I became aware of the author, Steve Kornacki, on election night 2016. He was the very excited NBC analyst covering the races on the “big board” all night. Steve was the guy who would zoom in on a state and recall, by district or city, where votes were likely coming or outstanding. I tried for years to deny my love of politics and my innate desire to be a full-on political junkie and I found a kindred spirit in Steve Kornacki. I started following him on twitter and when I learned he was writing a book, I was very interested. This is that book and it is magnificent.
Before I get into the meat of the book, I want clearly set expectations about what this book is and what it is not. It is, chiefly, a history book in the style of a dual biography. It is not a subjective piece designed to make one of the primary “characters” look good or bad. It is an objective view, through a political lens, of our recent history. It is not a cause and effect tale but it does foreshadow several even more recent events but does not explicitly connect the dots. The Red and the Blue chronicles the parallel rises to power of President Bill Clinton and Speaker Newt Gingrich. It discusses, at length, the way both men worked against traditional politics to win their respective roles.
Now, for the more personal part of the review. I started high school in the 1990s so I remember some of these events which really helped me develop a real understanding. I am also NOT a fan of Newt Gingrich for a a myriad of reasons. Therefore I feel obligated to mention that while this book did not endear me to him, there were aspects that made him understand him better. I found that I agreed with many of the things he did initially, especially the rejection of political norms that supported corruption and the “good old boy” network. That said, I *still* disagree completely with his reasons for doing it. Had Speaker Gingrich been altruistic and ethic with his objections to the norms, I would support him. He was neither of those things and spoke, somewhat, openly about his strategy to retake the House of Representatives by turning everything into drawn out fight, especially when a moral high ground could be found. Personally, I find that attitude repulsive. It was also VERY successful, at least at first, but it is difficult for a single person to maintain the necessary ardor and outrage at all times and even more so once at the pinnacle of power. Manufactured outrage works for a time but, if I may opine, requires quick pivots to new outrage which is what we see in all forms of cable news today. Furthermore, I think we are seeing this from the current administration who ran a campaign that could have been designed by Speaker Gingrich and must continue to manufacture outrage less they lose their support. As another aside, President Trump seems to have stolen his entire campaign from Pat Buchanon’s 1992 campaign for president. It even included the Make America Great Again motto.
All in all, I think this book helps explain where we are but allows the reader to draw their own conclusions. If you like politics, at all, read this right away.