The Audacity of Hope

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pages provide a manifesto for action, complete with charts and graphs, timetables andten-point plans.Instead what I offer is something more modest: personal reflections on those values andideals that have led me to public life, some thoughts on the ways that our currentpolitical discourse unnecessarily divides us, and my own best assessment—based on myexperience as a senator and lawyer, husband and father, Christian and skeptic—of theways we can ground our politics in the notion of a common good.Let me be more specific about how the book is organized. Chapter One takes stock ofour recent political history and tries to explain some of the sources for today’s bitterpartisanship. In Chapter Two, I discuss those common values that might serve as thefoundation for a new political consensus. Chapter Three explores the Constitution notjust as a source of individual rights, but also as a means of organizing a democraticconversation around our collective future. In Chapter Four, I try to convey some of theinstitutional forces—money, media, interest groups, and the legislative process—thatstifle even the best-intentioned politician. And in the remaining five chapters, I suggesthow we might move beyond our divisions to effectively tackle concrete problems: thegrowing economic insecurity of many American families, the racial and religioustensions within the body politic, and the transnational threats—from terrorism topandemic—that gather beyond our shores.I suspect that some readers may find my presentation of these issues to be insufficientlybalanced. To this accusation, I stand guilty as charged. I am a Democrat, after all; myviews on most topics correspond more closely to the editorial pages of the New YorkTimes than those of the Wall Street Journal. I am angry about policies that consistentlyfavor the wealthy and powerful over average Americans, and insist that government hasan important role in opening up opportunity to all. I believe in evolution, scientificinquiry, and global warming; I believe in free speech, whether politically correct orpolitically incorrect, and I am suspicious of using government to impose anybody’sreligious beliefs—including my own—on nonbelievers. Furthermore, I am a prisoner ofmy own biography: I can’t help but view the American experience through the lens of ablack man of mixed heritage, forever mindful of how generations of people who lookedlike me were subjugated and stigmatized, and the subtle and not so subtle ways that raceand class continue to shape our lives.But that is not all that I am. I also think my party can be smug, detached, and dogmaticat times. I believe in the free market, competition, and entrepreneurship, and think nosmall number of government programs don’t work as advertised. I wish the country hadfewer lawyers and more engineers. I think America has more often been a force forgood than for ill in the world; I carry few illusions about our enemies, and revere thecourage and competence of our military. I reject a politics that is based solely on racialidentity, gender identity, sexual orientation, or victimhood generally. I think much ofwhat ails the inner city involves a breakdown in culture that will not be cured by moneyalone, and that our values and spiritual life matter at least as much as our GDP.Undoubtedly, some of these views will get me in trouble. I am new enough on thenational political scene that I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly differentpolitical stripes project their own views. As such, I am bound to disappoint some, if notall, of them. Which perhaps indicates a second, more intimate theme to this book—
namely, how I, or anybody in public office, can avoid the pitfalls of fame, the hunger toplease, the fear of loss, and thereby retain that kernel of truth, that singular voice withineach of us that reminds us of our deepest commitments.Recently, one of the reporters covering Capitol Hill stopped me on the way to my officeand mentioned that she had enjoyed reading my first book. “I wonder,” she said, “if youcan be that interesting in the next one you write.” By which she meant, I wonder if youcan be honest now that you are a U.S. senator.I wonder, too, sometimes. I hope writing this book helps me answer the question.
Page 4 and 5: ContentsTitle PageDedicationPrologu
Page 6 and 7: my marriage, all of which, statisti
Page 8 and 9: Mostly, though, I just traveled, of
Page 12 and 13: Chapter OneRepublicans and Democrat
Page 14 and 15: Bork nomination and Willie Horton,
Page 16 and 17: But whatever conditions might have
Page 18 and 19: Privately, those of us in governmen
Page 20 and 21: Throughout the fifties and early si
Page 22 and 23: decided nevertheless that in style
Page 24 and 25: It was Bill Clinton’s singular co
Page 26 and 27: But these Republicans are not the o
Page 28 and 29: I made this same argument in a lett
Page 30 and 31: that suggests he’s on a schedule
Page 32 and 33: I say this not because I am seduced
Page 34 and 35: I don’t mean to exaggerate here,
Page 36 and 37: These values are rooted in a basic
Page 38 and 39: penalty feared that any efforts at
Page 40 and 41: sexuality from intimacy. They may n
Page 42 and 43: “You follow him into the bathroom
Page 44 and 45: back in the eighties, I would often
Page 46 and 47: “Nothing. You wanna talk to Mommy
Page 48 and 49: the document itself. For Senator By
Page 50 and 51: seen for a judicial confirmation. W
Page 52 and 53: Not many of my fellow Democrats app
Page 54 and 55: universal rights presupposes the eq
Page 56 and 57: remain true to the rules that the F
Page 58 and 59: yielded to fact and necessity. Jeff
Page 60 and 61:
slaves and former slaves, men like
Page 62 and 63:
“Oh, I have been very fortunate,
Page 64 and 65:
moron, or Congressman So-and-So is
Page 66 and 67:
eighteen-month-old Malia, the state
Page 68 and 69:
As for most politicians, money isn
Page 70 and 71:
In many ways, I was luckier than mo
Page 72 and 73:
pensions, their crop supports, thei
Page 74 and 75:
who’s calling you a traitor, you
Page 76 and 77:
Still, I was reminded of what my ve
Page 78 and 79:
viewing preferences, global climate
Page 80 and 81:
our troops, say, or some modest inc
Page 82 and 83:
those who sent them to Washington
Page 84 and 85:
I could see how people might get us
Page 86 and 87:
Shanghai as in California. And over
Page 88 and 89:
and the advent of big-box retailers
Page 90 and 91:
Worst of all, it will mean fewer op
Page 92 and 93:
instruct farmers on the latest agri
Page 94 and 95:
In this more competitive global env
Page 96 and 97:
rebuild the social contract that FD
Page 98 and 99:
It also means paying teachers what
Page 100 and 101:
whether the Bush Administration’s
Page 102 and 103:
Brazilian government has no place i
Page 104 and 105:
Like most Democrats, I strongly sup
Page 106 and 107:
CAFTA debate, when I and a group of
Page 108 and 109:
The same principles are at work whe
Page 110 and 111:
Clinton economic adviser Gene Sperl
Page 112 and 113:
was something about the way she was
Page 114 and 115:
I was sitting in the office of Warr
Page 116 and 117:
So let’s be clear. The rich in Am
Page 118 and 119:
Chapter SixFaithTWO DAYS AFTER I wo
Page 120 and 121:
group wanted to come in. Again the
Page 122 and 123:
But the growing political influence
Page 124 and 125:
Most of all, she possessed an abidi
Page 126 and 127:
salutary, a check on personal ambit
Page 128 and 129:
Testament prophet. And while I foun
Page 130 and 131:
fortify a young woman’s sense of
Page 132 and 133:
explain why abortion violates some
Page 134 and 135:
American citizens a civil union tha
Page 136 and 137:
Chapter SevenRaceTHE FUNERAL WAS he
Page 138 and 139:
Instead, we sat in church, eulogizi
Page 140 and 141:
office, including a black state com
Page 142 and 143:
By the time we pulled into Cairo, I
Page 144 and 145:
Today not only is the city filled w
Page 146 and 147:
by large corporations, trade unions
Page 148 and 149:
Americans figure that they haven’
Page 150 and 151:
around to guide the kids, keep them
Page 152 and 153:
color of our skin—and the conclus
Page 154 and 155:
It would be nice if there were thou
Page 156 and 157:
Indeed, until their numbers finally
Page 158 and 159:
overseas. To address this problem,
Page 160 and 161:
Spanish and be the better for it. C
Page 162 and 163:
power, grew in size and influence.
Page 164 and 165:
Even the darker aspects of Indonesi
Page 166 and 167:
alleviate, ethnic hatreds and relig
Page 168 and 169:
as Wilson’s stubborn unwillingnes
Page 170 and 171:
As the Cold War wore on, the key el
Page 172 and 173:
regarding the moral obligations we
Page 174 and 175:
and-dried. Like most analysts, I as
Page 176 and 177:
within hostile territory, self-cont
Page 178 and 179:
near the number of Arabic-speakers
Page 180 and 181:
misguided if they think we can simp
Page 182 and 183:
bin Laden understands that he canno
Page 184 and 185:
and who applied this knowledge to t
Page 186 and 187:
who are rich.” Forty-five years l
Page 188 and 189:
connected local elites but do littl
Page 190 and 191:
Committee for the Marshall Plan, ma
Page 192 and 193:
“Huh?”“I found ants in the ki
Page 194 and 195:
Eventually I wore her down. After a
Page 196 and 197:
For adults, at least, the effect of
Page 198 and 199:
Americans today have 22 fewer hours
Page 200 and 201:
Tired and stressed, we had little t
Page 202 and 203:
We can also give parents flexibilit
Page 204 and 205:
good men who treated me with affect
Page 206 and 207:
It is left to Michelle to coordinat
Page 208 and 209:
I squeezed Sasha a little tighter i
Page 210 and 211:
the Democratic primary for the Illi
Page 212 and 213:
said that a convention wouldn’t c
Page 214 and 215:
That’s what satisfies me now, I t
Page 216 and 217:
Several good friends, including Dav
Page 218 and 219:
ALSO BY BARACK OBAMADreams from My
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The Audacity of Hope

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