Book Review: Game Change

I saw this book in the store when it first came out and was going to wait for paperback, but then I got my Kindle, so I bumped it up the list because I really wanted to read it.  that was a good call.  I had read some of the reviews, which had not been very kind, but the one that caught my eye was from the L.A. Times calling it "political porn."  Perfect!  That's right up my alley!

I started reading it, and like the review predicted, could barely put it down.  It is an easy read, not written in a journalistic style as one might expect given the authors.  It is written in a very fiction-y way, almost like a novel.  If you didn't know that this stuff had actually happened you might think you were reading a fiction novel about a campaign.  It reads that easy, and absorbingly. 

All in all, it isn't a book for everyone.  You really need to be a political junkie to find any of it even remotely interesting.  Most of the general ideas and points made I could see happening during the actual campaign, but I wanted the behind-the-scenes details.  My recent party switch transpired during the 2008 Presidential election, due to the events I saw unfolding in the campaign, and I was curious to no end about how that actually played out in reality, beyond what I could see following the race less closely than usual for me.

It really kicked my dander up again about what happened in the Democratic Party.  I had just recently come to terms with all that happened and how I really felt about it, and laid most of my anger and resentment to rest and was becoming more comfortable in my new political identity.  Nothing in the book changed my mind on any of it, but it did give me more confidence in my decision and cleared up any lingering uncertainty that I may have reacted too harshly to the treatment of Clinton in the primaries.  If you are in any way a fan of Obama, this book might not be for you.  The authors don't take sides, and they do as good a job as any in keeping their personal feelings and political leanings out of the text, but if you think that Obama was sent from Heaven to solve all our problems and usher in a new, post-racial America...don't read this book.  It won't change your mind (mostly because if you truly believe that you are blindly ignorant of the facts anyway), it will just make you angry.  You'll still think Obama hung the moon and you'll be resentful that anyone could talk about The One like that.

The insight into the Republican ticket is less entertaining, less shocking, and really not all that great.  Either there wasn't anything to cover there or they just didn't do a very good job--focusing more on the soap opera that unfolded on the other side.  i wasn't reading the book for any insight in to the Republican ticket, anyway.  I know what happened there, and honestly, even though I voted for McCain and still like Palin, I could care less.  Ultimately in my heart I'm still a Hilary fan, and the book reminded me that I had a special name in 2008 that I had completely forgotten about--PUMA.  (Party unity my ass--female Democrats who left the party and/or voted for McCain after Clinton failed to win the nomination.)  Although the PUMA's turned out to be less of a force than originally predicted, I was one, and was damn proud of it at the time.

There is some interesting Edwards drama in there, too, but nothing that hasn't already been COMPLETELY played out by the national media already.  It does make me very ashamed, though, that he is the candidate I originally hitched my wagon to, and voted for in the Tennessee primary.  Most of all I'm blown away by my total inability to see through him at that point in time.  He was already a lunatic, but I missed that one by a mile!

So...read the book if you like politics, and are in the mood for some soft-core political porn.  Otherwise, skip it, it won't be your cup of tea.