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Books by and about 2020 presidential candidates |
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Crippled America,
by Donald J. Trump (2015) |
United,
by Cory Booker (2016) |
The Truths We Hold,
by Kamala Harris (2019) |
Smart on Crime,
by Kamala Harris (2010) |
Guide to Political Revolution,
by Bernie Sanders (2017) |
Where We Go From Here,
by Bernie Sanders (2018) |
Promise Me, Dad ,
by Joe Biden (2017) |
Conscience of a Conservative,
by Jeff Flake (2017) |
Two Paths,
by Gov. John Kasich (2017) |
Every Other Monday,
by Rep. John Kasich (2010) |
Courage is Contagious,
by John Kasich (1998) |
Shortest Way Home,
by Pete Buttigieg (2019) |
The Book of Joe ,
by Jeff Wilser (2019; biography of Joe Biden) |
Becoming,
by Michelle Obama (2018) |
Our Revolution,
by Bernie Sanders (2016) |
This Fight Is Our Fight,
by Elizabeth Warren (2017) |
Higher Loyalty,
by James Comey (2018) |
The Making of Donald Trump,
by David Cay Johnston (2017) |
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Books by and about the 2016 presidential election |
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What Happened ,
by Hillary Clinton (2017) |
Higher Loyalty ,
by James Comey (2018) |
Trump vs. Hillary On The Issues ,
by Jesse Gordon (2016) |
Hard Choices,
by Hillary Clinton (2014) |
Becoming ,
by Michelle Obama (2018) |
Outsider in the White House,
by Bernie Sanders (2015) |
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Book Reviews |
(from Amazon.com) |
(click a book cover for a review or other books by or about the presidency from Amazon.com)
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The Promise
President Obama, Year One,
by Jonathan Alter
(Click for Amazon book review)
BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org:
What is "The Promise" to which the author refers in the title? Is it about Obama's broken campaign promises from 2008, as analyzed from the end of 2009? Such as:
- Closing Guantanamo: Obama failed because his advisor Greg Craig failed to address the issue politically rather than as a legal conundrum, and Obama didn’t push it (pp. 340-1); but no, the title doesn't refer to that.
- Job creation: Obama immediately hedged by reporting on "Four million jobs created or saved" rather than jobs actually created (p. 22), but the title doesn't refer to that either.
- Ending the Iraq War: Obama took this seriously since 2009 (pp. 228-9) although progressives still don't believe the task is done as of 2012, but that's not the title Promise either.
- ObamaCare: That was the big Promise of the 2008 election, and Obama fulfilled it despite advice against it (pp. xiv-xv and pp. 244-5) but even that wasn't The Promise.
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No, "The Promise" refers to "the promise of America," as the author quotes from Obama's nomination acceptance speech on p. 1, "the idea that we rise or fall as one nation, the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper.... That's the promise we need to keep." In other words, "The Promise" refers to the promise of "hope and change" that Obama brings to America -- which is indeed how he got elected -- rather than to any specific promises.
The author explicitly lays out the purpose of the book in his "Author's Note" on pp. vii:
The Promise addresses three questions:
- What happened? (the "hidden history" of "one of the most difficult presidential debuts of modern times")
- What's the president like? (via "access to Obama and his circle")
- How well did he do? (counting from the 2008 transition until the ObamaCare victory in March 2010)
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This book is a solid analysis of Obama's transition to the presidency and his first year in office. It avoids the common problems that plague so many books by mainstream media writers: it's not inside baseball; it's not about the horse race; it's not hagiography; and it's not Obama-bashing. Jonathan Alter, Newsweek columnist and MSNBC analyst, manages to avoid those pervasive pundit pitfalls--so even though it only covers Year One, we recommend this book as a basis to analyze Obama's re-election campaign.
-- Jesse Gordon, editor-in-chief, OnTheIssues.org, March 2012
| OnTheIssues.org excerpts: (click on issues for details)
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Abortion
Barack Obama: Catholic Bishops rejected segregated abortion funds.
Lois Capps: Segregate private funds for abortions from public money.
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Budget & Economy
Barack Obama: OpEd: Crisis means Obama won, but world's falling apart.
Barack Obama: Worked on TARP & bank bailouts during 2008 transition.
Hank Paulson: OpEd: TARP: Total Abdication of Responsibility to the Public.
Hank Paulson: Bailout was non-reversible and non-reviewable.
Joe Biden: TARP stuck in our throats, but it worked.
Phil Gramm: Economic whiners suffer from mental depression.
Timothy Geithner: Offended that people say he was doing Wall Street's bidding.
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Corporations
Barack Obama: Better to force auto bankruptcy than force out of business.
Barack Obama: Bank bonuses while receiving TARP were irresponsible.
Claire McCaskill: Limit TARP recipients' executive compensation to $400,000.
Elizabeth Warren: Scourge of the banking industry, on behalf of consumers.
Rahm Emanuel: Some areas of Michigan have it worse than Great Depression.
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Energy & Oil
Al Gore: Obama considered Gore as climate change czar.
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Environment
Barack Obama: Top USDA priority: make sure all kids are well-fed.
Barack Obama: Cash for Clunkers: $4,500 to trade in old car for new.
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Foreign Policy
Hillary Clinton: Obama: Her stature abroad meant she carries message further.
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Government Reform
Barack Obama: Transition team ethics statement: "No Ego, No Glory".
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Health Care
Barack Obama: OpEd: gambler's instinct over "Slow Down crowd".
Joe Biden: Advised delaying ObamaCare while busy avoiding Depression.
Rahm Emanuel: Advised delaying ObamaCare while busy avoiding depression.
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Homeland Security
Barack Obama: Moving Gitmo to Illinois was logistically & legally complex.
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Jobs
Barack Obama: Four million jobs created or saved by recovery program.
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Principles & Values
Barack Obama: OpEd: greatest talent is chairing balanced meetings.
Robert Gates: OpEd: non-ideological guy lent impression of bipartisanship.
Rod Blagojevich: Arrested in 2008 on federal corruption charges.
Sonia Sotomayor: OpEd: All Latinos proud of her, not just Puerto Ricans.
Tom Vilsack: Abandoned at birth; adopted out from orphanage.
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Tax Reform
Timothy Geithner: Personal tax problems caused Obama embarrassment.
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Technology
Barack Obama: Network clean energy transmission lines like highway network.
Tom Coburn: Google for Government: all federal contracts on Internet.
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War & Peace
Joe Biden: We're in Afghanistan because of Al Qaeda, period.
Joe Biden: 2009: Monthly visit to Baghdad to wind down Iraq War.
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Welfare & Poverty
Elizabeth Warren: Foreclosures made recession's biggest victims.
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The above quotations are from The Promise
President Obama, Year One,
by Jonathan Alter.
2008 Election Analysis:
- The Battle for America 2008, by Dan Balz and Haynes Johnson, 2009
- Obama's Challenge, by Robert Kuttner, 2008
- The Obama Nation, by Jerome Corsi, 2008
- The Promise: Pres. Obama, Year One, by Jonathan Alter, 2010
- Third World America, by Arianna Huffington, 2010
- Hopes and Prospects, by Noam Chomsky, 2010
- What Obama Means, by Jabari Asim, 2009
- The Faith of Barack Obama, by Stephen Mansfield, 2008
- Obamanomics, by John R. Talbott, 2008
- Game Change, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, 2010
- Going Rogue, by Gov. Sarah Palin, 2009
- Barack Obama For Beginners, by Bob Neer, 2008
- We're Right; They're Wrong, by James Carville
- Right Now, by RNC Chair Michael Steele
- Behind the Oval Office, by Dick Morris
- Later election analyses
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