Why Not Me?: The Inside Story of the Making and Unmaking of the Franken Presidency [Paperback]

Al Franken (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 8, 2000

Updated with more on the real race in 2000!

First came Theodore White's The Making of the President, 1960. Then All the President's Men. Now the searing chronicle that will forever change the way we view the man and the office...

Why Not Me?

...chronicles the dramatic rise and dizzying fall of Al Franken, who would become the first Jewish president of the United States. Meet the president as a young man. Witness the Franken campaign in its infancy, as the candidate pledges "to walk the state of New Hampshire, diagonally and then from side to side." Go behind the scenes and meet Team Franken, the candidate's brain trust: including brother and deputy campaign manager Otto, a recovering sex addict and alcoholic, and campaign manager Norm Ornstein, the think-tank policy wonk who masterminds the single-issue (ATM fees) campaign. Cheer as Franken stuns the pundits by defeating Al Gore for the Democratic nomination, then is swept into office carrying all fifty states and the District of Columbia.

Then, through excerpts from Bob Woodward's detailed account of the first hundred days, The Void, go inside the Franken White House, which is gripped by crisis from day one. After the highly medicated chief executive exhibits a roller coaster of bipolar behavior, Franken is forced to cooperate with the Joint Congressional Committee on the President's Mood Swings. And when the committee releases Franken's personal diaries to the public, his presidency faces its ultimate crisis.


It began on a cold day in January, when Alan Stuart Franken took the oath of office and became the 44th President of the United States. It ended 144 tumultuous days later with the words: "Boy, am I sorry." Here for the first time in paperback is the searing chronicle of Al Franken's journey to the White House--the visionary campaign, the landslide victory, the hookers, the payoffs--told through confessions of key aides, Franken's own diaries, and excerpts from Bob Woodward's book on the first 100 days of the Franken Presidency, entitled The Void.

Witness the campaign in its infancy, as Franken decides to run on a single-issue platform: lower ATM Fees. Follow along as Team Franken canvasses the nation, attacking Al Gore, attacking U.S. banks, attending a couple of prayer breakfasts. Then go inside the Franken White House where for 144 days a President virtually reinvents the office, boldly appointing the first all-Jewish cabinet, then battling a severe case of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. As scandal rocks the Administration, Why Not Me? becomes a tragic American morality tale: of a man who dared to believe that anyone could be president--and paid the price for proving he was right. -->

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In this hilarious political satire, Al Franken reveals how, by focusing relentlessly on the issue of ATM fees, he managed to wrest the Democratic presidential nomination away from Vice President Al Gore in the 2000 elections and become the 44th president of the United States. He then wound up running the second-shortest administration in American history, announcing in his resignation speech: "It is my fondest wish that, in the fullness of time, the American people will look back on the Franken presidency as something of a mixed bag and not as a complete disaster."

Why Not Me? is divided into three main sections. The first, "Daring to Lead," is Franken's "authorized campaign autobiography," in which he lays out his life story and his reasons for seeking the nation's highest office. Then, in his campaign diaries, we follow Franken and his team of advisers--including former Clinton pollster Dick Morris and Dan Haggerty, TV's Grizzly Adams--across New Hampshire and Iowa. Finally, there's "The Void," the behind-the-scenes account by Bob Woodward of Franken's first 100 days in the Oval Office. As a writer, Franken takes aim at a lot of targets, with nary a miss; there are enough great jokes in Why Not Me? to make almost anybody break down with a fit of the giggles at some point (especially at pages 132 to 133, but don't peek! It'll spoil the buildup). --Ron Hogan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

For all those who want their political humor more political?and funnier?than the usual late-night TV fare, there's Al Franken. Here's the scenario: the millennial presidential campaign is nearly upon us, and Franken (Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot) has not merely thrown his hat in the ring?he's provided the three-ring-plus circus as well. With dead-on parodies of several forms of political media (campaign diary, strategist's memo, televised debate, Sunday morning talk show, newspaper story, magazine feature, Bob Woodward expose, etc.), this book tells the story of the improbable Franken candidacy, the humorist's more improbable success and his scandalous downfall. The pandering single issue is lower ATM fees, which allows Franken to win the Democratic primary by painting front-runner Al Gore as a tool of the banking interests. The loose-cannon campaign chief is the candidate's brother, Otto, who pops up in selected states as chief supporter "Dotto Dranken" or "Botto Branken." The effective fund-raising strategy is a 900 number for Franken info and lesbian phone sex. There's also a narrative of presidential scandal as written by Woodward, which includes chronic fatigue syndrome, bipolar episodes, misprescribed medication, an attack on the revered Nelson Mandela (Franken ruptures the great man's spleen) and an abortive attempt to assassinate Saddam Hussein?personally. This leads to the first-ever Joint Congressional Committee to Investigate the President's Mood Swings. While the book drags in a few places, it remains consistently?often howlingly?funny, as well as slyly subversive in the way it punctures the conventions of our highly ritualized campaign system. Did we mention the first all-Jewish Cabinet (including Ralph Lauren as secretary of the interior) arguing about Chinese food? First serial to George; BOMC and QPB alternates; BDD audio; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Delta (February 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385334540
• ISBN-13: 978-0385334549
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.8 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (114 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #592,958 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The first half of the book was hilarious..., August 28, 2000

By 

V. Ravindran (Washington DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Why Not Me?: The Inside Story of the Making and Unmaking of the Franken Presidency (Paperback)

As a big fan of Al Franken, perhaps I hold him to too high a standard, but I found that the first half of the book more than lived up to his previous works. The campaign trail and his combination of both clever and ridiculous commentary made the book truly a fun read. I especially loved the extra effort to put in action photos and newspaper headlines, making the whole spectacle of the Franken candidacy seem all the more outrageous.

Once in office, I found the book a little lacking. It almost seemed like Al ran out of steam and wanted to stop writing. Beyond the all Jewish cabinet, I really did not read a whole lot to laugh or at least smirk about. The wit that was present during the campaign trail really disappeared.

I plan to read the campaign trail part of the book again, since it is really good stuff. Just be warned that it goes downhill from the moment Al enters office.

20 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, February 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Why Not Me? The Inside Story of the Making and Unmaking of the Franken Presidency (Hardcover)

Al Franken's "Why Not Me?" is a satiric account of politics documenting his fictional but successful run for the U.S. presidency in 2000. The story is presented through a pastiche of faux diary entries from the campaign trail, chapters of a Bob Woodward novel documenting the first 100 days of the Franken presidency, several magazine and newspaper stories, and transcripts, among other things. As such, the novel reads somewhat like a scrapbook--with similar ease and discordance.

There are certainly laugh-out-loud moments in the book, but it is in general flat and lacking the political insight that Franken's "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations" had. The story is about Franken running for the Democratic nomination on a single issue, ATM fees charged by banks. When that platform does not seem to capture the nation's interest, he turns to insurance companies for funding and agrees in return to add deregulation of the banking industry (thus allowing insurers to enter the market) to his platform. Along the way, he and his staff lie, commit battery, manufacture and take drugs, and run a phone-sex line.

Ultimately, the novel portrays Franken as an oversexed moron, an image that does not work entirely well. Franken, as author, has difficulty presenting an insightful political satire about Franken, the bumbling candidate. The majority of the funniest jokes, therefore, are more often salacious than politically insightful. In the end, there is simply too little to justify the 289 pages, and the real laughs are therefore too few by comparison.

19 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Here's Why Not:, April 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Why Not Me?: The Inside Story of the Making and Unmaking of the Franken Presidency (Paperback)

I don't know how Al Franken (whose work I usually love) stayed awake to write this. "Tedious" is the most polite word I can use to describe the diary-of-a-candidate format he's chosen this time. Typical Franken hilarity in spots...but good luck keeping your eyes open long enough to find them.