Revival by Richard Wolffe

Richard Wolffe returns to Obama's White House with Revival: The Struggle for Survival Inside the Obama White House.

Picking up just after Renegade, Wolffe takes us through the successes and failures of President Obama and his team to pass Health Care Reform as well as his other domestic policies.

Wolffe uses his direct contact with the President and other senior White House aides to weave a political tale of how Obama worked to unite Senate Democrats with their fellow House members against Congressional Republicans.

Wolffe attempts to be a straight shooter by offering some of the missteps and mistakes that President Obama committed but this is obviously a pro-Obama writer and the book is slightly left of center. That being said, I wish more political books were written with this kind of civility.

Revival isn't as enjoyable to read as Renegade and you'll feel like you're reliving the boring debate about Health Care reform, but with this book, you'll get a taste of what it was like from the insider's point of view. Wolffe touches on the difficulty Obama faced when trying to come up with a plan for Afghanistan (vs the military brass). And like Renegade, sometimes it feels like you're just rereading Obama's speeches.

Wolffe is no Woodward when it comes to recounting political tales and being engaging, there were many times where I had to push myself to continue reading this book, but I always enjoy reading the behind-the-scenes work of The Oval Office and our President.