He was named by The Atlantic Monthly "the most sought-after strategist in the Democratic party." He was targeted by National Review as the Democratic Party's "poet goon." From his unique perspective, Robert Shrum gives us an epic and personal story of the struggle for power in America during the past four decades.With wit and humor, rare candor, and a wealth of detail, Shrum vividly recounts the real personalities and real forces that shaped the outcome of the closest and most important elections of our time. We are there with him in the back rooms, on the planes, and in the motorcades with Ted Kennedy, Al Gore, John Kerry, John Edwards, and Bill and Hillary Clinton.Shrum reveals the manipulations and limitations of old and new forms of political persuasion, from the historic and sometimes controversial speeches he wrote to the negative ads he created for national and statewide candidates, from prepping presidential nominees for critical debates to the deployment of the new political weapon, the Internet.He lifts the curtain on decisive moments. Did John Kerry and John Edwards actually believe in the Iraq war they voted for? What was the real reason the Kerry campaign didn't respond faster to the Swift Boat attacks? Why didn't Al Gore let Bill Clinton campaign all-out in 2000? How did Clinton get through the first perilous week of the Lewinsky scandal?This is a provocative journey through recent history: George McGovern's antiwar campaign of 1972, the improbable rise of Jimmy Carter, Senate campaigns that made historic breakthroughs and shaped the presidential contests of the future, the gifts that made Bill Clinton a great politician-and the circumstances and calculations that kept him from being a great president.As strategist, adviser, and often friend to the leaders he enlisted with, Shrum shows them as they are, with their strengths and human weaknesses-as well as his own.Assailed as a populist who pushed the Democratic Party (in a phrase he coined) "to stand for the people, not the powerful," Shrum argues that unlike Republicans from Reagan on, Democrats fall short, politically or in office, when they trim their convictions and walk away from fundamental issues-like universal health coverage.This is one of the most fascinating books ever written about the victories and defeats, the causes and candidates, the "flawed heroes" that drive the high drama of American politics.
No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigner
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Book Description
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
With this lengthy but frequently gripping memoir, Shrum recounts his three-decade career in American politics, which he began as a speechwriter for New York's Mayor John Lindsay and ended as a campaign strategist for John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election. More insider history than memoir, the book focuses almost exclusively on the author's professional experience, featuring richly detailed accounts of his efforts working on Edward Kennedy's, Al Gore's and John Kerry's unsuccessful presidential bids (conversely, Shrum covers his engagement and wedding to Marylouise, his wife of 18 years, in three swift pages). Unsurprisingly, given his background, Shrum writes with eloquence and passion; more unexpected is his disarming candor. He's by turns effusive and brutal, for example waxing poetic about Edward Kennedy after vehemently criticizing Jimmy Carter. Later, he voices somewhat harsh ambivalence toward Bill Clinton. A deep sense of disappointment pervades the book: Shrum's string of failed presidential campaigns led to talk of the "Shrum curse," which the author never managed to overcome. Casual judgments and frank disclosures along the way make this a provocative and entertaining behind-the-scenes look at American politics. B&w photos not seen by PW. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
With experience working with the presidential candidacies of eight Democrats, as well as on the elections of senators, governors, and mayors, and with a reputation that has ranged from wunderkind to curse, Shrum offers a long and broad perspective on the Democrats' political strategizing over the past 30 years. Among his clients: George McGovern, Dick Gephardt, Al Gore, and John Kerry, as well as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Given their track records as winners and losers, Shrum's involvement in their candidacies has left him with a reputation as "the black cat of American politics, someone who had connived, confused, consulted, and condemned" Democratic candidates. Shrum recalls candidates in unguarded, vulnerable moments, when they actually spoke their minds, and in calculating moments, when they wanted the words—and ideas—placed in their mouths. Shrum also recalls the infighting, self-destruction, and spin typical of American politics as it has evolved in the last three decades. Although he does detail his own shortcomings, he laments the tendency to blame the consultant when the campaign ends in defeat. An enlightening and amusing look at American politics by a consummate insider. Bush, Vanessa
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
If you enjoy reading an insider's account of a presidential campaign, then this book is difficult to pass up. Shrum is as candid as ever, and has produced a powerfully well-written and passionate memoir. He presents an inside look into several presidential campaigns from his vantage point, and pulls no punches. Whether one agrees or disagrees with Shrum's analysis, kudos to him for his honesty.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Shrum is first and foremost, a wordsmith, a speechwriter, which led to political consulting. From the start of the book where he describes meeting JFK as a teenager---to the conclusion, in which Sen. Edward Kennedy throws Shrum a retirement party, the book is filled with interesting stuff about politics. A true "inside-baseball" account of the presidential races in recent decades.
Shrum seems even-handed in his assessment of people in politics, and the times he reveals unflattering information about people doesn't come across as score-settling, but simply telling it like it is. All good political books have to have some new information---some zingers about political stars, but Shrum's assessment of people is balanced by both positive and negative information. The one guy who seems to get no criticism in the book is Ted Kennedy, and it is clear that Ted and Shrum are close friends and that Shrum has too much respect for the Kennedys to
throw in any zingers about him or his clan. A great read by a great writer.
Shrum seems even-handed in his assessment of people in politics, and the times he reveals unflattering information about people doesn't come across as score-settling, but simply telling it like it is. All good political books have to have some new information---some zingers about political stars, but Shrum's assessment of people is balanced by both positive and negative information. The one guy who seems to get no criticism in the book is Ted Kennedy, and it is clear that Ted and Shrum are close friends and that Shrum has too much respect for the Kennedys to
throw in any zingers about him or his clan. A great read by a great writer.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
When I first saw Bob Schrum's book on the shelves at my local book store, I pulled it out, cracked the cover, and sat cross-legged right there on the floor, inhaling about 100 pages before my wife Holly caught my attention, and said we should be on our way.
I bought the book that I'd already marked with my notes, and tabbed.
I read it that evening, all the way through, couldn't put it down.
If you like great writing, are somewhat of a political obsessive, and are dying to know what goes on in political campaigns, you should read this book. You won't be disappointed - except you'll find it went by too fast and want more. I did.
To appreciate my point of view, you have to understand that I have always thought that Schrum could turn a phrase or see an argument in a way few could, and I've always thought that he did this with high-minded compassion for the underdog that has survived numerous campaigns and, even more challenging to his integrity, that has endured his own commercial success.
I know there are folk out there who pulled out their long swords to cut at Schrum's revelations and the story he had to tell and that wish him ill. The most prominent of these you can find in Schrum's table of contents so you can see for yourself, if so inclined, precisely how Schrum dispatches the unworthy.
Sour grape critics aside, if you want to get a sense of present politics and past history, this is a book that you must read.
It tells you how Schrum realized his own appetite and skill for the political adventure that became his life story, whether it was his gift to merge the right word with the moment, or to turn the precisely correct argument into a rhetorical pirouhette.
At his best, he takes you inside the back rooms when chaos and indecision must be ordered to figure out what to do next.
He gives you a glimpse into Ted Kennedy, his first and longest lasting loyal devotion, and other presidential runs for the White House.
If you want to know about the high strategy and drive-by slanders and back-biting king-of-the-hill wars on the campaign bus endemic to political campaigns since Brutus drove his blade into Caesar, you'll find a few recent chapters in that history right here.
Schrum writes this as if it's his last memoir, and he's fading from the active political scene.
It is interesting to observe, however, that, in his book, he favors only one candidate running for President on the Democratic side, Barack Obama.
Schrum's direct praise of Obama's qualities, written when the field of candidates was crowded, shows his reading to be somewhat prescient of Obama's success.
It also makes you wonder whether, if Obama gets the democratic nomination in Denver, whether Schrum will be on the talking head shows as an Obama spokesperson, rather than as a disinterested observer and old hand.
Get this book. But don't clutter the aisles reading it on the floor - as I did.
I bought the book that I'd already marked with my notes, and tabbed.
I read it that evening, all the way through, couldn't put it down.
If you like great writing, are somewhat of a political obsessive, and are dying to know what goes on in political campaigns, you should read this book. You won't be disappointed - except you'll find it went by too fast and want more. I did.
To appreciate my point of view, you have to understand that I have always thought that Schrum could turn a phrase or see an argument in a way few could, and I've always thought that he did this with high-minded compassion for the underdog that has survived numerous campaigns and, even more challenging to his integrity, that has endured his own commercial success.
I know there are folk out there who pulled out their long swords to cut at Schrum's revelations and the story he had to tell and that wish him ill. The most prominent of these you can find in Schrum's table of contents so you can see for yourself, if so inclined, precisely how Schrum dispatches the unworthy.
Sour grape critics aside, if you want to get a sense of present politics and past history, this is a book that you must read.
It tells you how Schrum realized his own appetite and skill for the political adventure that became his life story, whether it was his gift to merge the right word with the moment, or to turn the precisely correct argument into a rhetorical pirouhette.
At his best, he takes you inside the back rooms when chaos and indecision must be ordered to figure out what to do next.
He gives you a glimpse into Ted Kennedy, his first and longest lasting loyal devotion, and other presidential runs for the White House.
If you want to know about the high strategy and drive-by slanders and back-biting king-of-the-hill wars on the campaign bus endemic to political campaigns since Brutus drove his blade into Caesar, you'll find a few recent chapters in that history right here.
Schrum writes this as if it's his last memoir, and he's fading from the active political scene.
It is interesting to observe, however, that, in his book, he favors only one candidate running for President on the Democratic side, Barack Obama.
Schrum's direct praise of Obama's qualities, written when the field of candidates was crowded, shows his reading to be somewhat prescient of Obama's success.
It also makes you wonder whether, if Obama gets the democratic nomination in Denver, whether Schrum will be on the talking head shows as an Obama spokesperson, rather than as a disinterested observer and old hand.
Get this book. But don't clutter the aisles reading it on the floor - as I did.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tales of A Vilified Man
For many, particularly in the wake of the 2002 and 2004 electoral disasters, Shrum represents the very epitome of what is wrong with the national Democractic Party. Read more
Published on January 21, 2008 by Bertram Wooster
1.0 out of 5 stars
No Excuses as long as there is MUCH money to be made
Shrum proves that money and politics corrupts.
Nothing he was written justifies the money he and his business partners garnered from just the Kerrey 2004 campaign. Read more
Nothing he was written justifies the money he and his business partners garnered from just the Kerrey 2004 campaign. Read more
Published on December 24, 2007 by Thomas Freeman
1.0 out of 5 stars
No Excuses as long as there is MUCH money to be made
Shrum proves that money and politics corrupts.
Nothing he was written justifies the money he and his business partners garnered from just the Kerrey 2004 campaign. Read more
Nothing he was written justifies the money he and his business partners garnered from just the Kerrey 2004 campaign. Read more
Published on December 24, 2007 by Thomas Freeman
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Forest Gump of democratic politics
The author is sort of like the Forest Gump of Democratic politics. He seems to be there or close by in all of the major events within the democratic party over the past 40 years. Read more
Published on November 18, 2007 by Thomas M. Magee
5.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful and an easy read
Shrum's book is insightful and an easy read. It is a truly candid look at politics from the inside. Shrum has no problems naming names when necessary to tell the story. Read more
Published on October 26, 2007 by Conserv. Republican
1.0 out of 5 stars
Spin, spin, spin
Bob Shrum drank the Kool Aid back in high school and has never wavered from his view of the world. A master spin doctor and superb speech writer, this book is a 500-page apolgia... Read more
Published on October 15, 2007 by Amdream
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Historical Look at Democratic Politics
Shrum gives an indepth look at democratic politics since the late 1960's with an insiders view. Yet, he is willing to point out his shortfalls along the way and the shortfalls of... Read more
Published on September 16, 2007 by Paul R. Roos
2.0 out of 5 stars
Tedium, Mostly, Except When Infuriating
Oh who cares, ultimately, what this spinmeister has to say? He's yesterday's news, thank God. The only interesting thing he has to tell concerns the disastrous poll-driven advice... Read more
Published on September 12, 2007 by godwillen
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good look inside the other team's playbook
Even though I am a Republican and have never voted for one of his candidates, I still enjoyed Shrum's inside look at the campaigns. Read more
Published on September 3, 2007 by Jeffrey T. Hammill
5.0 out of 5 stars
Shrum's excellent memoir
Bob Shrum has written an excellent memoir, full of campaigning details not found elsewhere. Easy to read.
Published on August 27, 2007 by Lester Henry Lange
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
