Race of a Lifetime

With the popularity of President Barack Obama waning and the upcoming November elections predicted to be disastrous for Democrats, Race of a Lifetime looks back to Obama’s historic journey to the presidency. The book captures the madness and drama of the US presidential election and reveals the candidates' private reactions to their campaign difficulties. By Sean Carroll.

The 2008 US presidential election dominated media coverage the world over. It was a contest unlike anything the public had seen before. It was trash TV dressed up as politics, an impossibly fascinating political soap opera. And by the end, history had been made; even those disinterested in civil rights and unaffected by names like “Rosa Parks” couldn’t but feel the significance.

It went beyond politics into the realm of drama, adopting a near-hysterical element of Good vs Evil. The battle of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination played out like David and Goliath. John McCain’s campaign seemed like an allegory for the shifting landscape of politics in America itself – the established, elderly white power of Washington versus a young, energetic black man running on the promise of change.

The candidates were tiresomely picked apart. Everything down to the most seemingly irrelevant minutiae was dissected, probed and analysed.

Why, then, it is fair to ask, would one want to once again read coverage of this race? Surely all that there is to say has been said?

The publication of “Race of a Lifetime” (titled “Game Change” in the US) proves emphatically that this is not the case.

There is a wealth of previously undiscovered information to find in this work of journalism from political reporters John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. The book has proven so popular that American television company HBO has already optioned the rights to make a TV movie based on the novel.

With the benefit of hindsight, some of the most significant junctures of the campaign can be understood more fully. Whereas the ubiquitous daily coverage presented snippets of information, the book allows the reader to stand back and see the full picture.

What is most remarkable about this work is the insight it provides into the candidates at their most private times. It is as much a character study as it is a look into the vicissitudes of modern US politics.

We are shown how the candidates reacted behind closed doors to the most trying aspects of their campaigns. We see them curse, we see them plead, we see them fly into rages and at times we even see them weep.

The authors have managed to craft a factual book that is as engrossing as an airport thriller. The prose is clear and concise, befitting broadsheet journalism. It is remarkable that an involved study of US politics manages to maintain such a wonderful flow. I found myself desperate to find out what happened next, a feat all the more impressive considering how well-worn the source material is.

The authors claim that over three hundred interviews were conducted with over two hundred people for the book. All of those interviewed remain nameless, the information interwoven into the text.

Although the author’s credentials lend a certain amount of faith in the veracity of the content, the reliance on unnamed sources does make one somewhat uneasy. Unaccountable sources tend to exaggerate and one wonders if some of the more scandalous incidents contained in the book may have been different if sources were to be named.

And at times the book does become somewhat scandalous, even gossipy. Political discourse and policy is glossed over for lascivious private life details.

In focusing on character rather than policy the book propels forward at breakneck speed. The compromise is that, at times, it veers dangerously close to tabloid journalism, recounting scenes that don’t serve to further the narrative but simply carry shock value. The story of John Edward’s affair, for example, is almost uncomfortable in its lurid detail.

The Democrats are the stars of this book, with about two-thirds of the 436 pages given over to them. The eventual nomination of John McCain as GOP presidential candidate is a mere sketch compared to the polished portrait of the Democratic race.

Heilemann and Halperin focus mainly on Hillary Clinton’s campaign (referred to as “Hillaryland”) and there is no doubt the Clinton’s will find aspects of their portrayal deeply discomforting. Clinton is portrayed as hubristic and entitled, an intelligent woman who still manages to run her campaign into the ground through poor personnel selection and inept management decisions. Bill Clinton is introduced as a master statesman and strategist, but soon the hugely destructive influence he had on his wife’s campaign is showcased with gusto.

Obama is subtly pushed by the authors as the superior candidate, his unflappability increasingly shown to be at odds with Clinton’s erratic behaviour. If anything the book may be accused of being too reverential to Obama, paying only lip-service to the candidate’s weaknesses (his inexperience, poor initial debate performances, etc.)

Sarah Palin steals the spotlight in the final chapters of the book. Major campaign moments are recounted in intimate detail - the desperate attempts to educate Palin on foreign policy, the panic as her past is slowly revealed by the media and the absolute capriciousness of her selection as running partner.

Race of a Lifetime exposes the bizarre carnival that American politics has become with intelligence and depth. The book is a remarkable feat of journalism, closer to the immersive “New Journalism” of the 1970s than the stale political reportage of today. Finishing the book one gets the sense that the lofty title may indeed be accurate – given the stakes, the characters and the finish, we may very well have witnessed the race of a lifetime.