Renegade: The Making of a President
by Richard Wolffe
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Book Reviews of Renegade: The Making of a President
Book Review: Felt Jet Lagged
Summary: 3 Stars
Some people might think being called a renegade is a bad thing. Richard Wolffe describes President Obama this way and it turns out to be a good thing.
With Renegade, Wolffe describes the ups and downs of a presidential campaign from behind the scenes.
Like all the other political behind-the-scenes books, Wolffe builds a narrative using his interviews with the candidate, with the hard workers driving the campaign, and his own observations.
You will read how the team felt after winning Iowa and turning around to lose New Hampshire.
The writing is not above the bias. You can tell Wolffe is a fan and support of the President. And that is okay. Too many people complained that this book put President Obama in too good of a light.
I find nothing wrong with an author writing mostly positive things about the candidate he's following. This is his book.
A negative against this books is the lack of pictures. Most political books have a section in the middle with glossy photos from the experience. This one does not. (But how minor is that?)
A second negative is the structure of this book. Wolffe jumps from the announcement speech to winning of the general election and back again with ease while leaving the reader jet lagged.
I'm sure there are better behind-the-scenes campaign books out there. Take your time to find it.
Book Review: Renegade is Illuminating
Summary: 5 Stars
For anyone who followed the 2008 election cycle (which extended back into most of 2007) with bated breath and more television news viewing than they care to acknowledge, Renegade: The Making of a President by Richard Wolffe is a way to bring back the interest and excitement without the living-on-the-edge tension. For those who are still wondering or unconvinced about the Obama phenomenon, Renegade is an explanation without hyperbole or sensation. Nevertheless, it is page turner; I read it in a single weekend. Somehow, when a nonfiction book is riveting, it seems more so than in the case of good fiction. Possibly that is because we know we are being drawn into and exposed to real life in a significant and meaningful way.
In Renegade, Wolffe maintains his customary calm and reasoned stance throughout the narrative. It is easy to match up the sensibilities and the perceived values of Wolffe with those of Democrats and liberals generally and conclude that he might be an Obama supporter, but he does not gush or fawn or promote. This book illuminates and reports rather than opines. Because of this, it will undoubtedly be a good read for Obama-maniacs as well as persons who are more objective and would like to know more about the facts behind the fanaticism. Renegade humanizes Obama and his family and his team without engaging in trivia and voyeurism, and it is simply good reading.
Book Review: The Obama Hype Machine
Summary: 4 Stars
Proving that the psychological makeup of human beings is difficult to fully grasp, Richard Wolfe has chronicled the improbable run for the Presidency by a man who seemingly came out of nowhere to establish ObamaNation; Barrack Obama.
Is Obama a "renegade"? I don't think so. Is he a good politician? Yes. He also happened to arrive on the political scene at the right time; at the tail-end of the failed Presidency of George W Bush.
Whether or not this overhyped, teleprompting challenged politician will actually turn out to be a good President, is still open for conjecture. The comparison between Obama and JFK may be temporarily relevent, but it remains to be seen if Obama's charisma is genuine, or a facade.
Wolfe does a good job of pontificating our new Commander in Chief, but let's face it. Obama would've been clobbered against Reagan or the first Bush had he been old enough to run in '84 or experienced enough to run in '88. His arrival came at the perfect time; America was ready for a change.
Only time will tell if Obama will bring a change for the better. The author seems to think so; for the sake of this country, let's hope he's right. Hype got him elected, and has carried him for six months or so, but the honeymoon is over.
Book Review: 21st Century Odyssey
Summary: 5 Stars
In the days following the November elections, Newsweek ran an issue which told the behind the scenes story of Obama's two year long campaign that led to the historic victory full of details undisclosed to date. It was chock full of revealing bits and by far the most (or the only) consuming Newsweek issue that I had ever held in my hands. When I heard that Newsweek's Richard Wolffe, who partially penned that issue, and who was given extensive access to Obama (on his campaign plane, campaign bus, at a bar on the night he secured the nomination, backstage as he delivered his convention speech, and on and on...) had written an entire book on the topic, I was more than curious. Indeed, this rich, complex book has not failed to deliver. If you are interested in the fascinating details of a modern day political odyssey embarked on by an unlikely hero with a restless spirit and want to learn much about Obama (as well as about those around him like David Axelrod, Robert Gibbs, David Plouffe, Valerie Jarrett and Michelle Obama...) that is not covered in his own bestselling books, this fabulously written and hard to put down book won't disappoint. It is a joy to read this book and it is highly recommended.
Book Review: Full Court Press
Summary: 5 Stars
just a short note to add my voice to the chorus of praise for the wonderful book, "Renegade." It is a work of many pleasures; tiny nuggets of humanity in the eye of the cyclone missed by the media at the time; a wealth of biographical insight that fleshes out the candidate's story in surprising ways; superbly organized (very difficult given the almost overwhelming number of events and details), and remarkably clear-eyed, precise, sympathetic but not fawning-- cogent, fresh and endlessly fascinating. The chapters "Failure" and "Transition" mark my favorites; contained therein are the keys and clues to what really makes this new President potentially great, and a force for good in the ceaselessly shifting seas of our uncertain global world.
Richard Wolffe's immense achievement is in helping the reader to better understand some of the wider implications of the challenges the new President faces, and how his plea for change will be desperately hard to enforce in the constrained environment of the American system. The book is not simply a work of journalism, nor rote biography, but a necessary insider's guide to the real world of what governance means with all of its attendant responsibilities.