Summary: The Audacity Of Hope

Nothing is this world is perfect. Our government that has survived over two hundred years and multiple wars but, it is far from perfect. It is full of flaws. Barack Obama makes these flaws apparent in his book, The Audacity of Hope. He states that the constitution is “a living document and must be read in the context of an ever-changing world.” (Obama, 90) Humans beings wrote the constitution and human beings interpret the constitution. The Founding Fathers had many different perspectives on how a government should be such as the “intentions of Jefferson were never those of Hamilton, and those of Hamilton differed greatly from those of Adams.” (Obama,91) The same dilemma is current to this day as republicans and democrat don’t share the same intentions. Proof of this is found in the use of filibuster and it’s use by both parties. “When the Democrats lost their Senate majority in 2002, they had only one arrow left in their quiver…filibuster.” (Obama, 80) Depending on perspective filibuster can seen as both good and bad. It can halt progress, or it can stop a defective bill from passing. However “filibuster was the South’s weapon of choice in its efforts to protect Jim Crow from federal interference.” “For many blacks in the South, the filibuster had

“Most of the sins of politics are derivative of this larger sin — the need to win.” (Obama, 109) In any political campaign money is a much needed resource. “Money can’t guarantee victory”, however “without money, and the television ads that consume all the money, you are pretty much guaranteed to lose.” (Obama, 109) To gain the money to run a campaign in American many side deals have to be done with sponsors. Not the mention the time and effort put into gain such high amounts of money, it took three months for Obama’s campaign to raise just $250,000 and fall flat of their $500,000 goal. Our government is flawed but it manages to keep our country