Change We Can Believe In

This book--which takes its title from Barack Obama's presidential campaign slogan--outlines the 2008 Democratic nominee's political, social, and economic vision for the nation. It includes a foreword written by the candidate as well as his seven key speeches. Conspicuously absent are Obama's acceptance speech before the Democratic National Convention and narration by the candidate himself. Actor Andre Blake does an adequate job moving through the campaign rhetoric, but he cannot replicate the timbre, cadences, and now familiar baritone of Obama, a two-time Grammy winner. Without the candidate's voice, a multi-cast production would have been preferable as it would have provided needed dimension, broken up the repetition of the candidate's name in each paragraph, and amplified quotes by Warren Buffet, Caroline Kennedy, Geoffrey Canada, and others. The Obama campaign--which produced this book--has missed an opportunity to create a lasting audio chronicle of a historic campaign. G.O. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine