Game Change, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin and narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris, shook Washington before it even went on sale. It reveals shocking information about the 2008 presidential campaign. The authors went to great lengths to uncover the backstory and gossip from numerous angles about the candidates and others around them. Senator Harry Reid, leader of the Senate, was singled out for his racially insensitive words about then-Senator Barrack Obama.
The authors do not leave anyone out. They have written about Elizabeth Edwards, John Edwards’s wife, who had tantrums and cursed like crazy about him and his antics. The authors expose more about the selection of Sarah Palin and how rushed the process was. Not only was no one in the Republican leadership consulted, but little attention appears to be paid to the election. The election was a tactic to catch the Obama campaign by surprise, and that part worked until Palin self-destructively in numerous interviews.
Then Senator Barrack Obama is shown to be heavily staged throughout the campaign. They show both sides of man, calm and collected when on the stump, profane with flashes of anger on the stump. “This # @!% Would be really interesting if we weren’t in the middle of it” – Barack Obama, September 2008
Hillary and Bill Clinton also take their bundles. Inappropriate comments by President Clinton and Obama’s observation that Hillary could not control her husband. The book also covers Obama’s difficult sale to get Clinton to join the Secretary of State. The book opens doors to other mysteries of the campaign such as Giuliani’s bet in Florida and why he left the race.
When you listen to the book, it’s like living the campaign all over again, but you can be the fly on the wall with an inside view of what’s really going on. You will get information that will inform you, but it will also make you angry. This should have come to light during the campaign, but the press was not doing its job well. Perhaps that is the most damning idea of all. If you are a political junkie like me, get the audiobook and enjoy the drama.
Listen to the audio sample of the Game Change audiobook.
