I am reading Barak Obama's book The Audacity of Hope. So far I really like it. Just like Dreams from My Father, the prose in this book is strong. But beyond that, I find myself really agreeing with his message. What really seems to resonate is something I think is lacking in current political discourse - humility.
It is hard to describe what I mean by this without sounding trite (although I can't stress enough that he manages to do it). Basically though, there is an understanding that he doesn't know everything, and we (liberals) don't know everything (that conservatives don't know everything is taken for granted). I find too often that people are so sure they are right that they will never even open up enough to really hear other arguments. In addition, they are so convinced of their rightness that they think people with opposite views are evil, weak or just stupid. It might be naive of me to think he could really change the current discourse, but sometimes one person can make a big difference. Either way, I like his message and I hope he sticks to his guns with the coming elections.
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