Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama's Plan To Renew America's Promise (2008) - Plot & Excerpts
It was a bit odd to read a book like this written in 2008 and it is now 2012 and near the end of Obama's first term. Maybe I read it a bit late. It was sitting on my shelf forever. It was full of promises that he hoped to accomplish in the first four year term and beyond. He has fullfilled a lot of the promises, some he has fallen short on and some require more time. He may not get a 2nd term, but if he does, now knowing a bit more of what he wanted to accomplish I look forward to grading his next term a bit more closly. This book comes from Pres. Barack Obama's 2008 campaign for the presidency, but unlike other similar books released by politicians about how to get America back on track, this one is really the campaign's promises rather than some personal & anecdotal account of what's wrong with the country and how to fix it. In fact, you could've looked up all of these promises on the campaign website and saved yourself the money. So, why read a book with a typical campaign bombast, even for Obama's energetic '08 campaign, three years later? Well, 2012 is quickly approaching and this is a great way of checking to see if Pres. Obama has fulfilled his promises or not. Many he has, like the health care bill and through initiatives started under the 2009 Recovery Act, and others he hasn't (the fact that the size of the Peace Corps wasn't doubled before its 50th anniversary is a particularly sad failure to me). So, checking his promises in this book against what he has actually done is a great way to prepare for 2012. This book also includes 7 speeches from the campaign, his speeches on race and the one from Berlin included. So, this is also a good resource for those wanting to remember some of the high points of the '08 campaign. In the end, the book can be boring and hopeful in equal parts, but it may become more relevant to the average voter as the 2012 campaign heats up.
What do You think about Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama's Plan To Renew America's Promise (2008)?
Quick and easy read. Interesting to read some of the key speeches all at once.
—Meg
Some of the best rhetoric to grace the world though its just that rhetoric
—Jessica
I want to read this book because Barack Obama is now our president.
—yvonne
