It's My Party, Too: The Battle for the Heart of the GOP and the Future of America (Hardcover)

by Christine Todd Whitman (Author) "We stand at a historic juncture in American politics, a critical crossroads for both the Republican Party and for the nation..." (more)
Key Phrases: social fundamentalists, fundamentalist wing, woman governor, New Jersey, Republican Party, African American (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
"The people of this county deserve better from their politics and their politicians than they've been getting in recent years," writes Christine Todd Whitman in It's My Party Too. While hardly high praise for George W. Bush from a former member of his Cabinet (she served as director of the Environmental Protection Agency from January 2001 to May 2003), the real targets of her ire are some of her fellow Republicans who have forced the GOP to make a hard-right turn in recent years. Whitman argues that this shift poses a serious threat to the long-term health and competitiveness of the Republicans, a party in which moderates like Whitman, Colin Powell, Rudolph Giuliani, John McCain, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and George Pataki are paraded in public when necessary, but openly opposed behind the scenes. Whitman refers to those on the far right as "social fundamentalists" whose "mission is to advance their narrow ideological agenda" by using the government to impose their views on everyone else. Though she admits that evangelicals may have helped to win the 2004 election, they have claimed much more credit than they deserve for Bush's success, and she warns that catering to this narrow group will have consequences.

To achieve long-term success, she writes, the Republicans must move their focus back to the core issues that unite the true base of the party: less government, stronger national security, lower taxes combined with spending restraints, and job creation in the private sector--issues that have largely been pushed aside by efforts to ban abortion and embryonic stem cell research and a push to amend the Constitution to prohibit gay marriage. She also offers ideas for attracting more African Americans and women to the GOP, and highlights Republican environmental successes that have been ignored. It's My Party Too is a compelling analysis of the future of the Republican Party. --Shawn Carkonen

From Publishers Weekly
It's her party and she'll cry if she wants to. Former EPA Chief and New Jersey governor Whitman laments the rightward shift in the Republican party, concerned that it "will now move so far to the right that it ends up alienating centrist voters and marginalizing itself." In her view, the aggressive tactics of the "social fundamentalists," to whom "the concept of choice...is anathema," are to blame. Only if centrists transform themselves into "radical moderates-people ready to fight for what they believe even if it makes waves in the party," can the party restore its equilibrium. Whitman explores her own GOP heritage and her adventures and misadventures with hot button issues like abortion, stem cell research, race, the environment and women's rights, reinforcing the party's distinguished record. For example, she points out that Republicans ensured passage of the Civil Rights Act and created the Clean Air Act. If moderates would only stand up for themselves, she contends, the party platform could return to the essential issues-"fiscal restraint, reasonable and open discussion of social issues, environmental policies that promote a balanced approach to environmental protection, and a foreign policy that is engaged with the rest of the world." While the writing is straightforward and the anecdotes interesting, the account drifts from its core theme, culminating in a plea to visit a grassroots Web site and a generic suggestion for "issues-oriented campaigns." Nowhere does Whitman identify who these social fundamentalists are, what they want or why they have proven so powerful in today's electoral environment despite being outnumbered. Though this book succeeds as an overview of the Republican party's accomplishments, it's a less than adequate battle plan for moderate Republications looking to attain their past glory.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The (January 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594200408
• ISBN-13: 978-1594200403
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #679,188 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stephen King, move over! THIS is a scary book!, February 6, 2005

By	Maddy (Cranbury, NJ) - See all my reviews

Christine Todd Whitman's sober but eminently readable short book is a clarion call to moderates and true Republican conservatives alike, and, as such, should be warmly welcomed by liberals as well. In genial, accessible and melifluous prose, Governor Whitman reveals her experiences as a life-long Republican, both in the Governor's office in New Jersey, and as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency during much of President Baby Bush's first term in office. And much of what she has to say is truly chilling. Is this a scary book? You bet it is. If you have any interest in modern American politics, put down your Stephen King and read Whitman's assessment of her party's descent into kowtowing to the hard right wing. It's a whole lot more frightening.

Take, for example, her chapter on abortion, entitled The Party Within The Party. As she delinates her real position, as opposed to the position on the issue ascribed to her by the hard right wing of her political party, she offers a great deal of information about the drift rightward of her party, and the growing influence of the hard-liners, who have, she contends, left any connection with the bedrock values of the party to which they're laying claim, indulging instead in intrusive, and unconstitutional, legislation in order to further their social agenda. She says: "Frankly, it seemed to me at the time (and still does today) that their failure to take the path I had laid out suggested that they were more interested in having an issue than in saving the lives of unborn children." (p.87)

There is a bit of Queen Elizabeth I of England's political realism in Whimans's restrained and balanced approach, and I suspect that as distasteful to her as is the hard right's ideology, its lack of political flexibility and unwillingness to bend in the interests of getting the job accomplished are equally unappealing to her.

The intent of her book is to reunify her party along the lines that historically bound it: smaller, and accountable, government, strong defense, less intrusion into people's lives by governmental legislation and lower taxes. There has been criticism from the left about her unwillingness to tell all, and her reluctance to condemn the worst aspects of her party, the current President in particular. As a life-long liberal, and the child of children of Democrats, while I sympathize wholeheartly with that perspective, I also understand that the point of her book is not to 'tell all' in the vein of Andrew Morton's biography of Princess Diana. The point here is to educate, elucidate and illuminate, not sink to trashing the people who made her political experiences unpleasant.

I respect her reluctance to come across as a crybaby, which would have pleased my liberal friends, no doubt, but would not have accomplished her intent, which is to call her party back from the nether regions into which it has sunk. She is asking for political moderation so that in concert with other moderates across party lines, she, and others like her, can accomplish something good for the country, based on respect for the people who cast the ballots. Right now, that respect for the American people is sadly lacking in the party in power in Washington. She says as much, in chapter after chapter. I wish her luck in her efforts to swing her party back to sanity. It would be of benefit to us all if she and other moderate Republicans like her were successful.

25 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, someone's talking sense, February 2, 2005

By	Bobby B. (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

As a lifelong moderate Republican, I've been increasingly dismayed at the rightward lurch of the party -- and especially by the intolerance of some on the right of those of us in the center. This book speaks clearly to the frustration moderates have felt over the past few years. Using compelling examples from her own career, Gov. Whitman shows how the party can succeed by reclaiming the sensible center. She does a nice job telling stories about her own long history in the party (she's attended every GOP convention since 1956), and is able to use that history to advance her argument. I hope she succeeds in starting a national discussion that helps the Republican Party realize that there's much to be gained by reclaiming it traditional roots. An important message and a great read!

26 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Broader Party - We Need The Moderates Too, February 13, 2005

By	G. Reid (Roseland, NJ) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is the author's attempt to explain the need for moderation in the Republican as well as in the Democratic party. Both parties, especially the Republicans, have been moving away from the center which is polarizing the Country. So many moderates in the middle of the political spectrum have no place to go in either party.

The conservative Republicans could not have won without the support of the moderate Republicans. Moderate Republicans fully deserve to be represented by the party and to have their views respected.