I do have mixed feelings about this book. Story-wise, it is an enjoyable story - a look at the re-election campaign that is just around the corner in the real world of politics. Whether it is the insight into the state of Obama politics is a different matter. My main issue, though, is with the style of writing. It seems to be jarring in places, but this might be down to the fact that it is written from the God-eye view. This lack of focus, not telling the story from one particular point of view at a time, meant that there were times where I was not sure who's story was being told at a certain point. Overall, it is worth the read if for no other reason than it is an enjoyable behind the scenes story about a Presidential campaign. However, if you prefer your books to have a clear narrator and perspective, you might want to give it a miss.

Huge excitement when this one came out, mainly due to the thrilling possibility that its author, ‘Anonymous’, might be the same guy who wrote ’Primary Colors’, or, better still, someone from inside the Obama White House. Within a couple of days though, enterprising hacks discovered it was Mark Salter, a former aide to John McCain. Aw man, groaned everyone who’d bought a copy, and promptly went online to write some of the most ferociously intemperate reviews ever pounded into a keyboard. When I saw them, I had to ask myself in all seriousness if they’d even read the thing. But do not worry, my little cauliflowers: I have, and I can tell you that while ‘O’ is unlikely to win any prizes for characterization or dialogue, it is probably the most compelling and perceptive political novel of the last few years. OK, so Salter isn’t exactly a bosom pal, or even a casual acquaintance, of Obama’s. What he gives us, however, tallies in pretty well with what we have observed over the last few years. Like it or not, there is a certain detachment, a sense of donnish superiority, when this president condescends to address his countrymen. If only they would pay attention! If only they weren’t such a load of redneck dumbasses! ‘Would anyone’, he asks himself, ‘ever appreciate just how great a triumph it was to remain composed and intent amid all this discord and folly?’ Alongside the high-minded, pedagogical strand of Obama’s personality are the ruthless instincts of a political street-fighter, who won his first election to the Chicago senate by the simple expedient of getting all his opponents disqualified. You pays your money, you takes your choice. But please, let nobody pretend he is some kind of saint. As a first-hand witness of the 2008 race, Salter is exceptionally well-qualified to write about this aspect of the presidential psyche, which is just as well, because his book is set during an imaginary election in 2012. He captures beautifully the mixture of excitement and exhaustion in a modern campaign, the frenzied and not always irreproachable efforts to impress journalists, donors, and, almost as an afterthought, voters. I guess what this novel is ‘about’ - once the publisher’s silly attempts to make us think it is an exposé of the Obama Administration have been blown out of the water - is the compromises and betrayals all politicians have to make: the people they have to become to do the things we want them to do. The Republican candidate, for instance, General Tom Morrison, is portrayed by Salter (not without wishful thinking) as having the charm of Reagan, the courage of McCain, and the managerial skills of Mitt Romney - but even he has to prostrate himself before the great Alaskan she-elephant, Sarah Palin, in one of this book’s funniest and most satirical scenes. No character is more keenly aware than Obama of the gulf between rhetoric and reality, expectation and achievement. At one of his rallies, he sees a young activist waving a placard at him. ‘Where’s the change, brother?’ I’m all the change you’re going to get, he thinks to himself. But he doesn’t say it. He just smiles and waves like all the rest of them.

Huge excitement when this one came out, mainly due to the thrilling possibility that its author, ‘Anonymous’, might be the same guy who wrote ’Primary Colors’, or, better still, someone inside the Obama White House. Within a couple of days though, enterprising hacks discovered it was Mark Salter, a former aide to John McCain. Aw man, groaned everyone who’d bought a copy, and promptly went online to write some of the most ferociously intemperate reviews ever pounded into a keyboard. When I saw them, I had to ask myself in all seriousness if they’d even read the thing. But do not worry, my little cauliflowers: I have, and I can tell you that while ‘O’ is unlikely to win any prizes for characterization or dialogue, it is probably the most compelling and perceptive political novel of the last few years. OK, so Salter isn’t exactly a bosom pal, or even a casual acquaintance, of Obama’s. What he gives us, however, tallies in pretty well with what we have observed over the last few years. Like it or not, there is a certain detachment, a sense of donnish superiority, when this president condescends to address his countrymen. If only they would pay attention! If only they weren’t such a load of redneck dumbasses! ‘Would anyone’, he asks himself, ‘ever appreciate just how great a triumph it was to remain composed and intent amid all this discord and folly?’ It’s worth remarking here, for those of you who still have ‘Yes We Can’ posters pinned to the wall, that arrogance and vanity are hardly unknown in the world of politics. We are a long way from ‘Primary Colors’, with its controversial, and, as it turned out, completely accurate depiction of Bill Clinton as an irrepressible horn-dog. Alongside the high-minded, pedagogical strand of Obama’s personality are the ruthless instincts of a political street-fighter, who won his first election to the Chicago senate by the simple expedient of getting all his opponents disqualified. You pays your money, you takes your choice. But please, let nobody pretend he is some kind of saint. As a first-hand witness of the 2008 race, Salter is exceptionally well-qualified to write about this aspect of the presidential psyche, which is just as well, because his book is set during an imaginary election in 2012. He captures beautifully the mixture of excitement and exhaustion in a modern campaign, the frenzied and not always irreproachable efforts to impress journalists, donors, and, almost as an afterthought, voters. I guess what this novel is ‘about’ - once the publisher’s silly attempts to make us think it is an exposé of the Obama Administration have been blown out of the water - is the compromises and even betrayals all politicians have to make: the people they have to become to do the things we want them to do. You cannot have roses without manure. The Republican candidate, for instance, General Tom Morrison, is portrayed by Salter (not without wishful thinking) as having the charm of Reagan, the courage of McCain, and the managerial skills of Mitt Romney - but even he has to prostrate himself before the great Alaskan she-elephant, Sarah Palin, in one of this book’s funniest and most satirical scenes. No character is more keenly aware than Obama of the gulf between rhetoric and reality, expectation and achievement. At one of his rallies, he sees a young activist waving a placard at him. ‘Where’s the change, brother?’ I’m all the change you’re going to get, he thinks to himself. But he doesn’t say it. He just smiles and waves like all the rest of them.