One damn thing after another

This was an interesting insider’s account of the rise and rise of Biden, but amidst the collection of anecdotes is the feeling that something is missing. There’s precious little discussion of money amidst the most expensive elections in the world. There’s hardly any reference to the corporate power deployed during the elections, where almost $3.5 billion dollars were raised by Super PACs as “outside spending”. There’s little discussion of the cultural elites - I’m reminded in particular of the image of Hilary Clinton being welcomed on to the stage by Jay-Z and Beyoncé in 2016, which was used to dramatic effect in Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 11/9. There’s a lot attacking Bernie Sanders and the BernieBros. This is all about the party machines, the TV gaffes, the who said what to who. Entertaining (although Biden is just a grey blob at the centre of this web, failing to come out of it with anything resembling a personality, much less any political principles - which is, I think, the point the authors are driving at) but ultimately vacuous.

If not Biden, and the term damned by faint praise may as well have been coined by this book, then who? Pretty much everyone comes out looking a little sullied by the primaries, on the Democratic side, and the authors make clear early on their view that Trump is a danger to the republic. The implicit question is, how did it happen that Biden is the guy picked to fight him? What does he even stand for? The underlying assumption of the authors seems to be that the grey man Biden was needed because it took a centrist to unite the broadest possible layer of voters against Trump. Someone who was likeable, wouldn’t piss people off, a grown up, and the book drives home that this is who Biden is again and again, as he gets lucky break after lucky break. But it hardly scratches the deeply anti-democratic, anti-socialist layers of the Democratic Party’s leaders, who put enormous pressure on everyone and everything to fall in behind the safe centrist and stop Sanders. That anti-socialist drive is precisely what created the space for a Biden.

Another world was possible - no centrist but someone who could reach into Trump’s base of angry working class people and mobilise them against zero hour contracts, crap wages, non-existent benefits. The authors in their thoroughly dismissive tone miss this entirely. In that they are little different to those who recycled truisms about how Trump would never be the nominee, would never be President etc etc. Disappointing lack of reflection and insight from the authors. But a decent yarn nonetheless.

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puts you right in the heads of the main players.

Outstanding journalism makes this a behind the scenes documentary like no other I've heard. 'Lucky' gets into the thoughts and opinions of the main players of the 2020 U.S election, from primaries onwards. It details meetings between Obama and Buttegieg, Biden and Abrams and gets right into the heads of the main actors, often highlighting the separation of person and their public persona. It wears its judgment lightly and often calls key players by their first names- an effective way to humanise them. Above all, it shows the maturation of a campaign that was seemingly doomed from the start. A great listen.

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Engaging but limited

This is a very easy listen and an engaging one but I feel it misses the extraordinary nature of the Trump presidency. There is exhaustive and at times exhausting coverage of the Democratic primaries but very little on the main race or the incumbent. The post-election period doesn't really get a look in and you are left with a portrait of a flawed campaign winning an election that it probably shouldn't have won. But, to me this misses out the figure that made this election different, Trump. At one point the author states that Biden was carrying the hopes of millions of Americans. No. He was carrying the hopes of millions around the world. It was more important than just a race for the United States presidency. In missing what made Trump different as a political leader we get an engaging story about process but one that lacks wider context. The narration is excellent.

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3 people found this helpful