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A review by davehershey
Reclaiming Hope: Lessons Learned in the Obama White House about the Future of Faith in America by Michael Wear
4.0
This book provides a glimpse into the Obama White House by a man who worked on relations with faith groups. Wear shares his story of how he came to evangelical faith and joined the hope filled Obama campaign in 2008. He talks about his work not just on the campaign, but also in the administration. This includes everything from the annual prayer breakfast to the contraception mandate and Obama's "evolution" on same sex marriage. Wear points out both the positives and the negatives of working in government in general and the Obama white house specifically.
The biggest negatives, for Wear, were seen in the shift from a hope-filled bridge-building campaign in 2008 that sought to include all Americans to a defensive, attack-filled campaign in 2012 that seemed to shut people out who did not agree on all the issues. Wear argues that the demand in recent years for everyone to agree on everything within a party is not good for the parties or for America. It leads to a hardening of parties as those who do not agree on everything walk away which in turn puts the two major parties further apart (as only the fringe remains) and contributes to our warring political discourse. In the end he remains hopeful though and the book ends on a hopeful note, a hope driven by his own faith in the God of hope who is working in history (as MLK said, the arc of the universe is long but it bends towards justice).
The biggest negatives, for Wear, were seen in the shift from a hope-filled bridge-building campaign in 2008 that sought to include all Americans to a defensive, attack-filled campaign in 2012 that seemed to shut people out who did not agree on all the issues. Wear argues that the demand in recent years for everyone to agree on everything within a party is not good for the parties or for America. It leads to a hardening of parties as those who do not agree on everything walk away which in turn puts the two major parties further apart (as only the fringe remains) and contributes to our warring political discourse. In the end he remains hopeful though and the book ends on a hopeful note, a hope driven by his own faith in the God of hope who is working in history (as MLK said, the arc of the universe is long but it bends towards justice).