Open Letter to Obama

I got all choked up and teary-eyed when the election results came in today and Barack Obama had won. I really wish him all the best, especially as he takes over the reins at a particularly difficult time in US history with uncertainty if not meltdown in the financial markets and environmental catastrophe imminent.

I'm sure we all have our own particular prayers for the new president. Novelist Alice Walker writes him an open letter in The Root, full of good advice.

Hmm what else should we tell him?

Update :

Maya Angelou's reaction.

(Thanks Melissa for sending me the link.)

Read Like a President

McCain and Obama are so different in so many ways, but they do share one thing: a kind of tragic sensibility. Judging from the books they cite as most important, they embrace hope but recognize the reality that life is unlikely to conform to our wishes.

Can you judge a presidential candidate by the books they read - or say they read? In the New York Times, Jon Meacham reflects on McCain and Obama's literary tastes.

Both candidates seem to prefer heavyweight, more classic stuff - I wonder if either ever pick up a contemporary novel? (I'd put a copy of Cormac McCarthy's The Road in their hands right away!) And what do they read for fun???

Although Obama gets my good parent vote for reading Harry Potter to his kid, and he's certainly been making the right noises about the importance of reading and literacy education.

Anyway, should you wish to follow in the presidential footsteps, Amazon has set up a page so you can order the books the candidates mention. [Found via]. Never miss a marketing opportunity!

It's a shame that those of us in the rest of the world don't get a vote in the US presidential elections, as whoever does get into office affects our lives too.

Obama's Book

Yann Martell of course started the trend of making pointed political comment with the book gift or two.

More recently The New York Times asked authors including Junot Diaz, Lorrie Moore (who recommended Macbeth for Hilalry Clinton!) and Barbara Kingsolver to suggest titles for the presidential hopefuls, after Obama was seen reading Fareed Zakaria The Post-American World. (Which I would really like to read myself.)

Guy Damman on The Guardian blog passed on the question on to its readers with some interesting results.

And I pass it on to you too. What books would you say are must-reads for Cane and Obama (now that it's down to a two-horse race)?

And, of course (and much more interestingly), which books would you like to see in the hands of Malaysia's own politicians?