Michael Crowley

This book showed up in our library's collection in May of 2009 and I don't know how I missed it. I've been a subscriber to The New Republic for a few years and my favorite columnist is Michael Crowley. I lean right on most political issues, but somehow seem to agree with him on almost everything - probably because rather than singing praises for one side and ridiculing the other, he bashes both sides. That is also my favorite part of this book. All the candidates look silly at some point. It had many little stories from the campaign trail that showed everyone's gaffes.… (más)

I had almost forgotten just how incredibly exciting the recent presidential election was when I picked up 08: A Graphic Diary of the Campaign Trail. Written by New Republic editor Michael Crowley and illustrated by Dan Goldman, this story is, on the one hand, not much more than a summary of campaign events from 2006-2008. Its real power stems from its energy as a graphic novel; the drama is presented with all the dynamism of a classic superhero comic book. The bias is not so much pro-Dem as it is pro-Obama. Virtually everybody else in the story ends up looking bad, with particular distaste reserved for Hillary and Mitt. All in all, a fun and undemanding read that will remind you of the most riveting election in modern political history.… (más)

The U.S. Presidential election in 2008 has already been considered one of the most historic elections, and it has been given much attention in books that have published recently. This book, 08 A Graphic Diary of the Campaign Trail, describes the election in a very creative way that makes it one of the most compelling election accounts.

Because contemporary U.S. Presidential campaigns now start even before the actual election year, this book too starts in 2006, when the mid-term elections change the game in Washington, D.C. and effectively seal then-President Bush's unpopularity. As a result, candidates from both parties end up looking towards the future rather than the past. Right away, while all of the candidates in the primaries are mentioned, many of them in great detail, two receive the most attention: Barack Obama and John McCain, the eventual nominees. Both go through periods of being the underdog, and McCain is outright written off as a candidate at one time.

One of the great things, from my perspective, is that the book includes many small but interesting anecdotes from the campaign as they are happening (the various gaffes that the candidates have, for instance). The authors also, of course, describe in detail the major turning points for each candidate as well. The authors did an excellent job with fact-checking; I found no errors in what happened. Finally, the humorous anecdotes from the campaign are included as well, which gave me plenty of chuckles. (Some readers may not have remembered or even heard of Mitt Romney trying to sound hip and current by singing "Who Let the Dogs Out", but the authors didn't forget!)

Also, I strongly disagree with the notion that the book has a liberal bias. For the two major candidates, both their achievements and their flaws are shown; Obama isn't depicted as perfect, and McCain certainly isn't depicted as evil. Perhaps some of the minor candidates aren't depicted well (Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, and Ron Paul are depicted a bit as oddballs, and there is that humorous depiction of Mitt Romney that I mentioned), but this hardly is evidence of a partisan bias. Yes, it's true that Obama's victory is treated as a huge climactic event; this is an account of an election, so why shouldn't it? If McCain had won, his victory too would have been described in glowing terms. But I digress.

A Graphic Diary of the Campaign Trail is an excellent book for both fans of graphic novels and for political enthusiasts. I'm definitely one of the latter and I'm gradually becoming one of the former as well. This is the type of book that must be saved for future generations to get a true feel for how this compelling election took place! I know I'll be holding on to my copy!… (más)