Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Sep 13, 2008, at 1:26 PM, Akka Homestead wrote:

> Since he was elected to the US Senate three years ago, halfway into  
> his term, he has written two books and written forewards for  
> others.  It is my understanding that he has a contract for an  
> additional book, and even if he doesn't, you can't really stop a  
> writer from writing, can you?  I'm sure he's journaling now, and  
> probably the next break for true writing will come after the  
> inauguration.

I certainly hope that he keeps writing. After the last seven years I  
am hungry for a president with a fine mind who offers his thoughts in  
writing that we may examine them.

I admire people who write well. Writing is a way to discipline the  
mind, to get things in order, to verify the strength of ideas, their  
truth. I have an early edition of Winston Churchill's, The Second  
World War. The six volumes comprise a huge amount of writing. Imagine  
the time required. The effort won for him the Nobel Prize in 1953. Yet  
Churchill had characteristics that today in America might well make  
him unelectable. Ponder that.

I don't measure Obama by comparison to mere ordinaries. He is in a  
higher league. You may be one of those who think that if he is writing  
books he is neglecting the duties of his office. I think that he is  
keeping his brain in tune and he is capable of much more.

From Amazon.com re: The Audacity of Hope:
Q: What is your writing process like? You have such a busy schedule,  
how did you find time to write?
A: I'm a night owl, so I usually wrote at night after my Senate day  
was over, and after my family was asleep--from 9:30 p.m. or so until 1  
a.m. I would work off an outline--certain themes or stories that I  
wanted to tell--and get them down in longhand on a yellow pad. Then  
I'd edit while typing in what I'd written.
http://www.amazon.com/Audacity-Hope-Thoughts-Reclaiming-American/dp/0307455874/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221341987&sr=8-1

> As to his lack of focus,

This is where you lost me. I find it incredible that anyone could look  
at his achievements and find that he lacks focus. How could anyone  
achieve his scholastic achievements, his law school grades, edit the  
Law Review, successfully win high-level elections, beat Hillary  
Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination and lack focus?

> he seems to stammer around when asked questions on the fly.

He is a thinking man. We have been dumbed down by a president of  
modest intellect who has a poor command of the language and by a media  
of fifteen-second sound bites. Obama takes questions seriously and  
uses the speakers' ploy of stalling for a few moments while he decides  
how best to answer the questioner. I find this estimable, especially  
considering how his words are parsed, twisted and subverted by the  
opposition and right-wing bloggers and wanna-be journalists.

>   It seems to me that he needs time (and this is reasonable) to  
> study an issue and develop a response/opinion, but with some things,  
> he just hasn't taken the time to study--his focus has been  
> elsewhere, maybe campaigning or writing or whatever.  Like most  
> folks who are intelligent, he probably suffers from ADD-recall that  
> he left for Bali because of phone interruptions...lack of focus  
> under what he perceived as stress..deadlines..Even his sister has  
> made comments on his lack of focus in life.
> So that's where I get the 'lack of focus' and 'writing books' comment.

Somewhere I have an article I wrote about staring out the window while  
writing. Any non-writer (or wife} observing this would fairly conclude  
that I was goofing off, that I lacked drive, that I lacked focus.

Truth be told, some of a writer's best thoughts come while staring out  
a window or at a ceiling. Non-writers just don't get that.
> Isn't that the great thing about people, this country, this list- 
> that we can see the same thing and come to different conclusions,  
> and who knows, we both may be right...maybe he will be both a great  
> President and a great author.  He *is* different.

I am so happy about that difference. We need such difference badly. I  
am starving for difference from what we have and have had.