How does Obama describe his motives and ambitions for running for office?

Obama often finds himself suspicious of his own motives undergirding his decision to run for office. He is torn over whether his motives are selfless and of the best intentions, or if they are driven by vanity. At one point he asks himself, "Was it just vanity? Or perhaps something darker—a raw hunger, a blind ambition wrapped in the gauzy language of service?" (71). He eventually quells his doubts recalling a sermon of Martin Luther King in which he describes a way that ambition can be reconciled with selfish aims (71). Since Obama's political ideals are so lofty and noble, the question of his own purity takes on a corresponding significance.

How does Obama envision the role of young people in politics?

Obama views young people as vitally important to the political process for the new...