Red Room Where the Writers Are

Review Excerpt:

Barack Obama, as any good writer, knows a great line when he hears it. He heard his pastor speak that line in a sermon, and tucked it away: "The Audacity of Hope." I am not a political animal. I'm a dreamer, a poet, a writer of spiritual essays. I have an acute intuitive sense, and so when I first heard Obama speak, at the 2004 Democratic Convention, I stopped in my tracks. I was in another room at the time, and did not see him. The gooseflesh has not yet left me.
I went out the next day and bought The Audacity of Hope, and devoured it. I scanned the more political aspects of the book, but even there, where my interest has always been wanting, his greatness comes through. Yes, greatness. I believe Barack Obama is a genuinely great man.
The Audacity of Hope speaks to me, to us, all of us. It says, "I think I should be president, and here's why." He believes We The People can reclaim our dream, the American Dream. He isn't just a good writer, or a great speaker. Obama says what he means, and means what he says. From Values, to Family, to Faith, his prose is more than rhetorical, not just a verbal dance to which we're all invited. There is truth here, as he writes of his being set straight by his daughter Malia, on how "...you don't shake hands with kids." to his yearning to reconcile his political drive with his self-perceived lack of a spiritual base:"I had no community or shared traditions in which to ground my most deeply held beliefs." In order to further his ambition, he knew that he must find that core of heart that binds us all. There isn't just a politician here.
The Audacity of Hope is a great book, not simply because of what is says, because anybody can write well in order that people vote for him...Obama believes it, and that belief makes me believe it, and believe in him.