Barack Obama and the Habit of Hope

Abstract

Books Reviewed:The Irony of Barack Obama: Barack Obama, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Problem of Christian Statecraft. By R. Ward Holder and Peter B. Josephson. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate Publishing Co., 2012. 232 pp. $119.95 (cloth).Reading Obama: Dreams, and American Political Tradition. By James T. Kloppenberg. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2011. 344 pp. $24.95 (cloth).The Audacity of Faith: Christian Leaders Reflect on Election of Barack Obama. Edited by Marvin A. McMickle. Valley Forge, Pa.: Judson Press, 2009. 192 pp. $17.00 (paper).Religion, Race, and Barack Obamas New Democratic Pluralism. Edited by Gaston Espinosa. New York: Routledge, 2013. 296 pp. $140.00 (cloth).Fundamentalism in American Religion and Law: Obama's Challenge to Patriarchy's Threat to Democracy. By David A. J. Richards. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. 326 pp. $31.99 (paper).Barack Obama's America: How New Conceptions of Race, Family, and Religion Ended Reagan Era. By John Kenneth White. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 2009. 320 pp. $28.95 (paper).Barack Obama burst onto national stage with The Audacity of Hope, his inspiring speech at 2004 Democratic National Convention that anticipated his 2006 book Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming American Dream. Obamas theme echoed his pastor Jeremiah Wrights 1988 sermon The Audacity to Hope, as he sought to shed light on spiritual dimension of Democratic politics in contrast to religious skepticism of some on Left and more conservative religious stance of some on Right.Like all contemporary politicians, Obama has employed the God strategy, eponymous title of an excellent study by David Domke and Kevin Coe that tracks in detail evolution of religio-political language from Dwight Eisenhower to present. concern that arises with use of God strategy is that of authenticity of a candidate's faith as opposed to politically expedient use of God language. Domke and Coe recognize that question of a candidate's personal faith is unknowable, but emphasize that there is little doubt that strategic use of religious sentiments is one of the realities of modem American politics.1 Clearly, religious pluralism and secularism are challenges no politician can ignore. Obama, whose rhetoric of hope has driven his political career, has been forced to embrace a centrist position that has placed him between religion and politics. A spiritually committed leader must enter rough-and-tumble world of secular values and legislative realities, of technological methods and gridlock that by necessity divides statecraft from faith.One of Obama's greatest efforts has been attempt to instill of hope within an American society battered by Bush-era despair resulting from an unjust war, governmental approval of torture, advancement of wealthy one-percenters, and loss of trust, which is fabric of society. By habit I do not mean a repeated behavior, but something closer to hexis, a dispositional energy that interacts with wider environment, testing ideas and actions for their faithfulness. of hope is a vague yet pragmatic reality in which hope transforms persons and communities, making it essential to deliberative democracy. person's experience of hope dis-positions self, creating a new center of value and a new focus of action through experience of an expanded sense of trust, confidence, and possibility. Hope must be pragmatically tested in world of beings and things in order to build networks of community. After all, hope is about realization of a more fulfilling future through action necessary for amelioration of flawed humanity. It is fulcrum of history that counters despair, determinism, and retrospective thinking with a propulsive interaction with wider environment in which human flourishing can grow. …