Obama’s Book Success
Ninety percent of the time books by politicians are self-serving tomes aimed to advance a political career. They’re bland to begin with, forgettable, and barely useful in the goal they were written to serve. Andrew Ferguson is more sympathetic:
Books by presidential candidates are not worthless; they are hurriedly written by hired hacks filling page after page with dim reminiscence and stultifying platitude, sure. But read right, despite themselves, they often carry information about our present politics that’s hard to capture elsewhere. Sometimes the information is coded, sometimes it’s as plain as the type on the page.
But then again, every cycle Ferguson pumps out a hilarious essay decoding present politics in candidate books.
Sen. Barack Obama is the exception. His Dreams from My Father attained bestselling and literary acclaim. The success is due to Obama’s writing talent and being a rising political star. But most important Dreams wasn’t written as a political tract. More concern was put into telling his story than wondering what reporters and opposition researchers would glean from future readings.
The NY Times writes up the background behind Obama’s literary achievements. Two bestsellers have made the Illinois Senator a millionaire.
The lesson to be taken from Obama is simple: Open up with an honest, compelling story. People might buy the book and ask you to lead them.
Dreams‘ candidness may come back to haunt Obama. So far it hasn’t.
“Obama’s Story, Written by Obama” [via memeorandum]
I don’t know about you, John, but this NY Times article led to me creating “Authors Against Obama.”