I am a political junkie. There, I have admitted it. I am also conservative, but not a Kevin McCullough conservative. He is a far-right member of the spectrum and spends the entire book telling the reader that everything our current president has done and is doing is wrong and destroying America. For a McCullough fan this book is gold. For someone interested in quality journalism, this book misses the mark by a wide margin.
I believe there are many different types of politicos but it probably boils down to these two: Those who want to Win and those who want to win. You read that right … they are the same phrase, but one with a capital W and one without.
McCullough is of the capital Win category. He thinks his ideas are 100 percent right and based on the book, leaves no room for wiggle-room in the conversation. And don’t get me wrong, I criticize President Obama quite a bit but I am also one to understand that our 44th President was dealt one of the worst political hands in history.
However, this book comes at a very interesting point in his first term: he is stalled. President Obama passed the healthcare reform, but basically nothing else has happened. The title of this book, No He Can’t, is a play off of his 2008 campaign slogan, “Yes We Can!” And McCullough does an excellent job critiquing how little has changed in Washington, much of it because of the divisive nature of both parties.
What did I learn from it? History is and always will be our nation’s greatest teacher and it seems that our country as a whole has lost that focus. McCullough makes a surprising point early in the book when he say, “When it comes to a president’s ability to influence the nation’s economy, Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Ronald W. Reagan had something in common. They both believed that if government spending could be restrained, and the largest marginal tax rates were reduced, then economic recovery and growth would become a bipartisan by-product of the habits of a free market.” That line more than any other stuck out to me as a stinging critique of President Obama.
Why You Should Read It:
- There actually is really great information here, but you have to take it with a grain of salt.
- As any person in politics or rhetoric knows, if you want to win/Win, you have to know what the other side is thinking.
What You Can Expect to Walk Away With:
- You will definitely learn some things that have not been reported in the mainstream media.
- A frustration at the state of our country.
- A fire to do something about it.
