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A review by kevin_shepherd
The Long Alliance: The Imperfect Union of Joe Biden and Barack Obama by Gabriel Debenedetti
4.0
The genesis of Obama/Biden came about as a matter of political strategy. In 2007, presidential candidate Barack Obama had a short list of potential running mates. Even though Biden seemed to have a proclivity for embarrassing faux pas, he was still the most logical choice…
“Obama and Biden may not have been close at all, but he didn’t know many of the possible picks all that well. Biden had been good and disciplined—if not a headline grabber—in the primary debates, and he also had decades of Washington experience that Obama lacked and could use at his side as he dealt with Capital Hill… Plus he seemed to appeal to white ethnic voters who’d so far been wary of Obama.” (pg 63)
You would be hard pressed to find a political pairing in American history that has generated more buzz (both positive and negative) than these guys. The Long Alliance is an illuminating, behind-the-scenes narrative of the complicated relationship between two political allies who, eventually, became the closest of friends. I haven’t been this engaged with a political biography since Jon Lee Anderson’s Che: A Revolutionary Life. Painstakingly researched and well written—4 Stars.
“The story is both longer and far more complicated than widely appreciated, starting in 2003 with a pair of men in a hurry who at first could hardly have seemed more different and continuing deep into 2022, with the former partners considering their joint place in history and their individual positions on either side of an antidemocratic abyss.” (preface)
“Obama and Biden may not have been close at all, but he didn’t know many of the possible picks all that well. Biden had been good and disciplined—if not a headline grabber—in the primary debates, and he also had decades of Washington experience that Obama lacked and could use at his side as he dealt with Capital Hill… Plus he seemed to appeal to white ethnic voters who’d so far been wary of Obama.” (pg 63)
You would be hard pressed to find a political pairing in American history that has generated more buzz (both positive and negative) than these guys. The Long Alliance is an illuminating, behind-the-scenes narrative of the complicated relationship between two political allies who, eventually, became the closest of friends. I haven’t been this engaged with a political biography since Jon Lee Anderson’s Che: A Revolutionary Life. Painstakingly researched and well written—4 Stars.
“The story is both longer and far more complicated than widely appreciated, starting in 2003 with a pair of men in a hurry who at first could hardly have seemed more different and continuing deep into 2022, with the former partners considering their joint place in history and their individual positions on either side of an antidemocratic abyss.” (preface)