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Narrated by Mike Chamberlain
Jonathan ChaitUnabridged — 8 hours, 58 minutes
Narrated by Mike Chamberlain
Jonathan ChaitUnabridged — 8 hours, 58 minutes
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An unassailable case that, in the eyes of history, Barack Obama will be viewed as one of America's best and most accomplished presidents.
Over the course of eight years, Barack Obama has amassed an array of outstanding achievements. His administration saved the American economy from collapse, expanded health insurance to millions who previously could not afford it, negotiated an historic nuclear deal with Iran, helped craft a groundbreaking international climate accord, reined in Wall Street and crafted a new vision of racial progress. He has done all of this despite a left that frequently disdained him as a sellout, and a hysterical right that did everything possible to destroy his agenda even when they agreed with what he was doing.
Now, as the page turns to our next Commander in Chief, Jonathan Chait, acclaimed as one of the most incisive and meticulous political commentators in America, digs deep into Obama's record on major policy fronts-economics, the environment, domestic reform, health care, race, foreign policy, and civil rights-to demonstrate why history will judge our forty-fourth president as among the greatest in history.
Audacity does not shy away from Obama's failures, most notably in foreign policy. Yet Chait convincingly shows that President Obama has accomplished what candidate Obama said he would, despite overwhelming opposition-and that the hopes of those who voted for him have not been dashed despite the smokescreen of extremist propaganda and the limits of short-term perspective.
…a timely, trenchant and relentlessly argued book…
10/10/2016
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. (Jan.)
Chait’s brilliant new book, Audacity, upends the conventional wisdom of the Washington commentariat — and a surprising number of liberals — that Barack Obama’s presidency was little more than eight years of disappointment…setting out a compelling case that he was one of the most successful presidents of modern times.” — The Guardian
“A timely, trenchant and relentlessly argued book presenting the 44th president in terms that he himself would approve. Not only did Obama change America for the better, Chait writes, he also cemented a new policy infrastructure that will resist Trump’s efforts to tear it down.” — New York Times Sunday Book Review
“Audacity, by Jonathan Chait of New York magazine, one of today’s must-read political journalists…documents the scale of Obama’s domestic policy, on health care, taxes, finance, climate, civil rights and education. Chait also explains why [Obama’s successes] won’t simply disappear… The book is a brave one.” — David Leonhardt, New York Times Op-Ed columnist
“Chait offers a well-organized, clearly written case that will be valuable to future historians in their assessments.” — Kirkus Reviews
“[Chait] lacerates wimpish liberals and the duplicitous cynics on the right. He points out, over and over again, that, ideologically speaking, Obama’s policies were largely derived from a liberal Republican tradition.” — Brooklyn Rail
“Chait’s command of policy and politics, and his clarity of thought, guarantee that Audacity will remain an essential starting point for those assessing the Obama presidency.” — Washington Monthly
“[Chait is] one of the most influential political journalists of our time…the verve with which he pursues his quarries has made him one of our great polemicists.” — New Republic
“Audacity is a sturdy defense of the past eight years and an attack on left-wing Americans who moan about Obama’s timidity. And in this endeavor it is a rip-roaring success. Chait tells the Obama story with enormous sympathy, but with enough detachment to make it credible.” — The Times (UK)
[Chait is] one of the most influential political journalists of our time…the verve with which he pursues his quarries has made him one of our great polemicists.
Chait’s command of policy and politics, and his clarity of thought, guarantee that Audacity will remain an essential starting point for those assessing the Obama presidency.
Chait’s brilliant new book, Audacity, upends the conventional wisdom of the Washington commentariat — and a surprising number of liberals — that Barack Obama’s presidency was little more than eight years of disappointment…setting out a compelling case that he was one of the most successful presidents of modern times.
Audacity is a sturdy defense of the past eight years and an attack on left-wing Americans who moan about Obama’s timidity. And in this endeavor it is a rip-roaring success. Chait tells the Obama story with enormous sympathy, but with enough detachment to make it credible.
Audacity, by Jonathan Chait of New York magazine, one of today’s must-read political journalists…documents the scale of Obama’s domestic policy, on health care, taxes, finance, climate, civil rights and education. Chait also explains why [Obama’s successes] won’t simply disappear… The book is a brave one.
[Chait] lacerates wimpish liberals and the duplicitous cynics on the right. He points out, over and over again, that, ideologically speaking, Obama’s policies were largely derived from a liberal Republican tradition.
A timely, trenchant and relentlessly argued book presenting the 44th president in terms that he himself would approve. Not only did Obama change America for the better, Chait writes, he also cemented a new policy infrastructure that will resist Trump’s efforts to tear it down.
02/15/2017
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
2016-09-21
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.
| BN ID: | 2940173570321 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins |
| Publication date: | 01/17/2017 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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