“Having ideas meant defending the ideas, promoting the ideas, arguing. We were always arguing with each other, but within certain premises, which made us a community.” (William Phipplips) Joseph Dorman’s “Arguing the World: The New York Intellectuals in Their Own Words” is basically about radicals arguing with one another using their “intellects.” Reading this book and the quote above from the book reminded me of the latest presidential election between McCain and Obama. Just as the quote suggests, they had different ideas and opinions on many issues, including health care, tax, industry, environment, national security, and etc, and fought relentlessly over each issue to convince the public that they were fit for presidency. Both McCain and Obama used various statistics and factual information to argue their points and their furious debates over each issue showed how intellectual they were. I remember the debates they had on the issue of National Security, regarding Iraq and Iran. Before running for presidency, McCain authorized the use of force against Iraq, viewing Saddam Hussein as a threat to the U.S. In addition, during the presidential election, McCain implied that he would use the armed force to deal with any national threats and he rejected “unconditional dialogues” with Iran. He was aggressive in his military policies. On the contrary, Obama emphasized that diplomacy comes before the use of force and the use of military force should only be authorized after the government have exhausted diplomatic efforts. Obama was very logical and convincing in his speech, showing how fluent and eloquent he was in his speech.

However, many conservative Southerners considered he was not fit for presidency just because he was an African American. Alexander Bloom’s “Prodigal Sons: The New York Intellectuals and Their World” points out how Jewish people were discriminated against by white people because of their ethnicity. In the beginning of chapter two, it explains how being Jewish made it difficult for them to enter into any prestigious schools. Many highly educated Jewish college graduates had to yield to proletarian jobs and some ended up working in factories. The situation was similar for Obama, a graduate of Columbia and Harvard University, during his presidential election. He bought a lot of oppositions just for being an African American.

             It was fun comparing two books to the latest presidential election. Obama, Democrat, and McCain, Republican, arguing with each other showed how the government and policies, a community, are formed through collisions of ideas as the quote suggests. Obama faced discrimination, just as many Jewish people did, but he overcame the obstacle and was elected 44^th president of the United States. Through reading and comparing two books to the presidential election of 2009, I learned that giving up should not be a choice even when people face unfair discrimination in their lives. Communicating and overcoming differences is what makes us a richer community.