Confidence Men

Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President

By: Ron Suskind

Narrated by: James Lurie

Length: 22 hrs

Publisher's summary

The hidden history of Wall Street and the White House comes down to a single, powerful, quintessentially American concept: confidence. Both centers of power, tapping brazen innovations over the past three decades, learned how to manufacture it.

Until August 2007, when that confidence finally began to crumble.

In this gripping and brilliantly reported book, Ron Suskind tells the story of what happened next, as Wall Street struggled to save itself while a man with little experience and soaring rhetoric emerged from obscurity to usher in "a new era of responsibility". It is a story that follows the journey of Barack Obama, who rose as the country fell, and offers the first full portrait of his tumultuous presidency.

Wall Street found that straying from long-standing principles of transparency, accountability, and fair dealing opened a path to stunning profits. Obama’s determination to reverse that trend was essential to his ascendance, especially when Wall Street collapsed during the fall of an election year and the two candidates could audition for the presidency by responding to a national crisis. But as he stood on the stage in Grant Park, a shudder went through Barack Obama. He would now have to command Washington, tame New York, and rescue the economy in the first real management job of his life.

The new president surrounded himself with a team of seasoned players - like Rahm Emanuel, Larry Summers, and Tim Geithner - who had served a different president in a different time. As the nation’s crises deepened, Obama’s deputies often ignored the president’s decisions - “to protect him from himself” - while they fought to seize control of a rudderless White House. Bitter disputes - between men and women, policy and politics - ruled the day. The result was an administration that found itself overtaken by events as, year to year, Obama struggled to grow into the world’s toughest job and, in desperation, take control of his own administration.

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Ron Suskind introduces readers to an ensemble cast, from the titans of high finance to a new generation of reformers, from petulant congressmen and acerbic lobbyists to a tight circle of White House advisers - and, ultimately, to the president himself, as you’ve never before seen him. Based on hundreds of interviews and filled with piercing insights and startling disclosures, Confidence Men brings into focus the collusion and conflict between the nation’s two capitals - New York and Washington, one of private gain, the other of public purpose - in defining confidence and, thereby, charting America’s future.

©2011 Ron Suskind (P)2011 HarperCollinsPublishers

Obama's first report card

What is so disturbing about this book is Suskind's assessment that Obama is no task master and lacks courage and conviction. Further, Obama should have read Sutton's "The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't " prior or forming his team - he would never hired Larry Summers.

Very revealing

Would you listen to Confidence Men again? Why?

I would listen to this again. It reveals the weakness of our leaders.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

You learn that you can't trust the Cabinet members. That Wall Street has infiltrated the Executive Branch of our government.

Have you listened to any of James Lurie???s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Lurie does an excellent naration.

Amazing

Suskind translates complex economic terminology and concepts into understandable terms. He tells a compelling multilayer story and makes it gripping...and frightening.

Insightful, but...

While a little tedious at times, this account of Obama’s first 1000 days (give or take) provides insight into why this great orator, who offered a vision of a better America, is an ineffectual President. The extent to which Obama was both supported and advised by the same Wall Street players that got rich while helping to create the financial meltdown is both insightful and disturbing.

I was disappointed to not hear about the influence organized labor played with this President, but this is a story about Obama and Wall Street. The author has some good connections into the inner workings of the administration, but does not seem to have a grasp of how the failures of financial regulation caused the very problems they were supposed to prevent.

The story line gets lost a bit when the author tries to explain the financial meltdown in terms of evil bankers versus virtuous regulators. He meanders into long stories describing how bankers gave into their craving for wealth and power, setting in motion a series of events that almost destroyed the economy.

The story is much more complex than that, as is implied when Lawrence Summers warns Geithner to “never admit you were wrong”. As we all know, Summers was part of the administration that relaxed financial regulation a decade earlier.

I recently listened to bios on FDR, Truman, JFK. I will go out on a limb to say Obama shares FDR’s lack of understanding of what to do, but lacked his ability to give people confidence in what he was doing. Obama and Truman both came from political machines, but Truman did a great job addressing the challenges in the post-war period, while Obama worries about getting re-elected. After listening to “1961” and “Brilliant Disaster”, I conclude Obama and JFK are comparable in many ways – marvelous at campaigning, dismal at leading.

Good Story, Bad Narration

I do not like James Lurie's narration. He reads as though this is a dark mystery and in addition he was putting me to sleep. This is one that is better read than listened to in my opinion.

Interesting Read

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. It was a glimpse at what happens "behind the curtains"

What did you like best about this story?

Introduction to the players and what happened

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

The power plays going on

Good Book, Disappointing President

Would you consider the audio edition of Confidence Men to be better than the print version?

The Impact of Hearing this brings the story Alive! That's Always the case for the difference between Print and Audio, for me. Since I am ~ gaining an advance in age ~ listening is gaining in virtue!

What other book might you compare Confidence Men to and why?

Not Sure.

If you could give Confidence Men a new subtitle, what would it be?

WHAT the President SAID To the BANK Bosses Behind Closed Doors!

Any additional comments?

The MAIN Point of This Book ~ For ME ~ was that the President Let Them OFF The Hook when they were Behind Closed Doors! I have had a Hard Time being as completely supportive of the president, since. The Only Escape Clause I can conjure up to justify this, on behalf of the president, is ~ they were the people he had to work with ~ in going forward ~ to Fix the Economy AFTER the Wreak the the Bush 43's administration ~ Left. In March of 2015 ~ it is a better economy, but human nature being what it IS ~ I Don't Think the Lessons they Should Have Gotten (think ~ 'woodshed') have been Learned. It Can Happen Again and IF or When It Does ~ We will WISH We Had the Opportunity ~ that the 'president' that is now 'set' ~ will prevent! I think the Book was Fine and actually preformed a patriotic service of letting Us Know What Happened. The president may have Had To Do what He Did ~ In His Own Mind ~ but I felt Let Down, which the message of the book revealed. Disappointed from that perspective. Personal Opinion, I suppose.

Book is Interesting; Performance is Soporific

After starting this book in hard cover I was delighted to find an audible.com version of it. Unfortunately, although the book is interesting and worth reading, the performance is so horrible that you start to hate the book. I did not think someone could be so dull in their reading of interesting event in our history but this audio version proves me wrong. I almost fell asleep listening to it in the car today. If I had insomnia, this performance would be a great cure but it is not a way to get the content of this otherwise important book.

Ridiculous version of history

What disappointed you about Confidence Men?

It is not based on any version of what or why the credit crisis occurred. Rather it is a fairy tale of events to try to promote corrupt politicians like Elizabeth Warren.

Would you ever listen to anything by Ron Suskind again?

Never. It took a lot of effort to twist facts the way he did in this book. This author has a extreme left wing agenda.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of James Lurie?

This book never should have been created for Audible. Its bad enough it is in print. Find someone whose voice is inaudible.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Confidence Men?

There are too many to count. The whole premise of the book is wrong and uneducated.

Boring, Boring, Boring

What disappointed you about Confidence Men?

I was so interested in the topic but found it so boring that I could not even get close to finishing it. I tried to listen to it twice (with about 2 years in-between!) and just could not get engaged with the story. I kept thinking "who cares?". Not me.

Has Confidence Men turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, I have listened to many books like this that were great.

Which scene was your favorite?

There was nothing in this book that I could point to as a "favorite".

What character would you cut from Confidence Men?

The author.