Forget about Palin's book, listen to this!

So when I started to read CNN's article, "Obama Wont Read Palin's Book", I thought two things, 'Sure does look like some crap's gonna hit the fan', and 'How is this relevent to American politics?' Well, the discoveries I made reading this article surprised me.
First of all, there wasn't much drama behind this decision at all. In fact, when the president was asked about Sarah Palin's memoir he cordially responded, "I probably won't, but I don't get a chance to read things other than briefing books very often these days anyway." Alright, doesn't sound like a big deal to me.
However, what he said after that was quite shocking:"I said to myself very early on, even when I started running for office, I don't want to be making decisions based on getting reelected, because I think the challenges that America faces right now are so significant...Obviously, if I make those decisions and I think that I'm moving the country on the right direction economically, in terms of our security interests, our foreign policy, I'd like to think that those policies are continued because they're not going to bear fruit just in four years"
What a bold statement. The president of the United States basically implied that he wasn't looking to get re-elected. The last president to state that intention was Lyndon B Johnson prior to the 1968 election. And this relates to the debate we had earlier today about whether campaigning was good for the American government. One of the biggest arguments for the NO side was that politicians were so worried about getting re-elected, that they made decisions based on what the people in their regions wanted rather than what they knew was beneficial to those people. A huge amount of these politicians' efforts are made towards securing their seat in office instead of securing the right of due process for the people. Obama's plan almost works in reverse. Instead of focusing on campaigning, he's focusing on developing his ideas to make our country and its government better. Maybe Obama shares views with Anthony King, whose article, "Running Shared", reflects many of the ideas of the NO side of the debate.
But do I agree with Obama's idea? I have to say, I'm not sure.One of the best things about America is having the chance to have your voice heard. If a politician is ignorant to your stated needs, how can he give them to you? However, many people are just plain ignorant themselves, and don't understand the full consequences of their decisions. Politicians aren't just chosen for the representation they will provide, but for the decisions they will make. This stands even more true for the president, who isn't representing a specific region of the country and is therefore needed solely because of his or her ability to lead this country to success.
I guess only time will tell where these decisions lead us.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/