Hillary Clinton
Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin
29/03/10 18:39 Filed in: POlitics
464 pages, Harper. $27.99
Reviewed by Mike Attebery
Sooooo, perhaps you’ve read something about this book. It’s been getting just a smidge of publicity the last few months, with lots of sound bites hitting the airwaves and print outlets related to Harry Reid’s comments regarding Barack Obama’s chances in a Presidential Election, tidbits about John Edwards’ off-the-wall sleepover buddy and “webisode mastermind,” and anecdotes about S*r*h P*l*n and her run-ins with the McCain Campaign’s staff members.
First off, if this kind of this is, well, your kind of thing, there’s just one question you’ll be asking: Does the book deliver on its promise as a political soap opera? Well, it does and it doesn’t. I wouldn’t say all the best stuff has already been unveiled in the press, but if you’ve read any other accounts of the election, or you follow political news closely, it’s likely you’re already familiar with the basic timeline presented here. That being said, this really is a pretty engrossing book. Whether the accounts of events inside each campaign, or the imagined thoughts inside the heads of the key players are entirely accurate or artistic license gone awry is debatable (after all, how could anyone know what Bill and Hillary said to one another after going for a swim on a tropical vacation?!!), you can’t deny that this is highly readable and quite a page turner.
So here is my take. I don’t really care about Edwards, but there were a few points when I did think, “Holy Crap! He’s a total nutcase!” and later, “Holy crap, that lady sounds mean,” and still later, “Holy crap! That other woman sounds like a total fruitcake!” But after a while I got impatient with the Edwards sections and wanted the authors to move things along a bit. The same became true of the Hillary Clinton campaign. Some of it was quite interesting, but boy, there’s more about her in this book than there is about the guy who won! And that’s where the problems start. Yeah, there was lots of drama in the lead up, and the fight for the nomination was brutal, but the fight after the nomination was every bit as exciting, yet from the moment Obama gets the nod from the Democrats, and McCain picks some utterly unqualified Alaskan lady for his running mate, the book seems to be in a rush to the finish, and the balance and level of coverage just isn’t the same. The opening portion and the final acts are not well balanced at all! And the conclusion arrived before I was even ready. Hell, the ultimate event -- election day -- isn’t even covered! We jump right from November 3rd to November 5th! No account of S*r*h P*l*n’s much-reported (and appropriately undelivered) concession speech. No reporting on the unprecedented voter turnout. Nothing. Just the day before, the day after, and the feeling that lots of juicy tidbits didn’t even make it into the rough draft before getting the axe. To me, it felt like much of this was written as the campaigns were playing out, then the book got shopped around for much of 2009, before everything was sewn up in a quickly assembled final act, and the manuscript was sent off to the printers. The problem is that it all feels so rushed and cut short, that ultimately, I was left feeling pretty disappointed! So what can I say, this is recommended, but I suspect you may have to pick up another book to feel you’ve read the full ending to the story. Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming books, but in the meantime, pick up a copy of Game Change and see what you think for yourself.