又一個角度

很有意思，他當政的8年裏，我對他大概一分鍾的關注都沒有。他的那8年可圈可點的很多，眾說紛紜。但令我不解的是，怎麽會有那麽多人對他恨之入骨。。比起小布什，克林頓，他的政策基本上中規中矩。好像也沒有什麽醜聞，笑話。

沒想到的是在他剛剛離開的這幾年裏，我就開始關注了。

Becoming是一個角度，這本書是另一個角度。嗯，都是能寫，會寫的人，書自然好看。

“Nations arise telling a story that binds people together in sacrifice and cooperation, allowing for remarkable feats. But those same stories have so often been used to oppress and dehumanize those who are different. The wars of the modern age teach us this truth. Hiroshima teaches this truth. Technological progress without an equivalent progress in human institutions can doom us. The scientific revolution that led to the splitting of an atom requires a moral revolution as well.”
― Ben Rhodes, The World As It Is: Inside the Obama White House

今天聽到書中的這段話時，就想著要找出來再看看。。還有這段：

“I came to realize that this was about more than not offering up what some of his opponents craved—the picture of the angry black man, or the lectures on race that fuel a sense of grievance among white voters. Obama also didn’t want to offer up gauzy words to make well-meaning white people feel better. The fact that he was a black president wasn’t going to bring life back to an unarmed black kid who was shot, or alter structural inequities in housing, education, and incarceration in our states and cities. It wasn’t going to change the investment of powerful interests in a system that sought to deny voting rights, or to cast people on food stamps working minimum wage jobs as “takers,” incapable of making it on their own. The “last person who ever thought that Barack Obama’s election was going to bring racial reconciliation and some “end of race” in America was Barack Obama. That was a white person’s concept imposed upon his campaign. I know because I was once one of them, taking delight in writing words about American progress, concluding in the applause line “And that is why I can stand before you as president of the United States.” But he couldn’t offer up absolution for America’s racial sins, or transform American society in four or eight years.”
― Ben Rhodes, The World As It Is: Inside the Obama White House

記得The Guest Book 裏Reg的那些話麽？60多年了。。。。

其實，書裏講到的種族問題篇幅不大。。更多的是當時的國際問題，有些我有大概的印象，有些幾乎都不記得了。不過，聽起來都很有意思。

噢，有個印象挺深，他們那些人都很年輕！

 

 

[糯米粥]

回複 '桃子蘋果' 的評論 : 聽了你的介紹後覺得更有意思了。一定試試

[桃子蘋果]

回複 '糯米粥' 的評論 : 聽完了這本書。比我想象的要好得多。他是國際事務方麵的助理，所以書中涉及到很多這方麵的事情，很有意思。。。他是speech writer，自然會寫。不過，我覺得文字的把握還在其次，更喜歡字裏行間流露出的心態，角度和立場。。據他自己說，當年，他是媒體注意的對象之一，可惜當年我對此人一無所知，聞所未聞，也就沒辦法把讀書後對他的印象和當時從媒體眼中看到的他相比較。

[糯米粥]

回複 '桃子蘋果' 的評論 : 明白了，有道理。以後找機會試試這本書

[桃子蘋果]

回複 '糯米粥' 的評論 : "some of his opponents" are not those people that voted for him. They could be very different... If you read the book, you may see his point of view..

[糯米粥]

"Technological progress without an equivalent progress in human institutions can doom us" -- 覺得這句很有insights。現在的青少年沉迷於手機等devices， 真是大問題

"this was about more than not offering up what some of his opponents craved—the picture of the angry black man" -- 這句我覺得偏於“誅心論”。 選民們選了他上台 （我也是投他的票），選的是領袖， 怎麽會期望看到angry black man？