Hot Ticket: Obama & Lamott

Now wouldn't that be quite the Democratic ticket?? Ha Ha Ha Ha!

Just finished reading Anne Lamott's: Plan B. Great read: refreshing and challenging and funny...OMG sooo funny. I am also more than half way thru Obama's new book; The Audacity of Hope. The first half is a framework, his explanation of government, what he sees, etc. Interesting and necessary to really understanding where and why he says what he does in the rest of the book. I am now into the second half where he talks more about his actual ideas. It is interesting to have so much of an inside glimpse into the mind and thinking of a potential presidential candidate. Memoirs afterwards are common, but a person laying their cards on the table before even announcing a run, now that is refreshing. I think in part this book is his fleece. How it is received by, the Party and by the America public may very well influence his decision. It will be interesting to watch this unfold.

A couple of enticing glimpses for you:
Obama in his chapter called "Values" is talking about authenticity and empathy. Regarding empathy he says:
That is what empathy does. It calls us all to task... the oppressed and the oppressor, the conservative and the liberal. No one is exempt from the call to find common ground. Of course , in the end, mutual understanding isn't enough. After all, talk is cheap; like any value, empathy must be acted upon. (p.68)

and,
from Lamott:

In the chapter "Loving Your President" she wrestles with the idea of loving one's enemies as related to Bush, whose policies deeply disturb her, leading her to obsess about the war and the condition of the world. She writes: But Jesus kept harping on forgiveness and loving one's enemies, so I decided to try. Why couldn't Jesus command us to obsess about everything, to try to control and manipulate people, to try not to breath at all or to pay attention, stomp away to brood when people annoy us, and then eat a big bag of Hershey's Kisses in bed? (p224)
later she writes.....
When you give up on hope, when it is not pinned wriggling onto a shiny image or expectation, it may float forth and open like those fluted Japanese blossoms, flimsy and spastic, bright and warm. This almost always seems to happen in community with family, related by blood, or chosen; at church, for me; at peace marches. (p238)