When in Chicago, I bought two books to update me on contemporary US politics. Gore’s Assault on Reason and Obama’s Audacity of Hope.
I thought they are the most interesting presidential hopefuls – especially now that Gore got his Nobel. So how do these guys compare to each other?
Gore is still Al Gore, the vice president, former long-time senator, and your standard politican. He makes sometimes bitter in-your-face notes on Bush administration and in-between the lines you may guess he doesn’t want to tell you all, etc. Standard stuff. I don’t think I learned much from his book.
Obama is a bit different. He at least sounds more constructive and hopes to tell you more than Gore. He aims to state what it really is like to be in politics, and how he also has his faults in there. Overall the impression is more positive. You can actually see the difference already in the names of the books.
Assuming both books have really been authored by the guys themselves, I’d vote for Obama for clarity, honesty, and potential for progressive political changes. Regarding moral choices and other minor stuff I don’t see that much difference. Interestingly both of them support e.g. death penalty. I guess that might be to a large extent because the majority of the American public supports it as well…