The Promise; President Obama, Year One
Peter Yang (Jacket Photography) and Damien Donck ( New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2010. First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition [stated]. First printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. xviii, [2], 458 p. Illustrations. Occasional footnotes. Note on Sources. Notes. Index. Inscribed by the author on title page. Inscription reads For Marian: Warmest regards, Jonathan Alter 5/20/10. Minor DJ edge wear and soiling. Jonathan Alter (born October 6, 1957) is an American journalist, author and television producer who was a columnist and senior editor for Newsweek magazine from 1983 until 2011, and has written three New York Times best-selling books about American presidents. He is a contributing correspondent to NBC News. Alter was one of the first magazine or newspaper reporters to appear on MSNBC. Alter is currently an executive producer on the Amazon Studio's production Alpha House, which stars John Goodman, Mark Consuelos, Clark Johnson, and Matt Malloy. Alter is the author of The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, a national bestseller, and Between the Lines: A View Inside American Politics, People and Culture, a collection of twenty years' worth of his columns. His 2010 book is The Promise: President Obama, Year One, a behind-the-scenes look at Obama's eventful debut. The Promise was a New York Times Best Seller, reaching #3 on the list at its peak....A veteran of Chicago politics, Alter has known President Obama and his closest confidantes for as long as nearly any national columnist, he published the first national magazine cover story on Obama in Newsweek's 2004 "Who's Next Issue"." Derived from a Kirkus review: Newsweek senior editor Alter turns in a report card for the sitting president, with mixed but generally good grades. Much of the author’s account is on the battle for health-care reform. The president took terrific pains to involve the Republicans in the enterprise. At countless points during its life, health-care reform seemed dead in the water, but it was helped at the last moment by an incredibly callous move on the part of a California Blue Cross enterprise, which “announced a 39 percent rate hike in the middle of the debate.” Re-energized, Obama spent much of March 2010 mustering his forces and applying pressure so he could get the reform package passed—putting his presidency, Alter notes, as well as the future of the Democratic Party, in jeopardy. Looking into the president’s past, Alter portrays Obama as a fighter who sometimes gives the impression that he would rather be doing something else, a peacemaker who isn’t afraid to pressure friends and enemies alike to achieve the larger good, but also as a man who thinks things through well in advance. One of the newsworthy moments comes early in the narrative, with Obama recruiting Hillary Clinton for his Cabinet even as the primaries were still in heated contention. Alter is admiring but not uncritical, politics junkies will find this rewarding, particularly in Alter’s account of the inner workings of the White House and Capitol Hill. Condition: Very good / Very good.
Keywords: David Axelrod, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Tom Daschle, Rahm Emanuel, Robert Gates, Robert Gibbs, Geithner, Health Care, Pelosi, Larry Summers, Volcker, Troubled Asset
ISBN: 9781439101193
[Book #69191]
Price: $60.00