Well, I listened to it, unabridged, during a trip to New Jersey (including a mightmare 9 hour drive--it is usually under four) and finished it in the past week.
I am usually wary of books written by political operatives, since they tend to be self-justifying and congratulatory, and they tend to really be written by a ghost-writer. David Plouffe, the campaign manager of the Obama campaign, does engage in some of the first (but less than I expected), and wrote the book himself. The result is a very interesting and useful book.
Although I recall most of what Plouffe shares, his book reminded me of two very important things that can help to understand President Obama today. First, the strategy of the campaign--to stay close to Clinton in big primary states while winning big in the smaller state--was a real innovation and reinforces the idea that Obama takes slightly different paths than the one most traveled. Plouffe's discussion of how winning big in the Idaho primary while losing in New Jersey by a dozen points actually led to Obama getting more delegates than Clinton. The Clinton campaign's refusal to compete in the small states did them in.
The second major insight is Obama's consistency. Despite my suspicions that this is a bit exaggerated, when things looked dicey for Obama in the spring, he never wavered. That steely confidence will likely be seen once Obama makes a decision on Afghanistan.
A third insight is the extent to which Mark Penn, the main consultant for Hillary Clinton, has no friends in the Obama Administration. Plouffe takes as many opportunities as possible to insult Penn, who, by the way, probably deserves most of Plouffe's arrows...
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