The Audacity of Hope: Blog 7

In Chapter 8 (p. 273) Obama discussed the world outside our country. When he was around 7 or 8 years old, he lived in Indonesia with his mother and step-father. They were all U.S. citizens and had many benefits over being Indonesian nationals, including being paid in U.S. currency. Even as a young boy, he recognized the military, political, and economic influence the U.S. had even in another country. However, many things in Indonesia have changed since then. It used to be a country that was tolerant of different faiths but now it is ruled by Islamic law.
Obama observes that we have promoted American capitalism with multinational corporations and sometimes even corruption when it serves our own interests. We thought that Big Mac and he Internet would lead to more understanding among nations and would even lessen the growing resentment towards the U.S. as the world's sole superpower(p. 280). This is an idea that is not very understandable, except that it may make the world identical wherever you go.
Often, our foreign policies have ended up working against America’s best interests. Today we need to look differently at other parts of the world and we also have to act differently. We need to work on making friends all around the world. The effects of 9/11 should have taught us that.
I also believe that we have been involved in Iraq for far too long. It was a war started because there was a fear of Weapons of Mass Destruction. However, it soon turned out that Iraq was not as big of a danger as Afghanistan and therefore we were in a war that should never have been started.
From a trip he took to Iraq, Obama told of visiting troops in Fallujah. Most of the troops looked "raw" in their late teens and early twenties. And for two or three dollars the insurgents could hire a kid to plant bombs. I think we need to pull our troops out and move them soon because no one else has to die if the government is close to being stable. Unfortunately, no one has come up with any easy answers, and the threats facing our country have not decreased as a result of going to war with Iraq.
Obama says our challenge is to make sure U.S. policies move the international system in the direction of greater equity, justice, and prosperity - that the rules we promote serve both our interests and the interests of a struggling world (p. 316). I believe that is a great challenge and unfortunately it will probably be difficult if not impossible to carry out.

The Audacity of Hope: Blog 6

In chapter five Obama tells about two tours he took in very different companies. One was at Google in CA. He noticed as he went through it that many of the employees had graduated from prestigious, elite schools. This is a company that requires unique and highly developed skills such as engineers, lawyers, consultants, etc. For people with these kinds of skills the rewards in the global market place have never been better. The other tour was at the Maytag company where they had laid off 1,600 employees and were planning to shift the company to Mexico where the workers would make about a sixth of what they were making in the U.S.A. For the people at Maytag where the skill demands of the job can be quickly learned by low paid Mexican workers the result is tragic for these American workers. I think that we need to do a better job at making education a possibility to anyone that wants it. It also appears that jobs are being sent overseas to places like India when help on a certain product is needed. These jobs should be kept here so that there would be more employment opportunities for people in our country.
We are living in a global economy. I believe that globalization has brought a many benefits to us. For example, we don't have to pay high prices for some of the things we used to consider luxuries like big screen TVs. It keeps prices on many products lower than would be the case if all manufacturing were done in our country. Because people in other countries have jobs making products there is a market for some things produced in the USA.
But globalization has made for problems. Because many of the jobs sent to other countries were those that paid high wages in this country, it leaves many jobs in our country to be those that pay very low wages. This has made it very difficult if not impossible for a family on minimum wage to meet basic expenses. I think one remedy that may help some would be to raise the minimum wage but that still would probably not be enough. We need to invest more in educating the people who have lost their jobs. Obama says that over the last decade we have seen great economic growth but an anemic job growth. (146)

The Audacity of Hope: Blog 5

Obama says that "facts alone don't settle political disputes." (127)
What we think of abortion isn't necessarily decided by scientific facts. There are many different views about when life begins and no one can say with absolute certainty that their view is the right one. I believe that abortion is wrong but others obviously have other opinions. I can't say for sure that mine is the correct one even though I have strong beliefs.
No one can say for sure when the right time is to leave Iraq. Some think we need to stay indefinitely while others think we should pull out quickly. Everyone's opinions are equal as opinions, but some may be better informed and therefore may carry more weight than opinions based strictly on emotions.
Another point to consider is that it seems that those who speak the loudest or the most often end up with the most influence and may even win the arguments even though they may not be right. Our politicians seem to understand this. While they don't lie there is no merit or reward in telling the full truth, if the full truth might weaken their arguments
Sometimes we and the media don't have the patience or take the time to sort out all the facts. So a politicians may tell the enough of the truth to gain voter support. Politicians might know that there are other facts that may not be as popular and may result in a loss of votes when seeking an election.
There is also the matter of raising campaign contributions without being corrupted by special interest groups. Obama tells about the difficulty legislators have when it comes to voting. They may want more time to make a decision; they may feel that both sides have merit; or they may simply want an amendment to the bill. But when it comes to a vote they have to make the best decision that they can at that time. Sometimes it will be a popular one and sometimes it won't. I believe they have to vote however their conscience tells them to vote.

The Audacity of Hope: Blog 4

In this section, Obama cites in the Declaration of Independence that ...."they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among those are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness." We all come into this world with these rights and no one can ever take them away from us. But we often tend to take our freedoms and our rights for granted. Obama tells of taking his wife, Michelle, to Kenya. She quickly learned that life there is hard. They can do little to help themselves, because the opportunities aren't there for them. In America, we believe that if we work hard we can succeed. In many parts of the world that isn't possible. But we can't succeed at another person's expense. A company can't dump toxins and waste into a river just because it is convenient. And should we be able to take a person's property away to build a mall or a new highway or expand 35W? There has to be a balance between an individual's rights and what the government can do and control. Freedom also has to be limited when it is a threat to some one's safety. People wouldn't feel comfortable with the government telling them what they can eat even though what we eat can cause obesity and create huge medical costs for insurance companies. We have a right to practice whatever religion we want but we can't make human or animal sacrifices. We live in a complex world and we need to find balance between our rights and how they will affect others. People will disagree on many issues, but in the end we need to respect and support each other's decisions.

The Audacity of Hope: Blog 3

In this section, Obama writes, "Sometimes we need both cultural transformation and government action - a change in values and a change in policy - to promote the kind of society we want." (p 63) Obama values a good education for children. He says that inner city schools need most of the attention. I think that we could dump tons of money in these schools and it wouldn't make much of a difference if parents don't teach their kids the value of hard work. Obama said that often when he was running for president - that it is important for parents to be involved. Schools can't do all the work, but we also can't expect children to succeed in old schools that are falling apart, don't have ample supplies, or teachers that don't have experience. Every student deserves a school like Ours. They deserve good teachers, the right material, and a learning environment that is bent to suit each student according to their needs.
Obama values the idea that TV and cable industries should create better standards to control what is viewedby children. This should include both programming and commercials. Some people feel that government has no right to interfere, they say that we have a right - freedom of speech. Even with the 1st amendment, parents need to get more involved in what their children watch. Even passing laws would be helpful even if it was fining the stations that break these laws. Obama believes that our values "demand deeds and not just words". (p69) He means that words without action don't mean anything. For values to have any usefulness they must influence how we live and treat other people.

The Audacity of Hope: Blog 2

In this section, Obama talks about the campaign that made him the senator for Illinois. He notes that in the past, congress was not as divided as it is today. He disagrees that Democrats need to develop a more coherent view against Conservatives. Obama recognizes that alot of citizens believe that politicians have lost their morality, however, he explains that the current political system makes it very hard for most politicians to remain honest. He finishes by saying that a political system requires compromise and collaboration in order for it to work.

Obama: The Audacity of Hope (First Blog)

I chose this book because it gives a different side to my political beliefs and it well help me to know President Obama better. He has many different views than mine but we can't all agree on everything. He keeps saying that he wants to find "common ground" on issues. I would like to find out what that means. Maybe this book will help me understand how he is going to lead the country. I also want to know how he got as far as he could as fast as he did. He was basically unknown before he made a speach in 2004 at the Democratic National Convention.
A Brief Overview of the First Section:
Obama tended to be restless and did not pay enough attention to all the good things that were going on right around him. When he accomplished one achievement he already was focusing on what he wanted to do next. Issues about Obama’s name: His middle name is Hussein and people identified this name with being a terrorist. He learned from his political campaign that life doesn’t always go as planned and he can’t ever be assured that outcomes will always be favorable to him. He was not confident of his potential success, but believed that if he did not try he would never reach his dream. In a sense he really could not lose the senatorial election, because losing the election would allow him to return to a high income life as a lawyer. He learned how modest most peoples' hopes were. Their concerns were fairly simple. They just wanted a chance in life, to be healthy, safe, and have a government that would achieve a better life particular for their children. He wants to work for the common good. He wants to promote honesty and common sense in government policies. He is a democrat, a Christian, believes in evolution, value of scientific inquiry, free speech, free market competition and so forth. These are values that the reader should know because they have and will influence his decision making process.
From what I have read so far, the book has not really changed my perspective on Barack. I still dont agree with some of his views; he believes in evolution, he is pro-choice, he is against the war in Iraq, and he supports taxing the wealthy more than the middle and lower class.