We Have No Idea How a Democrat Can Be Elected in Romney's Massachusetts

Deval Patrick. A Reason to Believe: Lessons From an Improbably Life. New Hork: Broadway 2011.

The author expresses his appreciation for people who help others “not because they  had to but because they simply could.” These are values that molded him and that he hopes others share. The author served as Assistant U.S. Attorney General for Civil Rights before being elected Massachusetts’s Governor.

Patrick was from a poor family growing up in Chicago. He graduated from Harvard. He received a Michael Clark Rockefeller Traveling Fellowship where he worked in Sudan doing field work regarding construction projects. He graduated from Harvard Law and then clerked for a Federal District Appeals Judge and then worked for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Patrick ran for Governor. He was attacked in radio ads, based on his having been a defense attorney, that stated “while lawyers have a right to defend admitted cop killers, do we really want one as Governor?” Patrick learned that politics can hurt oneself and one’s family. He was attacked because 13 years prior his brother in law pled guilty to sexually attacking his sister, even though they had since reconciled and were still together. Patrick, who worked for Coca Coa, was accused of being “involved with coke.”

The job of First Lady proved stressful for his wife She had only a Chief of Staff and was attacked for having that, even though First Ladies in most other states and territories had multiple staff members. She was treated for exhaustion and depression. His wife was encouraged by the volume of support people expressed afterwards.

Patrick sees public service as an important  calling for public good and improving future generations. He believes Obama has helped bring a bold idealism to politics. This has renewed his faith in politics.