Hope Notes

Hope Notes - Chapter Eight

Dan — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 23:21:43 EDT

Barack uses Indonesia as a model of the “mixed record” of American foreign policy. Our history includes supporting the independence of former colonies as well as supporting tyrannical dictatorships. Our recent record has not won us many friends abroad.

I find this the Bush Administration's major failing: the grand opportunity in the wake of 9-11 for an international consensus was so easily lost. The next president will inherit the worst foreign policy environment in the history of our country!

This will be a difficult mending job. Barack calls for a well articulated foreign policy. A good start would be to emphasize diplomacy before preemptive unilateralism. And since we cannot expect to handle all the problems of the world, America must support international organizations that can do some of the work for us. Lastly, America must lead by example (page 321):

“The unwillingness to make hard choices and live up to our own ideals doesn't just undermine U.S. credibility in the eyes of the world. It undermines the U.S. government's credibility with the American people.”

Hope Notes - Chapter Seven

Dan — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 23:19:09 EDT

Race is a difficult subject that most people would rather not talk about. Barack handles the subject with clarity and ease.

Barack writes how we, as a country, have accomplished much in terms of racial equality, but there is still a long road to plough. During the last few decades since the civil rights movement, discrimination by any measure has become a bad word. However, racial stereotypes still pervade society. And there still exists a gap between the opportunity and living standards of minorities and white. To close this gap, Barack supports affirmative action programs that have not been supported by the Bush Administration. Barack also suggests that the best methods to help minorities are universal plans that help all middle and lower-income families. Some of these include:

Education: paying our teachers better, investments to help all kids perform at grade level and graduate from high school

Health Care: universal coverage

Income: expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, investments in our inner-cities such as insulating buildings, installing energy-efficient lighting, and laying broadband lines

Barack also writes about the changing demographics of our country. “...America will be more dizzying in its diversity, its culture more polygot (p 268).”

We must embrace that change which enriches us all. And what better leader to have than Barack?

Hope Notes - Chapter Six

Dan — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:18:24 EDT

Faith. This is the most important quote of the whole chapter (page 201):

“The single biggest gap in party affiliation among white Americans is not between men and women, or between those who reside in so-called red states and those who reside in blue states, but between those who attend church regularly and those who don't.”

Hope Notes - Chapter Five

Dan — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 23:59:44 EDT

In Chapter Five, Barack writes about U.S. economic policy. Globalization of the world marketplace, poor inner-city schools, rising health care costs, and dependence on foreign oil are major challenges to America's promise of opportunity for everyone. Barack suggests a pragmatic approach that seeks a balance between the public and private sectors. He understands that the free market is a great innovator, but fails to pass on its fruits to the poor. The government can successfully invest in infrastructure as well as social programs, but too much bureaucracy can also be wasteful and inefficient. Barack agrees with Warren Buffet when he says (page 190):

“The free market's the best mechanism ever devised to put resources to their most efficient and productive use...The government isn't particularly good at that. But the market isn't good at making sure that the wealth that's produced is being distributed fairly or wisely. Some of that wealth has to be plowed back into education, so that the next generation has a fair chance, and to maintain our infrastructure, and provide some sort of safety net for those who lose out in a market economy. And it just makes sense that those of us who've benefited most from the market should pay a bigger share.”

Rare words from a multi-billionare.

My personal roots are Libertarian, and I used to lean heavily towards ideas of laissez-faire and small government. I read a lot of Ayn Rand in high school. Most of this idealism has diminished in me since then. My college years as well as my career have taught me important lessons. I have worked in a white-collar “cubicle” environment. I have worked for both union and non-union factories. When reading this chapter, I am reminded that there are no absolutes in the marketplace. I get sticker-shock from all the government spending that Barack proposes. Most of this is necessary. The most important piece is an investment in our teachers. They are entrusted with the task of enlightening and teaching our kids. In my opinion, teachers should be respected on par with doctors and engineers and should be payed on equal terms!

Hope Notes - Chapters Three and Four

Dan — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 23:19:53 EDT

In the next couple of chapters, Barack writes about the workings of Washington. The structure of the Constitution and how it lays out like a set of blueprints on how our country is run is amazing. It forces a certain amount of dogged deliberation. It encourages compromise between competing interests. It tempers idealism and chains it down to bedrock reality.

What we must do is reverse this trend of power grabbing by the executive branch. The presidential powers have become almost authoritarian under Bush. Which Constitution does he abide by? Not ours, yours, and mine.

I'm encouraged by the fact that Barack understands how much he is isolated from the people that he represents (page 114):

“And in one fashion or another, I suspect this is true for every senator: The longer you are a senator, the narrower your scope of interactions. You may fight it, with town hall meetings and listening tours and stops by the old neighborhood. But your schedule dictates that you move in a different orbit than the people you represent.”

Barack also places a distinction between corporate PACs that “use their economic power to magnify their political influence far beyond what their numbers might justify, and those who are simply seeking to pool their votes to sway representatives. The former subvert the very idea of democracy. The latter are its essence (page 116).” I would disagree. All “special interests” garner much more political influence than the largest group of Americans, those who are unaffiliated.

Barack's Democratic primary victory demonstrates that he is capable of winning an election against the odds. Its something to point to for those who say he has been “lucky.”

And Barack's demonstration of how the media shapes are views sticks (page 124): “--how a particular narrative, repeated over and over again and hurled through cyberspace at the speed of light, eventually becomes a hard particle of reality; how political caricatures and nuggets of conventional wisdom lodge themselves in our brain without us ever taking the time to examine them."

This article shows the many “political caricatures" of Hillary Clinton: Harpy, Hero, Heretic: Hillary.

Hope Notes - Chapter Two

Dan — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 10:55:51 EDT

Where in the previous chapter Barack wrote about the deep divide that exists in our country, in the next chapter he shows how a value-based consensus may be won. Barack begins Chapter Two with an anecdote about meeting President Bush during his first year in Congress. There was a moment when they shared a laugh and told stories. The point being, that yes, even Bush is human. But seriously, even though it may sound crazy, Bush is doing what he believes is best for our country.

The problem with today's politics is that opposing viewpoints are painted red or blue without any possibility of compromise. Most issues are not that simple. Most issues cannot be neatly packaged into sound-bites.

However, though we may have differences in opinion, most of us share the same values: decency, competency, charity, honesty, drive, discipline, temperance, hard work, good manners, thrift, and personal responsibility. And we easily take for granted the two values that this nation was founded on: liberty and equality. If we appeal to this, we can win the day. We must not allow Republicans to win the values debate.

If Democrats continue to abdicate talk on faith and religion, the Republicans will continue to win more elections. I encourage all Obama supporters to read his Call to Renewal Keynote Address, where he talks about reconciling faith and politics.

Barack also writes about the “empathy deficit” (page 67):

“I believe a stronger sense of empathy would tilt the balance of our current politics in favor of those people who are struggling in this society. After all, if they are like us, then their struggles are our own. If we fail to help, we diminish ourselves.”

Hope Notes - Chapter One

Dan — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 23:03:17 EDT

Chapter One is entitled “Republicans and Democrats.” In this chapter, Barack describes the current political climate. We have turned a blind eye towards the political process because of its dividing partisanship.

The Swift Boaters and other groups who choose to broadcast negative campaign ads are further digging that chasm which divides. The YouTube Hillary attack ad does not help our cause!

Barack writes (page 22):

“...what's troubling is the gap between the magnitude of our challenges and the smallness of our politics—the ease with which we are distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our seeming inability to build a working consensus to tackle any big problem.”

Hope Notes - Prologue

Dan — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 22:31:19 EDT

Barack opens in the prologue by reflecting back when he first began in politics. In 1996, he ran for a seat in the Illinois legislature representing a South Side Chicago district. Barack ran into a lot of cynicism during his first campaign. He understood this, and responded by reminding people of the great tradition of democracy in America:

“...a tradition based on the simple idea that we have a stake in one another, and that what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart, and that if enough people believe in the truth of the proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done.”

I'm sure it was a convincing speech Barack! He ended up winning the seat and ran for two terms.

Barack writes about his past failures such as a failed 2000 congressional run. He was humbled by the experience, but did not dwell upon it. For as we all know, he ran for Senate in 2004. He ran into more cynicism. This quote hit it home for me:

“Whether we're from red states or blue states, we feel in our gut the lack of honesty, rigor, and common sense in our policy debates, and dislike what appears to be a continuous menu of false or cramped choices.”

So, where do we go from here? What does Barack propose as “a new kind of politics?” He means for us to go beyond the cynicism that permeates politics. There needs to be more of a conversation on what unites this country. We all have a stake in this.