Barack Book Review
December 1, 2008
I could hardly be portrayed
as a recurrent recreational reader because my ADHD gets in the way.
How some ever, on occasion, a topic or author will emerge and elicit my
desire to consume its content. While hardly a habit, my reading can
best be described as ferocious, for the reason that while in high school
and college I was trained to speed read. At my best I could read
over one thousand words per minute with a 75 per cent rate of comprehension.
Surprisingly I would imagine
one would surmise this training would allow me to blaze through a plethora
of tomes. However that same special skill oft deters me as well for
the reason that IMHO (in my humble opinion) speed reading and recreational
reading are nearly mutually exclusive.
With all that as a preamble
I was challenged to read the two Barack tomes by a dear friend that unfortunately
views issues from perhaps a point positioned to the starboard side.
She had read them as due diligence prior to the 2008 General Election and
her world view and interpreted them as supportive for all the rhetoric
of the far right.
For as long as I had not
read the books that allegedly supported her view of the President-elect,
she had me at a disadvantage. Confronted by that continual challenge
I purchased both books and commenced to digest the content.
I began with Obama’s first
book, “Dreams from my Father” which was a biographical treatise of a man
attempting to claim his birthright, whatever it may be. He described
clearly the complications created by his mixed racial background.
As the work unfolded, a basis for his world view began to emerge and it
provided me with a clear vision to the nature of the man. It served
to corroborate my assessment of whom and what he was.
It baffled me that my
friend could arrive at such a dissimilar interpretation and conclude or
decide that he was a radical liberal. We read the same words, yet
her vision was clouded by her preformed perception of the man and his message.
Whereas in later conversation as we compared comprehensions she accused
me, and I must insist unfairly so, that my take on things was equally obscured
by my allegiance to the political party I support.
I took umbrage then and
now to her insistent accusation because in truth I attempted to approach
my reading assignment from her perspective rather than my own and I remain
convinced that this was and is true. Of course no amount of discussion
was persuasive to that point.
Absent a corresponding
view I pressed on to the second book, “The Audacity of Hope”
This time I made no attempt
to read a word in her shoes, rather I took the approach that I simply wanted
to discover if the President-elect and I disagreed on any of the points
he outlined. When I completed the read, I had not uncovered one point
that I could contend. In fact if anything it corroborated for me
the foundation for my fervor in support of his candidacy.
A return to the debate
with my friend was fruitless and frustrating and absent any conclusion
we came to an agreement that our friendship and affection for each other
would remain unchanged.
In closing, I continue
to state unequivocally that I am completely content with my candidate choice,
and continue to be convinced that clearly this election came to the correct
conclusion.
