5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a page turner by a great wordsmith, June 28, 2007
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.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
IF YOU WANT AN INSIDER'S VIEW OF ELECTIONS, May 28, 2008
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.
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