22 Jan 2011 02:00:19
Like "Primary Colors," the 1996 roman a clef by journalist Joe Klein based on Bill Clinton's first presidential run, "O" tries to illuminate Obama's character through the people around him and the campaign he chooses to wage. And like "Primary Colors," the authorship of "O" has been kept a tantalizing secret. (Klein's book was released anonymously and he denied authorship for months.)
But while "Primary Colors" offered a witty and unexpected portrait of Clinton and his complicated blend of brilliance and flaws, the Obama of "O" is the same gifted but vaguely detached figure he's been since his debut on the national stage. The story tells us nothing about the man we don't know already.
O, as he is called throughout the book, is a devoted family man, elegant orator and shrewd political strategist — qualities that helped him win the first time and appear likely to propel him to re-election after a bumpy first term. He also smokes, rolls his eyes at cable punditry and puzzles at the way his efforts to rescue the economy have been sabotaged by adversaries, and misunderstood by voters.
"Here you go, Mr. President, a big, fat, catastrophic global recession, courtesy of your predecessor," O muses about those who elected him. "Now dig us out of it overnight, will you, by playing small ball. And remember to play nice with Republicans while you do it."
With the portrayal of Obama so predictable, the book's other characters are left to drive the book's narrative.
Some are modeled on real-life members of the political elite — disheveled communications guru Avi Samuelson is a stand-in for Obama adviser David Axelrod, while Bianca Stefani, the wealthy founder of a liberal news website, is a scathing caricature of journalist and activist Arianna Huffington. There's also a cast of political archetypes, such as the nefarious billionaire fundraiser and the longtime loyalist the president casts aside.
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O's 2012 Republican opponent is Tom Morrison, a decorated general turned businessman and northeastern state governor who seems so virtuous he is dubbed "Tom the Terrific" by O's team. Ever the statesman in public, Morrison privately questions the president's competence and disdains his apparent elitism as strongly as O's most passionate critics.
"I think the president pushes people's buttons, condescending to them the way he does, that self-regard of his, too smart for the rest of us to keep up with," Morrison says to himself even as he assures a reporter he believes O is a patriot.
The novel's central player is thirtysomething campaign manager Cal Regan, who flawlessly executes O's re-election effort until an unforced error exposed by Stefani's website destabilizes the campaign in its tense closing days. He is also in love with Maddy Cohan, a star political reporter whose professional ambition ultimately trumps her feelings for Regan.
The mysterious author is clearly familiar with the inner workings of a presidential effort and is fluent in campaign vernacular, particularly when it comes to playing rope-a-dope with the press. But the attention to such detail slows the book's pace at times, and may limit its appeal to the very Beltway denizens O and his team purport to disdain.
"Stop worrying about Washington ... nobody votes here," O's advisers counsel Regan at one point. But having penned a novel so geared toward political insiders, it's advice Anonymous should probably have heeded as well.
But while "Primary Colors" offered a witty and unexpected portrait of Clinton and his complicated blend of brilliance and flaws, the Obama of "O" is the same gifted but vaguely detached figure he's been since his debut on the national stage. The story tells us nothing about the man we don't know already.
O, as he is called throughout the book, is a devoted family man, elegant orator and shrewd political strategist — qualities that helped him win the first time and appear likely to propel him to re-election after a bumpy first term. He also smokes, rolls his eyes at cable punditry and puzzles at the way his efforts to rescue the economy have been sabotaged by adversaries, and misunderstood by voters.
"Here you go, Mr. President, a big, fat, catastrophic global recession, courtesy of your predecessor," O muses about those who elected him. "Now dig us out of it overnight, will you, by playing small ball. And remember to play nice with Republicans while you do it."
With the portrayal of Obama so predictable, the book's other characters are left to drive the book's narrative.
Some are modeled on real-life members of the political elite — disheveled communications guru Avi Samuelson is a stand-in for Obama adviser David Axelrod, while Bianca Stefani, the wealthy founder of a liberal news website, is a scathing caricature of journalist and activist Arianna Huffington. There's also a cast of political archetypes, such as the nefarious billionaire fundraiser and the longtime loyalist the president casts aside.
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O's 2012 Republican opponent is Tom Morrison, a decorated general turned businessman and northeastern state governor who seems so virtuous he is dubbed "Tom the Terrific" by O's team. Ever the statesman in public, Morrison privately questions the president's competence and disdains his apparent elitism as strongly as O's most passionate critics.
"I think the president pushes people's buttons, condescending to them the way he does, that self-regard of his, too smart for the rest of us to keep up with," Morrison says to himself even as he assures a reporter he believes O is a patriot.
The novel's central player is thirtysomething campaign manager Cal Regan, who flawlessly executes O's re-election effort until an unforced error exposed by Stefani's website destabilizes the campaign in its tense closing days. He is also in love with Maddy Cohan, a star political reporter whose professional ambition ultimately trumps her feelings for Regan.
The mysterious author is clearly familiar with the inner workings of a presidential effort and is fluent in campaign vernacular, particularly when it comes to playing rope-a-dope with the press. But the attention to such detail slows the book's pace at times, and may limit its appeal to the very Beltway denizens O and his team purport to disdain.
"Stop worrying about Washington ... nobody votes here," O's advisers counsel Regan at one point. But having penned a novel so geared toward political insiders, it's advice Anonymous should probably have heeded as well.
