Two New Books: One on Bush Hypocrisy to Christians, One by Political Rock Star Obama

A plethora of unusually excellent and interesting political books have been published in recent months. In fact, I have a stack here of almost a dozen books to read and hopefully review for you after the November elections are behind us.

But two new books published this week are creating a sensation.

"Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction" by David Kuo
The first is Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction" by David Kuo, former deputy director of the Bush Administration's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. This book relates "an inside account of the rise of Christian conservatives, and their betrayal by the Bush White House."

The Bush Administration's shallow political pandering to the religious right has been obvious for years. This administration's agenda is to benefit, in any possible way, the trifecta of big corporations, big government and economic globalization.... deficit spending be damned.

If the religious right was satisfied with a few pro-corporate judges who also happened to be social conservatives, well... so much the better to keep the base at bay.

But political gamesmanship (spiked with a healthy dose of fear and smear) was necessary to lure the religious right into reelecting the Bush-Cheney ticket in 2004.

Faithful Democrats, the new community blog for Christian Democrats, issued a statement yesterday, decrying the "cynicism, arrogance, corruption, and religious discrimination" described by Mr. Kuo.

Lamented Faithful Democrats, "They loved to make campaign promises and hold press conferences to showcase their commitment to faith. But when it came time for action, these people were nowhere to be found. The sad truth is that our country's leaders, especially those in the White House, appear to use faith almost solely as a political weapon. They don't respect it."

For your easy reading, you can read Faithful Democrats' statement on the Kuo book here at Faithful Democrats Blog Laments White House Hypocrisy.

"The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" by Barack Obama
The other newly-published book creating a splash is the long-awaited second book by Senator Barack Obama, "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream."

I've not yet read this book, but have skimmed two reviews which were both surprisingly lukewarm.

The New York Times today wrote of Obama's latest book, "Portions of the volume read like outtakes from a stump speech, and the bulk of it is devoted to laying out Mr. Obama’s policy positions on a host of issues, from education to health care to the war in Iraq.

Also today, Publishers Weekly comments, "Obama writes insightfully, with vivid firsthand observations, about politics and the compromises forced on politicians by fund-raising, interest groups, the media and legislative horse-trading. Alas, his muddled, uninspiring proposals bear the stamp of those compromises."

My copy of Senator Obama's book will be at my doorstep in a few days. I look forward to reading and reviewing it for myself. The tepid reviews thusfar portray a book that falls short of my expectations of Democratic rock star Barack Obama.

Nonetheless, you'll have plenty of opportunities to hear the senator talk about his new book. In this next week, he'll be on Oprah, NBC's Meet the Press, the Today Show, Tavis Smiley's PBS program and Tom Joyner's NPR radio, and he graces this week's cover of Time magazine.

A media tour befitting political rock royalty, indeed!

Copies of both of these books are in transit to me. I'll report my own impressions of these two books to you soon.

Related Reading
Barack Obama Is Rock-Star Popular on First Africa Trip in 14 Years
Barack Obama: Unleashed & Unplugged
Faithful Democrats Blog Laments White House Hypocrisy in Book, "Tempting Faith" by David Kuo