The Audacity of Hope (by Barack Obama)

On the day after Barack Obama made his speech in Philadelphia about racial issues in America, I went to Kmart to buy dog biscuits and paper towels. On the way out, I saw this book and tossed it into my cart.

The line at the checkout stand was long. After a few minutes of waiting, the lady behind me reached up, tapped her finger on the book, and said, “So what did you think of the speech last night?” In the next ten minutes, that lady (another over-50 white woman) and I discussed our own attitudes about race, what we had learned about it from our respective families, incidents of injustice we had personally witnessed, and our hopes that we’d live long enough to see a time when racism would no longer be a problem in our society.

That was only one brief conversation between strangers in a small Southern town, but it never would have happened if not for the speech we had listened to the night before. Now that the subject has been broached, I’d like to believe conversations like that one are happening all across the country.

Q. Why did you choose this book?
A. I had read and enjoyed Obama’s first book, Dreams from My Father. When he became a presidential candidate, I wanted to read this one to learn more about him.

Q. Did you like the story book?
A. Yes, I did, although I enjoyed reading some chapters more than others. For example, the chapter about the Constitution, while certainly interesting and informative, didn’t intrigue me as much as some of the other chapters.

Q. Were the characters believable?
A. Very much so; they were real people.

Q. Did you like the writing style?
A. Obama is a talented writer. Whether or not he becomes president of the United States, I believe he will influence Americans through his writing.

Q. Did you think about the book when you were doing other things?
A. Yes. It wasn’t so much that I was dying to get back to the book as it was that some of the things I read were thought-provoking and I found myself chewing them over in my mind.

Q. Was there anything about the book that drove you nuts?
A. Nope.

Q. How did you feel when you finished the book?
A. Better informed about a number of issues facing our country.

Q. Will you keep the book to reread later?
A. Yes, it will become part of my permanent library.

Q. Any final thoughts about the book?
A. It makes me feel hopeful. Is that audacious?