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In Game Change, John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, two of the country's leading political reporters, use their unrivaled access to pull back the curtain on the Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Palin campaigns.
Based on hundreds of interviews with the people who lived the story, Game Change is a reportorial tour de force that reads like a fast-paced novel. Character-driven and dialogue-rich, replete with extravagantly detailed scenes, it's an intimate portrait of some of the most powerful and fascinating figures in American life—the occasionally shocking, often hilarious, ultimately definitive account of the campaign of a lifetime.
Book Description
"This shit would be really interesting if we weren't in the middle of it." —Barack Obama, September 2008
In 2008, the presidential election became blockbuster entertainment. Everyone was watching as the race for the White House unfolded like something from the realm of fiction. The meteoric rise and historic triumph of Barack Obama. The shocking fall of the House of Clinton—and the improbable resurrection of Hillary as Obama's partner and America's face to the world. The mercurial performance of John McCain and the mesmerizing emergence of Sarah Palin. But despite the wall-to-wall media coverage of this spellbinding drama, remarkably little of the real story behind the headlines has yet been told.
In Game Change, John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, two of the country's leading political reporters, use their unrivaled access to pull back the curtain on the Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Palin campaigns. How did Obama convince himself that, despite the thinness of his résumé, he could somehow beat the odds to become the nation's first African American president? How did the tumultuous relationship between the Clintons shape—and warp—Hillary's supposedly unstoppable bid? What was behind her husband's furious outbursts and devastating political miscalculations? Why did McCain make the novice governor of Alaska his running mate? And was Palin merely painfully out of her depth—or troubled in more serious ways?
Game Change answers those questions and more, laying bare the secret history of the 2008 campaign. Heilemann and Halperin take us inside the Obama machine, where staffers referred to the candidate as "Black Jesus." They unearth the quiet conspiracy in the U.S. Senate to prod Obama into the race, driven in part by the fears of senior Democrats that Bill Clinton's personal life might cripple Hillary's presidential prospects. They expose the twisted tale of John Edwards's affair with Rielle Hunter, the truth behind the downfall of Rudy Giuliani, and the doubts of those responsible for vetting Palin about her readiness for the Republican ticket—along with the McCain campaign staff's worries about her fitness for office. And they reveal how, in an emotional late-night phone call, Obama succeeded in wooing Clinton, despite her staunch resistance, to become his secretary of state.
Based on hundreds of interviews with the people who lived the story, Game Change is a reportorial tour de force that reads like a fast-paced novel. Character driven and dialogue rich, replete with extravagantly detailed scenes, this is the occasionally shocking, often hilarious, ultimately definitive account of the campaign of a lifetime.
Great Insiders' Look, With a Grain of SaltJuly 21, 2010 Matt Coulter 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book was fantastically riveting. It contains nearly 450 pages of inside stories from the campaign, drawn from over 300 interviews the authors performed with more than 200 people who were in-the-know. It is presented in an easy-to-follow narrative format that grips your attention from the get go.
There ought to be a warning, I suppose: if you want to hold onto untarnished views of any of the candidates, this book isn't for you. Nobody comes out clean from the fracas. The authors are liberals so Obama fares better than everyone else, but not by much.
You almost feel bad for Hillary Clinton as the Democratic primary unfolds, as person after person who was supposed to be loyal to the Clintons more or less stab them in the back when Obama comes along. You almost feel bad, that is, until you realize how cold, manipulative, and calculating she had been herself - mainly cultivating relationships for the purpose of political gain, not because she really cared about them.
Obama comes across as a whiny newbie who is full of himself. One of my favorite stories was related to the release of his second book at the beginning of the campaign. When the book only hit #2 on the New York Times best seller list (being beat out by John Grisham in the #1 spot), Obama "whined, `But I wanted to be number one!'" The book details the conscious decision for Obama to avoid detailed positions on issues and focus instead on speeches and rhetoric in order to build an unstoppable "cause" rather than be a fallible candidate -- and then shows Obama soaking in all the new attention and adoration that followed.
Much is made from inside the Clinton and McCain campaigns about how Obama was getting a free ride from the press, with both Hillary and John (rightly) pointing out multiple times that if they had done or said the same things Obama had, the press would have excoriated them. Instead, the media ignored or sympathized with Obama the entire time.
There is nothing but disdain for Edwards as he attempts to hold on to the fleeting promise of power in the midst of his affair with Reille Hunter. Even as Hunter has his illegitimate child he is still angling for the Attorney General slot in Obama's administration, much to the amazement of his staffers (those who hadn't quit) and his wife.
Perhaps the most interesting, revealing, and damning anecdotes about McCain were related to his response (or lack thereof) to the economic collapse in September and the process (or lack thereof) used to choose Sarah Palin as his Veep nominee. McCain was a deeply flawed candidate with a deeply flawed campaign staff, and that definitely came through in both of those stories. And Palin - Palin gets absolutely destroyed by this book. In some places a little unfairly, but by and large there is no mistaking that she simply was not prepared at all for the national stage of Presidential politics. Some of the fault of that rests in McCain's team, but an equal part lies with the candidate herself - and some of the conversations she had with staffers are downright frightening.
Inside debates from all the campaigns on topics like how to handle specific issues, what the overall strategy for winning the primary would be, or how and when to go negative on opponents all add more depth to the stories and definitely create the feeling of being in the inner circles of these campaigns. This was a great read and I would highly recommend it if you are at all interested in national politics. Just don't expect your guy (or gal) to come out shining at the other end.
Game Change.July 21, 2010 Doris J. Pearson Very insightful information into the political "game". I wish I could have a peek into the upcoming elections like this. It's hard to keep up with all the candidates and to know their honest opinions and aspirations.
I'm so sorry this presidential election turned out like it did. A candidate with no experience and a lot of charisma doesn't make a good president.
Good book!
Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark HalperinJuly 21, 2010 Susan Thurmond(New Orleans) Juicy, Juicy, Juicy. Great fun. Great gossip. Great look into the world of Political Campaigning.
And one word sticks in my mind after reading it.
The word is--Dysfunction. Human Dysfunction.
They are us and we are them. We are all the same.
In their Dysfunction, I am reminded of our own human dysfunction. Our human dysfunction is the great equalizer.
I am also reminded of something I wrote a few years ago called Functional Dysfunctionalism.
In this piece, I am embracing our dysfunction. Maybe right now dysfunction is all that is uniting us.
There lays the satire for optimism. To know we are dysfunctional, to know we are all united in this dysfunction--there dwells the hope for us in our division.
So, this piece is not to show the world bad and to hate it, but to only understand and be aware of our human condition and comprehend what is going on around us.
The world does work, in its simplest form and in its complex form, and that is why I say-Isn't it wonderful....because it truly is.
Furthermore, I see the humor in being human. To laugh at ourselves, knowing and understanding how we work is uplifting for me.
To Understand, to Know, and to Laugh, additionally is where hopefulness resides in me.
Susanthur
Functional Dysfunctionalism
The world's Dysfunctional.
What makes it dysfunctional is its inhabitants.
The definition of dysfunctional is (1) failing to perform the function that is normally expected, (2) unable to function emotionally as a social unit, (3) not functioning normally.
So, does the definition fit this reasoning? I rather think not. This world and its people do function. We get up in the morning, start our day, get our kids to school and off to our jobs do we go.
The mail is delivered, stores and shops are kept supplied, firefighters and police protect, planes, boats and cars run, students are taught and babies are fed. Doctors heal, nurses console, computer programmers invent, people fall in love; normal society carries on.
Isn't it wonderful!
Even in normalcy is the hint of dysfunction. We all strive to survive.
Popping pills, drinking to excess, eating - filling the emptiness, watching TV- satisfying our lives with our favorite friends and characters.
We take a Holiday, a break and hide from life and its struggles.
These overindulgences are our crutches, our safety net, our bridge between make-believe and actuality. Reality of the sun's brightness and radiance wakes us up in the morning, that and the sleep penetrating ringing alarm clock and the miracle mind-altering potion called coffee.
However, to live in the real world we need our make-believe, our illusions. There's no greater illusion than the one we make up for ourselves.
Dysfunction is our World; it may be the only thing that is true in this make-believe society.
Isn't it wonderful!
What we perceive real is not real, we escape from this made up reality, this reality told to us by the media, politicians and anyone in authority. We must remember they are also dysfunctional. If we keep their art of illusion in mind, we will be ok and not be deceived. Their dysfunction is our dysfunction, this commonality units us, we are all in this together.
Therefore, here's to our illusion and disillusions. Let's unite in happiness and delight, entwining our arms in social insanity. Let us celebrate in pure glee. Let's roll and wallow in it. Let's have a theme song and raise the champagne glass.
Isn't it wonderful!
Here's to dysfunction, wonderful dysfunction!
We may as well embrace it; it is what defines and characterize us as human.
Our human dysfunctionalism does work and it will be with us till the final man breathes his last.
Isn't it wonderful!
Well written, but much missingJuly 20, 2010 Joe 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I know I'm late to the game in writing this review, but I just finished the book and wanted to capture some points. First, as a disclaimer I am a conservative republican. I voted for John McCain, and have been extremely critical of Obama from day one (something that's only increased over his tenure). Now my comments on the book:
First, the good:
The book is very well written. It has a flowing narrative that makes it hard to put down. Overall I thought it was well balanced - the authors didn't savage just the republicans, e.g., although I do think they gave the GOP short shrift. I know that the big contest during the 2008 primary was on the Democrat side, and I fully expected that the battle between Obama and Hillary would dominate the book. But when talking about the GOP, very little time was spent on the actual GOP primary fight. Fred Thompson was written about only in passing, e.g. And not enough credit was given to McCain for pulling in the conservative vote (something I had doubts about from the beginning).
Overall, though, this was a good chronicle of the events in the 2008 election.
Now the not so good:
I already touched on one - the book was balanced from the perspective that it wasn't a screed against the republicans. But the contests covered wasn't balanced enough at all. For example, much time was spent examining both Hillary's and Obama's decisions to get into the race. None at all was spent on that for McCain (or so little that it was barely a footnote).
Second (take this for what it's worth coming from a republican) I thought the book was too generous to Obama and his campaign. The faults, missteps and flaws in his campaign were either totally ignored, or glossed over. Some key points on this:
1) The trip to Europe during the general election (in the summer of 2008) that Obama made was treated somewhat strangely in the book. The authors portrayed it as a rousing success... that if it were not for the McCain camp putting out the famous Celeb ad, that it would have been a perfect political move on Obama's part. In fact, the fact that they claimed that McCain created the impression with that ad, that Obama was an elitist snob is curious in it's own right. McCain's camp didn't create that story-line... that story was very much in the press long before McCain came out with that ad. Talking heads on TV and radio were making fun of Obama's Magical Mystery Tour before it even happened. One (I think it may have been Bill Krystal) commented that 'well, that speech secures Obama the German electoral votes.' The McCain camp definitely took advantage of all of that when they created the Celeb ad, but they didn't drive that impression. In fact, the Celeb ad tapped into exactly what the American people though about what Obama did - it was not only elitist, but it was down right arrogant - to act like you were already the president and give a speech in a foreign country just made it look like he believed he was owed the presidency.
2) Not a single mention of Joe the Plumber. I know you can't cover everything in the book but that one part became such a story in it's own right you would think they would have found room in at least one paragraph to cover it. It was never even mentioned.
3) There was much suspicious activity surrounding Obama's on-line fundraising - the fact that so many were able to get on line, with fake identities (some just obviously made up) and submit campaign contributions was something that made the Obama camp look really dirty. Again... this was never even mentioned in the book.
4) One story that's making the press right now - the Black Panther intimidation case - again... this was never even mentioned in the book. Here you had the most flagrant example of voter intimidation in memory, and not one mention in the book.
Obama's faults were down-played throughout the book, and any seedy part of how his campaign operated was isolated from him entirely. I didn't expect a book trashing the president, and like I said, the book was pretty even-handed, but the kid-glove treatment of Obama spoiled the book for me. I just get the sense that this is pretty much in line with the authors' mind-set - I have a feeling that if McCain had won the election this book would never have been written.
One pleasant surprise, though, and I did want to mention it. One person who came out of the book looking really good (despite the very few parts he was included in) was George W. Bush. Although, as expected, Cheney didn't come off looking as good. Overall, the book is worth the read. It's well written, flows nicely, and recaps the events of the campaign in a pretty even-handed way. Seeing how things work behind the scenes in these campaigns was the most interesting part for me. So, even if you followed the campaign as closely as I did, there's still much to be gotten from reading the book.
Fast-paced. Juicy. Enlightening. Entertaining. Venomous. Fun. Disturbing.July 19, 2010 Christian Engler(Woburn, Massachusetts) For political junkies the 2008 presidential campaign was a feast that satiated many desires, for it was the mother of all soap operas that had a vast array of characters with flaws and more than an abundance of skeletons in the closet. The only problem with the drama was that it was reality, and the unexperienced blowhards with the egos are now in temporary position of the highest office in the land. If this book wasn't nonfiction I would qualify it on par with Allen Drury's literary and political classic, Advise and Consent. Though the two works are based on two totally different subjects, the political driving force and language of each makes for compelling narration and a freeze frame of the human experience.
The 2008 campaign was fascinating to watch, because parties were pitted against each other (Obama v. Clinton) while other political newbies (from the state level Sarah Palin) were elevated to national prominence. It turned journalists from supposed objective chroniclers into downright sappy and gushing unprofessional slack-jawed hacks who would rather kiss butt in the name of political correctness than do their jobs. Additionally, it was an election that inspired young people and those folks who never did vote to take part, including myself. Unfortunately, my guy lost. Regrettably, many of the young people were quite conditioned and ripe, due in large part to their 'university enlightenment' to make a powerful sway in the political process. And with Obama, language and oration was everything. It didn't hurt either that he had almost the whole media conglomerate of the networks on his side, salivating like Pavlov's Dog. For sociologists, it must have been a field day.
The Game Change was an insightful read, and yet, it was breezy. The flow of the language just pulled me along until I began to feel that I too was apart of the inner political circle of Hilleryland or McCainville, a little fly on the wall ease-dropping on the verbal political backstabbing and vacuous pronouncements. For many, logic was cast aside and people, in good faith, believed in the ball of crap just because they simply wanted to believe. They were hoodwinked in the name of politics, and that is what made the election results all the more disturbing and aggravating.
Using a mishmash of sources (fmr. politicians, current ones, academics, bloggers, Hollywood types, lobbyists, CEOs, etc...) Heilemann and Halperin do an excellent job of navigating the complexity of a national election, maneuvering between masses of people to cells of volunteers. Every tier is assessed. Comments are absorbed. Every event is attended to. The book as a whole almost breathes like a live organism. And while the characters (the candidates themselves) are not painted in an all-too flattering light, they come off the pages as accurate and credible people, who, despite their hunger for game changing politics, are at heart, sincere in the mission that they have undertaken. Obama comes off as a reckless flyboy, Clinton, a manipulating, power-hungary piranha, Palin, as drained and apathetic (but for me still a breath of fresh air despite her lack of foreign policy credentials), Biden, a boob with a silver foot in his mouth and McCain, a somewhat cagey and detached senior statesman who found all the political hoopla irritating and burdensome. John Edwards? Well, actions speak louder than words.
The Game Change was a good read. The story was conveyed without a bias for any particular side or ideology. I think the authors tried to be balanced. They simply told a story, and what a story it was!
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