Book List Change and Even a Movie Rec

Happy July! The East Coast's weather has been mild so far and made for perfect reading conditions, whether on a beach chair or by the pool.

For my birthday this year I received both of President Obama's books. I wanted a better understanding of the man in charge.

The second book, Audacity of Hope http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw_0_11?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=adacity+of+hope&sprefix=adacity+of+, is as I expected, the book more focused on the President's policy views. This is the book I started and just completed.

It is a well written easy read that brings out the President's struggle between the negatives of big government and his personal values and desire to bring up the less fortunate and discriminated against. Far more open than one would imagine regarding the political machine and the luck involved in his epic rise to the US Senate, one definitely comes away with a certain level of respect for the President.

I find it refreshing that we have a record of how the man thought and his ideals before being able to judge him on the successes or failures in the country's highest office.

As one might imagine, you can already see that in his first term he has kowtowed to certain interests, as he did in his ascendancy to US Senator, that likely gnaw at him. He wants the Unions to make concessions in the name of free market capitalism, but sadly cannot escape the Unions' political influence. Similarly, although he condemns the subsidies and support of Big Oil in the book, it is interesting to see how readily the Administration crumbled to Big Coal in the latest climate policy.

There are many incidences, like the above, throughout the book where you can stop and judge President Obama and determine for yourself whether he has stayed true to his prior path. Although I have learned that this type of accountability and asking someone to be responsible for all of his/her own actions is not always the best course of action on the home front, it is fascinating to be able to do it with such a public figure through his personally penned manifesto.

I highly recommend reading 'Audacity of Hope' (a phrase from Reverend Jeremiah Wright) in order to gain further understanding of your President's point of view on a myriad of current and future hot policy topics.

As the title of this post suggests, I have more than just a Book List change. I want to throw out a movie and wine recommendation as well.

It just so happens that I enjoyed both together last night.

The wine is called 'The Big Red Fox' (Syrah) from New Jersey's finest, Unionville Vineyard.

The film is 'Taken'. Who knew that Liam Neeson made such a badass action/spy hero? Not only does this movie have action to rival the Bourne and Mission: Impossible series, its plot development, twists and turns make you think a bit as well.

Two thumbs up and worth the Netflix rental!

-2outof4