Audacity

October 10, 2016
New York Magazine columnist Chait (The Big Con: Crackpot Economics and the Fleecing of America) presents a concise but well-reasoned analysis of President Obama’s record in office that could persuade open-minded readers that he succeeded in reshaping “the economy, health care, energy, finance, and education in quantifiable ways.” Chapter by chapter, Chait presents Obama’s policy objectives and his record in achieving them, sometimes by clever maneuvers that enabled him to advance goals such as reducing global warming without the support of an intractable Republican opposition, which often opposed policies it had previously supported. Bernie Sanders supporters who find Obama, and Hillary Clinton, too centrist, may be chastened by Chait’s clever review of how previous Democratic presidents now held up as paragons of liberalism were viewed quite differently in their own time by those on the left. The timing of the book’s publication will ultimately determine its impact, as a Trump presidency would represent a repudiation by the voters of almost all Obama has stood for, and thus undermine Chait’s thesis that Obama was a transformational figure. Agent: Gail Ross, Gail Ross Literary Agency.

June 15, 2016

Author of New York magazine's "The National Interest" column, which is read by 1.8 million readers weekly, Chait cites President Obama's record on major policy fronts to argue that he will be regarded as one of our best presidents. He talks about Obama's not-so-successful moments, too, particularly in foreign policy. With a 100,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2017

New York magazine writer Chait (The Big Con) is clear about his agenda for this book. Rather than a history of Barack Obama's presidency (2009-17) or another biography, this book presents an argument: while Obama had setbacks and made mistakes, he was successful in long-term American policy that he intended to enact when he took office. Chait's evidence comes from information available to the public. From these sources, the author shares Obama's successes in preventing further economic depression during the 2009 crisis. He also implemented the Clean Power Plan and got China on board with more environmentally friendly policies through negotiation. Last but not least, Obama got the Affordable Care Act passed. Chait not only focuses on the positive, he also acknowledges the president's blunders, such as his failure to enforce his "red line" in Syria. VERDICT Overall, this strong account is accessible to general readers. [See Prepub Alert, 5/16/16.]--Jennifer M. Schlau, Elgin Community Coll., IL

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2016
Author of "New York" magazine's "The National Interest" column, which is read by 1.8 million readers weekly, Chait cites President Obama's record on major policy fronts to argue that he will be regarded as one of our best presidents. He talks about Obama's not-so-successful moments, too, particularly in foreign policy. With a 100,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2016
A cogent argument that President Barack Obama has mostly succeeded in implementing his agenda. As reflected in the book's title, New York political columnist Chait (The Big Con: The True Story of How Washington Got Hoodwinked and Hijacked by Crackpot Economics, 2007), a former senior editor at the New Republic, claims that Obama established audacious goals and never lost sight of how to implement them despite the opposition of the Republican majority within the U.S. Congress and ongoing racism throughout American society. Without tipping his hand about his long game, Chait maintains, Obama decided to absorb short-term setbacks, believing he would win a second term to accomplish what could not be implemented during the first. The author does not pretend to offer a scorecard on every vital initiative presented during Obama's two terms; rather, Chait focuses on the presidents approaches to economic policy, which was designed to alleviate the recession inherited from the Republicans; health care reform and the Affordable Care Act; combating environmental degradation; and navigating the wars being waged around the globe. Within each chapter, the author questions the perceptions of presidential success versus failure, not only among Obama's virulent detractors, but also among his leftist supporters. Chait attempts to unravel what he views as the mystery of how so many commentators put forth what became the conventional wisdom that Obama failed to achieve meaningful change during his presidencydespite the evidence to the contrary. The author predicts that after Obama leaves the presidency, this wrongheaded perception will dissipate. He also moves his argument beyond policy proposals to suggest that Obama's admirable character and steely mental makeup contributed significantly to policy successes. Chait offers a well-organized, clearly written case that will be valuable to future historians in their assessments. The question is whether readers with different opinions about Obama's performance will alter those opinions.

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