BOOK REVIEW COMPTE RENDU a Race for the Ages

BOOK REVIEW COMPTE RENDU A race for the ages

David Plouffe. The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama’s Historic Victory. New York: Viking, 2009.

John Heileman and Mark Halperin. Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime. New York: HarperCollins, 2010.

Review by Christopher P. Manfredi

o matter the candidates, the interview scores of people who lived it challenges, caused most notably by the 2008 US presidential cam- in real time. Together, the books satis- oratorical explosions of the Reverend N paign was going to be one of fy any political junkie’s need to know Jeremiah Wright. There were chal- the most fascinating in a very long what happened inside the campaigns lenges converted to opportunities, time. It was the first since 1952 that and provide an insightful analysis of such as Obama’s highly praised speech did not feature an incumbent presi- 21st-century political campaigning. on race given in response to Wright’s dent or vice-president, and like the Both are well written and tell com- interventions in the campaign. There 1968 campaign it took place against pelling stories. were triumphs — the successful the background of an unpopular war. The story told in The Audacity to European tour in the summer before But the cast of characters that walked Win begins with a strategy session in the Democratic convention in Denver across the stage during the campaign October 2006 involving Plouffe, his — and missteps — Obama’s “bitterly made it an even more fascinating race business partner David Axelrod and clinging to guns and religion” remark than it was already meant to be. It Barack Obama to figure out an effec- during the Pennsylvania primary. included the first woman ever to have tive way to walk back from Obama’s For an insider, Plouffe’s account of a realistic chance to become a major unambiguous pledge nine months ear- the primary campaign is remarkably self- party nominee, the first African- lier that he would not be a candidate aware and critical. To be sure, he does American to secure a major party pres- for president in 2008. Obama suggest- not hesitate to point out how the idential nomination, a war hero ed a radical approach: telling the truth Obama campaign outmanœuvered the viewed suspiciously by significant ele- — that the situation had changed, and Clinton campaign at almost every criti- ments in his own party and an that a possibility he had ruled out in cal point. One of the key differences, for unknown woman from Alaska who, at January was now something he was example, was how the two campaigns 44, gave birth to her fifth child and willing to consider. Thus began a approached caucus versus primary learned that she would soon become a three-month period of reflection and states. The Clinton campaign seemed grandmother. Little wonder, then, that consultation that ended with the pub- incapable of organizing for caucuses, the 2008 campaign generated an lic announcement on a bitterly cold while the Obama team had sufficient extraordinary range of books. morning in Springfield, Illinois, that tactical flexibility to adjust itself to differ- Two of the best of these books are he would seek the Democratic nomi- ent modes for selecting delegates. Plouffe The Audacity to Win and Game Change. nation for president. is unable to provide a good explanation The former is by an insider, David Much of the book documents how for the Clinton campaign’s clumsiness in Plouffe, who served as Barack Obama’s Plouffe and others built the campaign this respect, but one might speculate campaign manager in both the organization and developed its strate- that Clinton’s confidence that she would Democratic primaries and the general gy to secure the nomination. There win the Democratic nomination caused election. The second is by two journal- were primary highs — victory in Iowa her to build an organization oriented ists who followed the campaigns close- — and lows — defeat in New strategically and tactically to fighting the ly and had the opportunity to Hampshire. There were unexpected general election. In any event, by the

POLICY OPTIONS 79 JULY-AUGUST 2010 Christopher P. Manfredi COMPTE RENDU final third of the primary season the tives actively seek an alternative to that Heileman and Halperin describe as Clinton campaign had abandoned any the woman who was the presumptive “abusive, intrusive, paranoid [and] con- notion of winning caucus states. nominee going into primary season? descending.” Edwards’ narcissism Yet, despite its strategic and tactical The answer to these questions can be fuelled his relationship with Rielle superiority, Plouffe is quite candid about found in Game Change. In essence, Hunter, and his abuse of “longtime the shortcomings of the Obama primary Hillary Clinton had two major weak- aide” (actually gofer) Andrew Young to campaign. A press conference intended nesses within her own party: her sup- conceal his paternity of Hunter’s child is to deflect accusations of financial mis- port for the Iraq war and Bill one of the darker moments in the story conduct with a Chicago developer was a Clinton’s lack of self-discipline. By of the campaign. Perhaps Edwards’ nar- “disaster,” and Obama prepared poorly 2006 many Democratic activists sim- cissism was due to his wife’s derisive atti- tude toward him. In any As this cast of characters suggests, one lesson of these books is event, these two Democratic that, despite talk of new campaign technologies, the core of power couples — the Clin- politics remains people. Politics is labour intensive, and the tons and the Edwards — come across as thoroughly personalities of its leading figures and their ability to build unlikeable. personal relationships and judge talent are critically important. Although about two- thirds of Game Change is and performed even worse in a debate ply could not accept her vote in devoted to the Democratic primaries, prior to the Pennsylvania primary. Most favour of going to war. Other activists the book also provides important famously for Canadian readers, a cam- worried about the practical electoral insights into the Republican primaries paign adviser spoke imprudently to consequences that might ensue if and the general election. John Canadian consular officials to clarify some personal misconduct by her McCain’s extraordinarily wild ride Obama’s position on NAFTA. The result husband emerged during the general from front-runner to dead man walk- was a leaked memo that made Obama’s election. Hillary Clinton’s support ing to nominee tells us much about campaign rhetoric on trade seem disin- within the party turned out to be McCain’s resilience and the inherent genuous. deep but insufficiently broad. weakness of the Republican field. Rudy Like all good stories, Game Change Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Mick louffe’s relatively candid assess- has villains. Principal among them, Huckabee were all deeply flawed pre- P ment of the primary campaign is ironically, are the Clintons. Neither one tenders to the nomination who lacked unfortunately replaced by a self-con- comes across as a sympathetic charac- any capacity to exploit McCain’s early gratulatory analysis of the general elec- ter. Bill Clinton’s performance during primary meltdown. Huckabee had lit- tion. In this part of the story, the the South Carolina primary, in which tle money and limited appeal; almost flawless Obama team routs the he first let his own deeply held private Giuliani’s personal life was problemat- incompetent and hapless Republicans and personal grievances against the ic and his position on social issues led by John McCain. From fundraising Obama campaign overshadow Hillary’s anathema to many conservatives; to running mate selection to debate message and then seemingly belittled Romney kept stumbling into bad performance, Plouffe heaps ridicule on Obama by comparing his South headlines and became defined as a his opponents. He does concede a cou- Carolina victory to Jesse Jackson’s suc- “flip-flopper.” For Republicans con- ple of errors by the Obama team in the cess there in 1984 and 1988, was one of templating 2012 it doesn’t appear that general election: withdrawing from the lowest points of his wife’s cam- the field has become any deeper. large, energy-filled rallies during paign. Hillary’s inability to manage her Of course, perhaps the most inter- August and allowing Obama to offer a campaign staff effectively paralyzed her esting parts of Game Change involve the “my resumé is bigger than hers” cri- campaign at times and made it difficult selection and performance of Sarah tique of Sarah Palin, which misfired by to frame a consistent message about Palin as the nominee for vice-president. highlighting his own experiential why, other than entitlement, she According to Heileman and Halperin, shortcomings. Yet, despite a climate should become the party’s nominee. the McCain campaign had always that greatly disadvantaged the incum- John and Elizabeth Edwards — the planned to “shock the world” with its bent party, the race between Obama latter surprisingly — are also villains in vice-presidential pick. For a very long and McCain was closer for longer than the Heileman-Halperin story. They were time, Joe Lieberman looked to be the it should have been. the narcissistic candidate whose self- name that would appear alongside One of the questions that Plouffe destructive behaviour led his own staff McCain’s on the ticket. But his pro- never really addresses in his book is: to contemplate blowing up his cam- choice views eventually disqualified Why not Hillary? Why did a signifi- paign, and the spouse whose positive him, and McCain reached out to Sarah cant number of Democratic opera- public image masked private behaviour Palin, a name that was far from the cen-

80 OPTIONS POLITIQUES JUILLET-AOÛT 2010 A race for the ages BOOK REVIEW tre of the radar. She came to the campaign with an approval rating of 80 per- cent as governor of Alaska, but the campaign spent less than a week vet- ting her as a potential running mate. More importantly, when she was thrust into the middle of a presidential campaign with no experience at the nation- al level, the McCain camp did not really have an opportunity to prep her for the intense scrutiny and rigorous schedule she was about to endure.

n the beginning the choice appeared I inspired. Palin energized the base and threw the Obama campaign off balance. Her speech to the Republican convention was a triumph: she ad-libbed her hockey moms as pit bulls with lipstick line, and she overcame a malfunction- ing teleprompter that left parts of her speech off the screen. McCain was ecstatic, and Palin became the main sto- ryline from the convention. But her weaknesses were about to be revealed in her infamous Katie Couric interview, which seems to have sent her into something like a catatonic depression from time to time during the remainder of the campaign. Although she recov- ered slightly during the vice-presidential debate with Joe Biden, the bloom was off the rose, especially among influen- tial conservative opinion leaders. As this cast of characters suggests, one lesson of these books is that, despite talk of new campaign technologies, the core of politics remains people. Politics is labour intensive, and the personalities of its leading figures and their ability to build personal relationships and judge talent are critically important. As related in these two books, fundamental character flaws in CP Photo its major players — with one notable Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as candidates for the Democratic nomination in 2008. It exception — deeply affected how the was a race for the ages, well chronicled in Game Change and The Audacity to Win. 2008 presidential campaign unfolded. The notable exception, of course, is seems almost too good to be true. One These books are enjoyable reads Barack Obama. Although both books can understand David Plouffe’s reluc- that provide surprising insights into acknowledge that Obama made mis- tance to expose fundamental flaws, high-profile individuals and a surpris- takes and underperformed at times, his but the absence of critical distance ing campaign. They are very much basic character is depicted as being from Obama in the journalistic worth the time spent on them. remarkably flawless. His only vice account is a weakness. One wonders appears to be an inability to give up whether fear of losing access to a sit- Christopher M. Manfredi is dean of the smoking, but otherwise the portrait ting president is a factor here. Faculty of Arts at McGill University.

POLICY OPTIONS 81 JULY-AUGUST 2010