The manager of Barack Obama's two successful presidential campaigns offers practical tips for unseating the current U.S. President during the 2020 election.
For those on the blue side of the political fence, Plouffe, former campaign manager for Barack Obama, has written an instructive, step-by-step guide to the electoral process for the average Democrat who wants to contribute substantively towards unseating the current president ... The readable and informal prose highlights useful, practical suggestions for the involved moderate Democrat as well as fascinating behind-the-scenes anecdotes that professional political operatives would do well to study. The book’s political leanings are made obvious in the title and would not be welcomed by conservative voters. For Democrats, liberals, and progressives, however, this is an invaluable map for political engagement.
The book, simply written in relatively few words, is a call to arms and a manual for campaign volunteers ... This is not really a detailed argument for why Trump should be defeated—that is a given to Plouffe and probably anyone who buys this book. Plouffe is preaching to the faithful here, and frequently sounding somewhat overwrought while doing it ... He’s not really wrong...but one can almost picture Plouffe on the verge of hyperventilating as he writes that his horror at Trump’s election had a greater impact on him than the elation he felt at Obama’s 2008 victory ... But his game plan could provide essential guidance for an army of Democratic social media warriors who can still post online and work the phones from home.
Plouffe delivers a dense, nuts-and-bolts book, chock-full of advice. Written before the first nominating contest and the global pandemic, it is a mixture of enthusiasm and partially outdated realism. Plouffe is no longer dismissive of Trump and his political skill set ... Citizen’s Guide offers a useful description of the 'gettable' electorate ... Unfortunately, Plouffe can come close to broad-brushing Trump supporters as irredeemably deplorable ... With the US having gone from everything is awesome to a state of national emergency in a matter of weeks, we could all use a bit less bile ... Against this backdrop, Citizen’s Guide cannot begin to tell us the whole story—nor can we expect it to.
