the department head whose job it is to enforce it, the lawyer whose client finds it inconvenient, or the judge who may be called upon to apply it.
My favorite chapter was actually the last one, entitled "Family." Likely because I want to be Michelle Obama when I grow up ... I loved reading what he had to say about their marriage and their children. I laughed out loud when I read this story:
...I called Michelle from my D.C. office and started explaining the significance of the bill – how shoulder-to-air missiles could threaten commercial air travel if they fell into the wrong hands, how small-arms stockpiles left over from the Cold War continued to feed conflict across the globe. Michelle cut me off.
“We have ants.”
“Huh?”
“I found ants in the kitchen. And in the bathroom upstairs.”
“Okay…”
“I need you to buy some ant traps on your way home tomorrow. I’d get them myself, but I’ve got to take the girls to their doctor’s appointment after school. Can you do that for me?”
“Right. Ant traps.”
“Ant traps. Don’t forget, okay honey? And buy more than one. Listen, I need to go to a meeting. Love you.”
I hung up the receiver, wondering if Ted Kennedy or John McCain bought ant traps on the way home from work.
Perfection! Obama is a ridiculously amazing writer - and he makes even some of the drier topics sound quite interesting. I'll probably re-read this book some time in the near future.
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