I Am the Change: Barack Obama and the Crisis of Liberalism - Hardcover

Kesler, Charles R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 006207296X ISBN 13: 9780062072962

Publisher: Broadside Books, 2012

Synopsis

Is Barack Obama the last liberal president? In I Am the Change, Charles Kesler, a leading conservative scholar, educator, and journalist, offers a sophisticated analysis of the president s political thought, based on Obama s own words and writings, to demonstrate that he represents either a new birth of liberalism or its demise. Kesler s writing is a potent mixture of philosophy, journalism, psychology, and history seasoned with a delightful, razor-sharp wit as he takes a greatly underestimated chief executive seriously and explores American liberalism in crisis."

About this title

Review:

Kesler is the reader for whom Obama has long been asking, in the sense of asking for it, and this book is the examination of the One we ve been waiting for. --Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review"

From the Back Cover:

Is Barack Obama the savior of liberalism—or the last liberal president? Charles R. Kesler's spirited analysis of Obama's political thought shows that he represents either a new birth of liberalism—or its demise.

Who is Barack Obama? Though many of his own supporters wonder if he really believes in anything, Charles R. Kesler argues that these disappointed liberals don't appreciate the scope of the president's ambition or the long-term stakes for which he is playing.

Conservatives also misunderstand Obama, according to this leading conservative scholar, educator, and journalist. They dismiss him as a socialist, hopelessly out of touch with the American mainstream. The fringe Right dwells on Obama's foreign upbringing, his missing birth certificate, Bill Ayers's supposed authorship of his books. What mainstream and fringe have in common is a stubborn underestimation of the man and the political movement he embodies.

Reflecting a sophisticated mix of philosophy, psychology, and history, and complemented by a scathing wit, I Am the Change tries to understand Obama as he understands himself, based largely on his own writings, speeches, and interviews. Kesler, the rare conservative who takes Obama seriously as a political thinker, views him as a gifted and highly intelligent progressive who is attempting to become the greatest president in the history of modern liberalism. Intent on reinvigorating the liberal faith, Obama nonetheless fails to understand its fatal contradictions—a shortsightedness that may prove to be liberalism's undoing.

Will Obama save liberalism and become its fourth great incarnation, following Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson? Or will he be derailed by his very successes? These are the questions at the heart of Kesler's thoughtful and illuminating book.

About this edition

• Publisher: Broadside Books
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 006207296X
• ISBN 13: 9780062072962
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 276