Game Change

So it's taken me quite a while...umm several months at least...to read the book by Mark Halperin and the other guy about the 2008 election. Yeah, I know, we're already deep into the 2012 election, but I'm a little slow, okay?  I started it, put it down, read a few other books, and then picked it back up again.  It's not that it isn't interesting and well written.  It's just that I get tired of the crap of politics.  It's on television and I get a zillion emails a day from different organizations wanting this letter or petition signed, or donations for a Democrat running in Florida, and it's just hard.  I don't know how the TV pundits or people I read online at Huffington Post, etc, follow that 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  They must really love it.  There is nothing that I love that much to want to spend all that time commenting on it, arguing over it and listening to people whose views are completely different from mine so that I can discuss how much I disagree.  I have my opinions and my feelings about certain people and their ideas, and as much as I appreciate learning what I can from these good folks who fight the good fight everyday, a lot of my opinions are based on gut feelings about what's right versus what is...well, Republican. I do try to keep learning and I honestly do try to listen to those I don't agree with, but I'm not as open minded as I'd like to think I guess.

Anywho, back to the book.  It's not favorable for, well, anybody really.  Obama comes out ahead as far as behind the scenes behavior and integrity. In my opinion, that's who he is.  Of course, he's not perfect.  But throughout the election, he really does try to maintain an honest, above-the-belt campaign.

John Edwards, and Elizabeth Edwards as well, seemed to be a hot mess of ego and just really bad decisions, along with Elizabeth being an apparent hysterical shrew.  I don't know.  He never seemed to be much of a threat.

The Clintons.  Wow. They, and I do mean they because they are joined at their political souls, have a big role in this election and this book.  I believe Bill Clinton was one of our best presidents in regards to accomplishments, balancing the budget, and in keeping our standards through the eyes of the rest of the world.  In this book, it became clear that this power couple lives and breathes politics.  I mean it runs through their veins.  There were times that he needed reining in and she needed ramping up, but good, bad or indifferent and whether you like them or not, they are united.

I didn't really want to read the chapter about Sarah Palin, but it wasn't too bad.  I didn't want to read anything propping her up unnecessarily but I didn't necessarily want to read all negative stuff either.  Frankly I just want this woman to go away but she was a key factor in the 2008 election, so I didn't feel that I could ignore it.  Honestly I don't even really remember all that much about that section.  Pretty much it wasn't anything I hadn't already heard about John McCain and/or Sarah Palin.  I do wonder, however, how Cindy McCain has managed to stay married to that man for as long as she has.  He sounds like a real peach.

I guess this isn't really a good book review, but it is honest and it is real.  I'd recommend it, but I guess by now it's not really relevant.  Some books (one of which I am going to be reviewing very soon, called "Zeitoun") maintain their relevance over time.  This one - not so much.

I give this book:  3 of 5 spectacles