michaeljuan's review against another edition
4.0
This book tells us what Obama did and who he was. The book is great because it tells us the positive and negative things America's president has done.
linda_edwards's review against another edition
4.0
It was an interesting read even though it was written before he became president. It set out all what he wanted to do as president.
untravel's review against another edition
3.0
A nice basic review of Obama's campaign platform. The book also includes a collection of some of his major speeches (the most recent being his July 2008 speech in Berlin). One could most certainly find all of these writings, word for word, somewhere on the internet, but it's nice to have them collected in one physical volume.
akuhlma03's review against another edition
4.0
Finished just in time for inauguration day! I never really follow politics I am ashamed to say and this book was interesting because I learned a lot about the changes Obama would like to see for the American people.
skitch41's review
3.0
This book comes from Pres. Barack Obama's 2008 campaign for the presidency, but unlike other similar books released by politicians about how to get America back on track, this one is really the campaign's promises rather than some personal & anecdotal account of what's wrong with the country and how to fix it. In fact, you could've looked up all of these promises on the campaign website and saved yourself the money. So, why read a book with a typical campaign bombast, even for Obama's energetic '08 campaign, three years later? Well, 2012 is quickly approaching and this is a great way of checking to see if Pres. Obama has fulfilled his promises or not. Many he has, like the health care bill and through initiatives started under the 2009 Recovery Act, and others he hasn't (the fact that the size of the Peace Corps wasn't doubled before its 50th anniversary is a particularly sad failure to me). So, checking his promises in this book against what he has actually done is a great way to prepare for 2012. This book also includes 7 speeches from the campaign, his speeches on race and the one from Berlin included. So, this is also a good resource for those wanting to remember some of the high points of the '08 campaign. In the end, the book can be boring and hopeful in equal parts, but it may become more relevant to the average voter as the 2012 campaign heats up.
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