Barack and Joe: The Making of an Extraordinary Partnership
A Washington Post 2019 Notable Selection
A vivid and inspiring account of the “bromance” between Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
The extraordinary partnership of Barack Obama and Joe Biden is unique in American history. The two men, their characters and styles sharply contrasting, formed a dynamic working relationship that evolved into a profound friendship. Their affinity was not predestined. Obama and Biden began wary of each other: Obama an impatient freshman disdainful of the Senate’s plodding ways; Biden a veteran of the chamber and proud of its traditions.
Gradually they came to respect each other’s values and strengths and rode into the White House together in 2008. Side-by-side through two tension-filled terms, they shared the day-to-day joys and struggles of leading the most powerful nation on earth. They accommodated each other’s quirks: Biden’s famous miscues kept coming, and Obama overlooked them knowing they were insignificant except as media fodder. With his expertise in foreign affairs and legislative matters, Biden took on an unprecedented role as chief adviser to Obama, reshaping the vice presidency. Together Obama and Biden guided Americans through a range of historic moments: a devastating economic crisis, racial confrontations, war in Afghanistan, and the dawn of same-sex marriage nationwide. They supported each other through highs and lows: Obama provided a welcome shoulder during the illness and death of Biden’s son Beau.
“Levingston, a gifted diviner of our political ethos and an eloquent chronicler of our national tendencies, delves purposefully into the relationship between Obama and Biden, showing how it was the magical melding of two forceful personalities who were quite dissimilar in many ways, but no less capable of turning their differences into national benefit. . . . This buddy film come-to-life is a magnificent story told with poetic verve by a writer who sets his study up like a thriller and crafts it with the pace and surprise of a first-rate novel.”―Michael Eric Dyson, from the Foreword
Levingston “quotes from both men’s Twitter and Instagram accounts; late-night hosts, cable news gasbags and internet meme-makers are all frequently cited. And he attempts to tease out why those who were ‘observing the president and vice president from a distance’ were so invested in Obama and Biden’s relationship. Part of it, Levingston theorizes, was that ‘America had a weakness for buddy teams. Felix and Oscar. Bert and Ernie. Buzz and Woody.’ More interestingly, he argues that Obama and Biden’s partnership, ‘just by its existence and daily workings . . . served as a badge of racial harmony.'” ―New York Times
“Levingston weaves a lively narrative about an unlikely alliance between the taciturn Obama and gregarious, voluble Biden.” ―Kirkus Reviews
Steven Levingston 