Customer Reviews

Had Enough?: A Handbook for Fighting Back

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This is James Carville's first rule for Democrats. His excellent book details what the Democratic Party has to feel proud about, which includes Social Security, Medicare, public schools, regulation of the financial markets, food safety, etc ... basically, examples of the government performing actions that benefit its people. He contrasts this with the current neo-conman government of Mr Bush and his father's staff, which has been a "pay to play" operation restricted to participation by the wealthy. Then Carville proposes progressive (aka "liberal") solutions.

This is a great book to get Democrats, maybe even Greens, fired up and ready to engage in the Political Process. To provide that additional kick in the a$$ (the book uses a lot of foul language*), Carville leaves the reader with a list of things they can do, concluding with "Be Positive" (and a recipe for bread pudding with hard sauce.)

If you're angry or depressed with the current state of the nation, read this book! Then resolve to take at least one "action" per week.

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footnote: * Mr Carville is inclined to use salty language, as does Al ("Lies and the Lying Liars") Franken. For this reason, conservatives will probably want to avoid this book, so as not to get their delicate sensibilities offended. But genuine conservatives might learn something about how "their" government has been acting since Mr Bush began squatting in the White House, so I recommend they give "Had Enough" a try, too.

Had enough is James Carville's best book to date. On the cover he sports a shiner which reminds readers of his committment to change, and to getting this country back on track. He looks just like an ol' junkyard dog. He aims to go after the Republican right-wing and get his readers stewed up in the process.

Speaking of stew, he has several of his mamma's, Miss Nippy's, down home Cajun recipes in the book, and Republicans can buy it just for the culinary hints. Of course, they might want to shy away from Carville's own recipe for roast elephant, though I find it quite appealing.

This Cajun version of Howard Beale has had enough, and his book tells readers not just his gripes, but what he intends to do about them. And he tells readers not just to complain but to do somethin.' First, he tells them to stop apologizing for being liberal or progressive, thus the review's title and the book's premise. Repulicans should apologize not us. This admonition is the first of "Ten Rules for Progressives to Live by."

Carville is no vacillating analyst; he is an infromed, unaplopgetic, partisan with a penchant for factual evidence, something sorely missing in many a right-wing argument he would argue. He tells Democarts that we have to articulte solutions not just problems. He offers a charming story by the late Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburne. He likened the Democratic party to a donkey who could kick down a barn, but darn if he find it in him to build one. Carville teaches progressives to build a movement.

The focus of his book is on the six purposes of government enumerated in the Preamble to the Constitution. He looks at domestic policies and issues that are meant to fulfill these objectives. He gives the "Bush Response" and the "Had Enough Solution." The six sections of the book concern these purposes:"The Common Defense," "The General Welfare," "The Blessing of Liberty on Ourselves and Our Posterity," "Establish Justice," "Insure Domestic Tranquility,"and "To Form a More Perfect Union."

The limit of space is such that I can only give a few highlights
The book is full of arresting facts, charts, and statistics that support his arguments. He demonstrates that lower taxes, especially on the rich, are not neccesarily a good thing. Of 30 relatively advanced countries commited to democracy and market economies, only Mexico (the least advanced) has a lower tax rate than the US. Still, Mexicans come across the border in profusion dispite our higher tax rates. Low taxes have not saved Mexico from being an economic basketcase. He says that because Republicans like to use the 1963 tax cut by Kennedy as an example of how " rising tide lifts all ships" we should reinstitute President Kennedy's 70 percent rate. He dropped it from 91 percent. Twice tried twice failed, he says of the Bush tax cuts. He offers the homespun analogy of a guy who digs a hole he can't get out of and then asks for another shovel.

On a variety of issues from health care to homeland defense, he offers what the president has done and what he would do to fix it. The book pulls no punches, as you can ascertain from the cover art. Carville contrasts President Roosevelt's call to sacrifice in World War 11 with Bush's admonition that we "shop til we drop" in the war on terror.

In closing he gives nine actions that progressives can do to call out the Republicans and let the right-wing know that their game is exposed. He says be specific and he closes with number nine--BE POSITIVE!

Dear reader and potential reviewer:

If you are going to smear this book, please give some substantiated specifics why it is bad or evil or wrong. Stating that this book "smears" Republicans occurs to me as the type of vacuous tactic that has been working for a long time. Non-republicans: Stop letting these sophmoric tactics work. Buy this book and learn how to defend factual observations of world events and our economy.

I have a partisan perspective. I feel that a strategy is only as sound as the facts on which they are based. When there are intentional lies, then what is called strategy is actually propaganda. Often, propaganda calls its opposition propaganda.

You must discern for yourself what is real. The facts presented in this book, facts that are substantiated by more than quoting one's own side, demand a reinterpretation of "news" on mainstream media.

If you don't like the way things are working, read this book, join an effective conversation.

James Carville in some ways is preaching to the choir. The people who buy and read the book are for the most part already in agreement with him. His greatest value is that he provides focus. We all know the economy has gone south, education is in a crisis, we are disliked by the world community, the war has not turned out well, and welfare systems are in grave jeopardy. He gives us reasons why these things happened, and then builds a structure for fixing the problems. He does it with raucous humor and keen insight. He also talks about his mamma, and so we know he is a good man. This is a good handbook for Democrats and it would also be a good eyeopener for Republicans, if they could just open up their minds long enough to glimpse how the rest of the country lives. Anyone who has lost his job, or can't afford health insurance, or is looking forward to Medicare and Social Security needs to understand what is happening and what can be done about it.

While recent months have brought a number of excellent books expressing liberal political views and correcting the dishonesty of those on the right, Carville adds practical advice and guidance to help people make a difference.

This belongs on your shelf along with the recent titles from Al Franken, Joe Conason, Molly Ivins, David Corn and Alan Colmes. They all show you where the Bush neoconservative agenda is misguided and destructive, but only Carville offers solutions. The others tell us why, Carville shows us how.

As a Californian who prospered during the dot.com years and now going on my 3rd year of unemployement, this book should be a must read for all those who are baffled by there state of affairs. Yesterday, I had a guy who holds multi degrees with over ten years experience in IT make me my Mocha Frappachino at the local St**rbucks--he's grateful for just having that part-time job. If you are to lazy to read the book or to pissed off to read it then just look at the graphs they are revealing enough why things are the way they are. I wish Carville could do a video with his charts that way I could send the video out to all my friends who are out of work so that they could cast an effective vote.

At last, I finally found it: a liberal who does more than blow his top and tear into his adverary.
This is a very smart book. Unlike most liberal literature, which are overwhelmingly reactionary, Carville's book is proactive. While pundits like Vidal, Choamsky and Michael Moore (arguably, my generations's most overrated writer) whose writings usually dull down to diatribes and bold conjectiure, Carville actually presents something all too rare in lefty commentary: viable and credible solutions!
While the other guys exhaust all of their energies launching "ad hominem" attacks on Pres. Bush (surely, these so-called experts can come up with something more constructive than 300 paged on why Bush is an idiot), Carville presents a plan! Unlike the other authors I mentioned, Carville's approach is such that his audience learns that they do have the power to influence the politcal process, rather than breeding a cynicism that eventually leads to apathy and ambivalence on Election Day.

The book is intelligent enough to sway a few conservatives.

Edit of 21 Dec 07 to add links.

Having reviewed, with appreciation, a number of the books that lambaste the extremist Republican carpetbaggers now in the White House (I am myself a moderate Republican who feels betrayed), I can say here that James Carville has done very, very well. He is vastly more elegant and politically focused than Al Franken, Jim Hightower, or Michael Moore, and dramatically easier to read than Paul Krugman, Matthew Crenson & Benjamin Ginsberg, or the cultural creative/new progressive/radical center readings (see Steele's List on Democracy & the Republic).

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right
Thieves in High Places: They've Stolen Our Country and It's Time to Take It Back
Dude, Where's My Country?
Peddling Prosperity: Economic Sense and Nonsense in an Age of Diminished Expectations
Downsizing Democracy: How America Sidelined Its Citizens and Privatized Its Public
We the People: An Introduction to American Politics, Sixth Shorter Edition

This is a double-spaced book with big print and small pages, but it does the job. James Carville may be a ragin' Cajun with a smart mouth and a weak bladder (read the book) but he clearly has three things going for him: a brain that is in gear before he talks or writes; good friends strong on both policy and research; and a gift for cutting to the chase. Where I would want to have five of my author-advisors putting together a 1 page summary and 5 page detailed review for each of the key policy areas, Carville manages to do in one book what none of the Democratic candidates--not Dean, not Gephardt--have done: he breaks George W. Bush's back with six strokes of the rod: 1) provide for the common defense (homeland insecurity, screwed up military and foreign policy); 2) provide for the general welfare (deficits and debts matter a lot, tax cuts are a huge lie); 3) secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and posterity (education, environment and energy, health care--and notice the emphasis in the Constitution on *posterity*, which is the opposite of carpet-bagging); 4) Establish justice (campaign finance reform, corporate governance, myth of tort reform); 5) insure domestic tranquility (why entitlements matter, notes on lying, the religious right, and friends); and finally, 6) form a more perfect union.

This is a quickie book, clearly tapping a multi-million person market for books that contain truth and oppose the impeachable activities of the extremists now looting America through their control of US government policy. It is a simplistic and imperfect book, but sufficient to persuade me that anyone who can muster 1000 brilliant experts covering the 250 critical policy and budget topics that must be mastered to win the general election, must, of necessity, have James Carville as the moderator and facilitator.

The book has several useful graphics, and among them two stand out: one on the changes in the opinion of billions of people around the world from before 9-11 to after three years of Bush in power; the other on the $980 billion--almost one trillion--in uncollected annual tax revenue from corporations that tell their stockholders one thing and the IRS another. I absolutely agree with this author that among our highest priorities must be our restoration of America as good neighbor and global friend to legitimate governments (that cuts out the 44 dictators still operating as looting pals of the Cheney-Bush-Perle regime); and the capture of the lost corporate revenue that could, with other savings, fully fund the most important national security investments: in our people, their health and education, and the restoration of legitimate democracy in America.

Perhaps most interestingly, Carville has avoided the rush to Dean that characterized myself and others who thought Dean would mature quickly and move from Amway parties to structured policy and outreach to all parties including moderate Republicans like myself. Carville cites George McGovern and Nancy Pelosi as special people, and I agree with the first. Pelosi has had her moments, but she has been a doormat in the anchor leg and I will never forgive her for taking impeachment off the table). He also highlights the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Citizens for Tax Justice as meriting special attention, and I only wish that George Soros has earmarked funds for these rather than for organizations that have been too quick to support Howard Dean and abandon a centrist non-partisan policy development position.

Buy this book. Read my other 435 or so reviews. And then, as Carville suggests, stop writing to your Senators and Representatives. Write instead to the editors of your local newspaper and start putting these people (Senators and Representatives) on the spot for betraying the public trust. Download the free NATO Open Source Intelligence Handbook (at oss.net or Google for it) and begin following Tom Atlee's concept for citizen wisdom councils. Take back the power, and don't wait for the Democrats to get their act together, it may be years.

See also:
Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq
Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq

Both Democrats and Republicans should read HAD ENOUGH?
by James Carville (with Jeff Nussbaum) . . . the noted political
adviser takes on George W. Bush and his party's leaders on
virtually every front--from the economy to education to foreign
affairs.

However, what I liked about the book is that it not only
attacked; it also laid out "had enough" solutions for helping
the country get back on its feet . . . I also liked its the
research that was done . . . every statement that Bush
made was documented with respect to when and where he
said it.

One quote, in particular, stuck with me:
That doesn't mean we can't or shouldn't tell people about successes
when we see them, but remember my first rule for Democrats to live by:
Never just oppose, always propose.

Wouldn't that be something we should all try to do in any situation
we encounter?

There were many other meaningful passages that also got
me thinking . . . for example:

* Not every agreement suits your interests directly, but often pays to
be in rather than out. Which is why it was so amazing to see George
Bush take the United States out of six big international agreements in
his first six months of office.

Here's what they were:
The Kyoto Proposal. Signed by the United States, November 12,
1998. Abandoned by George Bush, March 2001. . . .

The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Signed by Bill Clinton
1996. Opposed by George Bush, from day one. . . .

Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. In force since 1972. Abandoned by
George Bush, May 1, 2001. . . .

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). In force since 1970. Undermined
by George Bush since 2001. . . .

Protocol to the Biological Weapons Convention. Negotiated by the
United States for ten years. Abandoned by George Bush, July 2001. . . .

International Criminal Court (ICC). Supported by every American
administration since World War II. The Bush administration withdrew
our signature from the treaty, May 6, 2002. . . . .

Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All
Its Aspects. Conceived July 2001. Rejected by George Bush W. Bush
outright. . . .

* George W. Bush was sworn into office on January 20, 2001. Every day
that he has been in office, including the remarkable number of days
that he's been on vacation, here's what happened to America under
his leadership:

The stock market has lost $3.6 billion in shareholder value a day.
That's right, every day that this man strutted into the Oval Office,
Americans say the value of their savings, pensions, and investments
decrease by $3.6 billion.

Our fiscal situation has worsened by $9.5 billion a day.

Every day he's been in office, 3,409 private sector jobs went down
the drain.

Every day, 5,114 more people started working part time, because
they couldn't find a full-time job.

Every day, another 250 people have stopped being counted among
the unemployed because they've just plain given up on trying to find a job.
You'd think we'd be able to trust them; after all, if there's one thing they know
about--it's hurting the economy. I'm not just mouthing off here, either. That
statement is empirically true. If you take the last fourteen presidents, you have
eight Republicans and six Democrats. Below is a chart of the annual rate of job
loss or gain, form best to worst, by every president since Calvin Coolidge.

President Rate of Job Gain (or loss)
Roosevelt (1933-45) 5.3
Johnson (1963-69) 3.8
Carter (1977-81) 3.1
Truman (1945-53) 2.5
Clinton (1993-2001) 2.4
Kennedy (1961-63) 2.3
Nixon (1969-74) 2.2
Reagan (1981-89) 2.1
Coolidge (1923-29) 1.1
Ford (1974-77) 1.1
Eisenhower (1953-61) 0.9
G. Bush (1989-93) 0.6
G.W. Bush (2001-present) -0.7
Hoover (1929-33) -9.0

* And in September 2003, THE WASHINGTON MONTHLY magazine
put together a panel of experts to study the last four American
presidents and determine who was responsible for telling the biggest lies.
They looked at Clinton's lying about sex, Reagan's lying about arms for
hostages and welfare claims, George H. W. Bush's request that we read
his lips. But they concluded that George W. Bush blew them all out of the
water with his lies about deficits, tax cuts, and weapons of mass destruction.
When I reported this on Crossfire, Tucker Carlson, my co-host, responded
that he was amazed at the lengths I would go to prove that someone else
lies as much as Bill Clinton. That's always the Republican response-Clinton
lied about sex. Republicans simply can't get over that. I think it comes down
to this: Democrats lied about something we really like: sex. Republicans lie
about something they really like: war and money. The difference is nobody
gives a damn when you lie about your own sex, but it matters when you lie
about a war that other people have to go fight and money that other people

end up losing.

Republicans have been highly successful at advancing their agenda. Two big reasons contribute to this. One, is the shameless way Republicans fight in order to win. Two, while the Republicans are willing to fight dirty, the Democrats are too bush playing nice. The conflict between the right and the left closely resembles the American Revolution where the Republicans are using guerrila warfare against a Democratic party who are fighting like the redcoats did back in the late 1700s.

This is where James Carvile comes in. He calls on all progressives to come together in fighting the corporate/Republican machine. His book is filled with funny anecdotes, proposals, and solutions to getting our country back from the neo-conservative takeover of our government and into the hands of the people. Along the way, Carville debunks the myths perpetrated by the right-wing media and offers inspiration to all of the disaffected in joining with the side that brought you Social Security, Medicare, Labor laws, and the weekend. This book is a great read and a great buy.