Skip to main content

Barack and Joe by Steven Levingston: book review

 



 

Barack and Joe: The Making of an Extraordinary Partnership (2019) is about the eight-year relationship between American President Barack Obama and his Vice-President Joe Biden in the White House from 2008 to 2016. This is not a history of the Obama-Biden administration; it is an exploration of a professional and personal partnership between two men in political office.

 

This is about the formation of the unlikely partnership, forged and developed through work and duty, and how it led to a unique friendship – an American ‘bromance’ of brotherly love. 

 

The book begins with their decisions to run for presidency in the 2008 election, both as competing Democrats, and their initial impressions of each other. It begins with their differences. 

 

The author then discusses Obama’s selection of Biden for his vice-president running mate, exploring complementary skills, experiences, and personalities, and searching for commonality. 

 

In the White House, their digital text messages were relaxed, casual, friendly, supportive, and intimate. From digital to email to verbal, the relationship evolved organically and easily. Soon they were collaborating and communicating with cheek and humour: ‘the two men weren’t shy about backslapping and embracing.’ They were the Batman and Robin of the White House.

 

Respect and trust tightened their bonds. As Joe Biden said, ‘We had a genuine relationship … built on top of a genuine personal affection.’

 

The author continues with examples of how their relationship worked – ‘like a newlywed couple’ – while on duty and off. The two presidential families also formed strong ties: ‘kids and adults were all intertwined.’ The world saw the closeness and comfort, expressed on the death of Biden’s son Beau in May 2015 by Obama: ‘one of the greatest gifts of these past eight years is that we’re forever bonded as a family.’

 

This is a great book, unique in its focus on two men and, indeed, their extraordinary relationship. It is well-told and well-structured with poignancy and visual examples in this true, feel-good, uplifting account of their special bond. 




  

 


As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.


MARTINA NICOLLS

Website

Martinasblogs

Publications

Facebook

Paris Website

Animal Website

SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES 

 

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author  of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce  (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass
Post a Comment
Read more

The Beggars' Strike by Aminata Sow Fall: book review

The Beggar’sStrike (1979 in French and 1981 in English) is set in an unstated country in West Africa in a city known only as The Capital. Undoubtedly, Senegalese author Sow Fall writes of her own experiences. It was also encapsulated in the 2000 film, Battu , directed by Cheick Oumar Sissoko from Mali. Mour Ndiaye is the Director of the Department of Public Health and Hygiene, with the opportunity of a distinguished and coveted promotion to Vice-President of the Republic. Tourism has declined and the government blames the local beggars in The Capital. Ndiaye must rid the streets of beggars, according to a decree from the Minister. Ndiaye instructs his department to carry out weekly raids. One of the raids leads to the death of lame beggar, Madiabel, who ran into an oncoming vehicle as he tried to escape, leaving two wives and eight children. Soon after, another raid resulted in the death of the old well-loved, comic beggar Papa Gorgui Diop. Enough is enou
8 comments
Read more