THE AUDACITY OF HOPE by Barack Obama

This is the first such book on politics I have ever read. I must confess that I felt bored when I started the first chapter. This boredom didn't stem from a flaw in the book but rather from my inexperience with reading this genre. I am used to reading mysteries and other such stories by the likes of Sydney Sheldon and Mary Higgins Clark. Reading a political book is a completely different affair.

After using all my willpower to force myself beyond the first paragraphs, I began to enjoy the book. Not in the way that one enjoys fiction but in a way that makes facts enjoyable.

Some people argue that all lawyers and politicians are liars. I have no proof to verify or refute this claim. Regardless of if the book is based on lies or not, Obama presents facts; a lot of which can be verified (all you cynics). His outlook and manner makes it niggardly to assume that he might be lying(like some politicians do, e.g. one that has the initials of OB).

He presents his story and politics in a way a lot of people can relate to. Underlying the politics is the story of an ordinary family man who struggles through being ordinary to being a recognized advocate and representative of his people. A champion of their rights. It is an enlightening political book. Nonetheless, I warn you about occasional over the top political language. All in all I admire his efforts and his audaciousness.

Technically, where I come from, Obama is Kenyan. You are from your father's side foremost and above all, even regardless of the area you were born. Therefore, for a Kenyan to run for office in a US state legislature, Senate and ultimately for President shows an unprecedented level of audaciousness This I truly really extremely admire.

While many say he has had a pretty lucky race and run, I say he has had his audacious hope and corresponding effort blessed. It takes a great man to display the qualities inherent in him. Politics involves a lot of compromises and I hope he does not compromise on his core values

The passion with which he describes the situation of America and Americans, the plight of African Americans, the struggle of Latinos, the world outside America's borders, America's role in the international political order and other things, make all these issues more comprehensible to the average person.

I can write some political things I learnt and which I have developed into some sort of facts (or if you will not, theories) of my own. But I'll leave them for my own political/ current affairs book. (Audaciousness can run off on someone, can't it?). The only other book I have read on political / current affairs is a mere compilation of facts and world stories. So, his personal perspective on issues is an appreciated mundane expansive approach.

As always, I admire anyone who has the courage and resilience to write and publish a book, magazine or any  piece of writing. Cheers to the audaciousness of the American President. (Pass me a glass, will you?)

INFIDEL by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

This is probably the best book on a politician’s or public official’s life I have read. Biographies that involve political subjects usually bore me in the first few pages and I drop them. Unlike some biographies, which however they might try not to, still end up showing the writer singing his or her own praise, I didn’t feel that in this book. Ayaan Hirsi Ali comes across to me as unscrupulously honest in saying her faults and making no excuses. She is the quintessential public official.

Following her history, I saw a lot about Islam and understood things I had only known a side of. I currently live in Nigeria and the country is officially recognized or registered (one of them, not sure which) as a Muslim country. I however live in a mixed state – Lagos, where churches and mosques compete for converts; and traditional worshippers visit spiritual men called herbalists. Many people are multi-religious - practising several religions together, jumping from church to mosque to herbalist, to just being unattached and when problem arises back to church or a mosque or another herbalist. As Ayaan said, problems really do chase Africans to religion.

Lagos is a relatively peaceful state and there are no major religion clashes. However in other parts of the country and predominantly in the Northern Muslim parts, there have been bombings widely known to be staged by Muslims on infidels. Yet many Muslims rise up to proclaim that Islam is a peaceful religion. I do not know anything about this. The strange thing is I have never even seen a Quran up close.

My only observation is that here too, young ladies are married off early. My mom used to compare me to them jokingly when I was younger. Telling me to take responsibility as my mates were already mothers to several children.

The attacks on infidels are staged mostly against churches and one such attack was even at the UN Headquarters in Abuja, the nation’s capital. If you really want people to believe in you and not take your religion slightly, you have to hold yourself uprightly. This terrorism only gives people bad things to say about Islam.

Beautiful writing made me engross myself and carried me through Africa telling me things that happened a few years before me, things I probably read in history books back in school but was not really interested to hang on to for a long time.

I confess to thinking the writer might have overstepped her boundaries. Notwithstanding, she made me think of this saying: “If what you believe in is not worth dying for, then you have nothing to live for.” It goes something like that. Evidently, the writer believes she must say these things for the liberation of certain women (even at the expense of dying for voicing her beliefs). I admire her for this. It is not my position to make conclusions on the subject of Islam (or maybe I am just too scared). Muslims ought to read the book and draw their own conclusions. I have never read the Quran and have no clarion idea of what it contains, so it would be bigoted and ungainly for me to draw conclusions.

Contrariwise, to make conclusions on the book: it made me see a new side to politics. I have previously thought that it is all ugly business engaged in by decadent exploitative people. Pardon me. Now I know better. A lot of politicians are passionately concerned about advocating and advancing the cause of their people.

It is tragic what happened to Haweya  . She was a strong woman on her own, showing more resilience and asserting herself years before Ayaan dared. However, her circumstances seem to have finally overwhelmed her, casting her into an abyss it was impossible to get out from.

The whole political business also made me realise that in politics, one has to be flexible. Not flexible in the connotation of being corrupt, venal and slack or falling short in policy and other important matters. But flexible in the terms of well… you are dealing with humans, not robots. There are so many humans living under different circumstances that it is near improbable to apply the same rules to them all.

Enlightening and enlivening book. I haven’t felt so blessed to discover a book in a long time. Cheers to Ayaan Hirsi Ali!