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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. 




  

 


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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).

 

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