This has nothing to do with Eliot Spitzer or prostitutes.

Rather a politician who has not yet been linked to such a scandal, and hopefully never will. I just finished Barack Obama’s “The Audacity of Hope,” which is book number four on the year if you are counting at home.

It took me a lot longer to read than I thought, mainly because of the density and thoroughness with which Obama tackles each subject. I’m certainly not complaining either, since it was nice to go so in-depth with where a candidate is coming from rather than relying on a third-party article or a soundbite.

If you don’t have the desire or the time to tackle the entire book, check it for a few days and read the chapters on Race and The World Beyond Our Borders. Obama discusses the challenges of race in America, and how the fight that reached its apex in the 1960s is far from over. He also talks about how those discussions and the outcomes of the civil rights movement are progressing into an America that is no longer a black-and-white discussion.

“Such a shift in emphasis is not easy: Old habits die hard, and there is always a fear on the part of many minorities that unless racial discrimination, past and present, stays on the front burner, white America will be let off the hook and hard-fought gains may be reversed. I understand these fears–nowhere is it ordained that history moves in a straight line, and during difficult times it is possible that the imperatives of racial equality get shunted aside.”

It took me a while to pick out a section of this chapter. But the point of history sometimes have to move laterally, or even take a few steps back before moving forward the right way captures Obama’s point. Just before that paragraph, he talks about how to best address minority problems. His solutions include “strategies that help all Americans” to go after the underlying issues making it more difficult for portions of society to break out of cycles of self-defeat. Those are people of all backgrounds who end up “stuck” in situations that make it harder to achieve “success.”

“Schools that teach, jobs that pay, health care for everyone who needs it, a government that helps out after a flood, a long with measures that ensure our laws apply equally to everyone.”

Obama argues that some domestic failure is a product of kids who aren’t prepared for the structured environment of school because of broken homes from the start. They don’t end up with the qualifications to get jobs that pay well, or end up with criminal records that preclude certain fields. Without health insurance, they can’t afford preventive care or economically catastrophic medical bills.

I can’t fully do this section justice. A lot of interesting points informed by historical and economic measures.

Later Obama turns his attention to America’s place in the world. Again, an effective history makes his arguments poignant and relevant. He uses his experience growing up in Indonesia and the United States’ policies towards that nation as a microchasm of larger U.S. foreign policy.

After several years of toxic moves in relation to America’s image and influence by the current administration, Obama’s outlook is refreshing. He says it’s hard for the U.S. to demand other countries change standards and habits when it comes to environmental policy, nuclear disarmament, human rights and hostile regimes when we don’t lead the way in making those changes ourselves.

Obama lays out what he would do in Iraq and how he would work to reestablish America as a positive influence internationally.

Even if you disagree with his politics, or at least what you know, the book is certainly worth a read to better understand his positions. Obama is a great storyteller, using a plethora of history to weave lessons of the past into arguments of today in a thoughtful fashion.

Next up, “Cannery Row” by John Steinbeck.