LETTER FROM
THE EDITOR
HUFFINGTON
09.09.12
A
Polarizing
President
and
Polarizing
Books
HIS WEEK’S DOUBLE
issue of Huffington arrives in the brief lull
between the Republican
and Democratic conventions. It is,
of course, all about the November
election. In a sweeping overview
of President Obama’s first term,
Ryan Grim and Sam Stein describe
Obama, just three months before
Election Day, suffering from an “engagement gap,” an almost unthinkable predicament for the man who
stirred such passion four years ago.
The reason, Ryan and Sam write, is
that “Obama has come to resemble
the creature of Washington he campaigned against”—not the transformational leader his supporters were
ART STREIBER
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expecting. In mapping the journey
from Campaigning Obama to Governing Obama—including a compelling re-telling of the legislative
jostling around the stimulus bill—
Ryan and Sam portray a president
who entered office embodying the
hopes of millions, now bracing for
an election that is likely to be a lot
tougher than anyone would have
predicted. “How,” they ask, “did a
candidate who drew two million
individuals to his inauguration and
retained a 13 million-member email
list lose that magic?”
And at a time when the polarization of our political discourse
is seen as a given, Michael Calderone examines its effects on one of
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