Review ~ “Barack and Joe: The Making of An Extraordinary Partnership” by Steven Levingston

Nowadays, it is common to see the words, ‘Don’t you miss these guys?’ when referring to Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Indeed, I think we do miss them. Even the other side of the aisle in Congress probably wishes the political world was a be more polite as it was with the former President and the former Vice President.

In this book, Mr. Levingston goes into deliberate detail as to what made Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden, the team. And yes, it was a team, yet it was a long time in the making.

The book acknowledges how these political men were different, and yet as time tells, the subtleties of their beliefs became apparent. How these similarities played out is what makes them the dream team.

Mr. Levingston tells and shows how they worked out their differences to provide the best they had for the country. Their prime focus was taking the country into a stable place in the world. While Obama needed Biden’s international experience, Biden needed Mr. Obama’s fresh take and youthful energy.

“Barack and Joe” is not a ‘buddy’ or ‘bromance’ book. It is a book that shows you how it all happened, and most importantly, why it needed to happen. The writing is clear, concise, and entertaining. You can see how it all played out, and you enjoy the ride getting there.

I have recommended: (five green books) 📗📗📗📗📗.

Updated (6 Oct 19)Review: On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Synder

Updated 6 Oct 19:

My copy of ‘On Tyranny’ will not be sold or given to the local library.

I will continue to review and appraise my involvement in my local, state, and federal governments in regard to the standards ‘On Tyranny’ sets. It is that important and I believe that once you read it, ‘On Tyranny’, will be that important to you too.

A must-read for anyone concerned about our place in the world and place in history.

We should be concerned about our ability to remain a democracy.

An intelligent and well-researched book.

Highly Recommended (five books): 📗📗📗📗📗

Quote:

“The president is a nationalist, which is not at all the same thing as a patriot. A nationalist encourages us to be our worst, and then tells us that we are the best. A nationalist, “although endlessly brooding on power, victory, defeat, revenge,” wrote Orwell, tends to be “uninterested in what happens in the real world.” Nationalism is relativist, since the only truth is the resentment we feel when we contemplate others. As the novelist Danilo Kiš put it, nationalism “has no universal values, aesthetic or ethical.” A patriot, by contrast, wants the nation to live up to its ideals, which means asking us to be our best selves. A patriot must be concerned with the real world, which is the only place where his country can be loved and sustained. A patriot has universal values, standards by which he judges his nation, always wishing it well—and wishing that it would do better. Democracy”
― Timothy Snyder