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.
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