Obama's Wars

By: Bob Woodward

Narrated by: Boyd Gaines

Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Working behind the scenes for 18 months, Bob Woodward has written the most intimate and sweeping portrait of President Obama making the critical decisions on the Afghanistan War, the secret war in Pakistan, and the worldwide fight against terrorism. Drawing on internal memos, classified documents, meeting notes, and hundreds of hours of interviews with most of the key players, including the president, Woodward offers an original, you-are-there account of Obama and his team in this time of turmoil and uncertainty.

©2010 Simon and Schuster Audio; 2010 Bob Woodward

Pretty dry.

This sterile presentation makes it easy to forget the reality of the war on the ground. Would've been much more impactful if the narrative had bounced back and forth between actual combat operations and the office drama on a regular basis.

Very insightful

This helped to explain the strategy or lack thereof before Obama took over, of the Afghanistan war. Loved the intrigues and tension between the military and the civilian leadership

Classic Woodard

This is Bob Woodard in his element. Beyond the politicking and spinning of the arguments, he gives an almost AP factual style reporting on what is really going on in the White House. Much like his three books on the Bush administration, it is not hard to see pundits on both sides of the isle picking and choosing their quotes from this work to support their point-of-view.
In the end, what we walk away from this experience with is the understanding that The White House is home to the biggest internal rivalry of egos in the country. Negotiating them and trying to map the way ahead for our country is a path beset with many obstacles, opinions, and potential detours. Most readers are going to look at this work and try to draw comparisons, which is completely legitimate and possible. In the end, what Woodard makes clear is that these are all people who fervently believe that what they do everyday moves our country forward to the best of their abilities. It is up to the reader to look at the FACTS and decide is this the future they envision for our country.
I recommend this book to readers of all stripes, red, blue, and purple.

A lot of details -- Too many in fact

Initially my interest was high as I learned the inner workings at the very pinnacle of government. Few surprises as cabinet heads and others fight for power and position. By the middle of the book the story had morphed into more and more of the same conversations at the never-ending meetings. Toward the end I was just wanting it to be over. Too much detail, not enough punch for me.

The reader killed it for me

At every single opportunity to get a name or term right, the reader went in a different direction. You can tell he's never been to Iraq or Afghanistan, and never spent a minute with anyone in the military. A different reader would make a huge difference...

Great Book!!

This book was very well written . Bob Woodward really knows his stuff and is very good at what he does.

Afghanistan War 101

Woodward gives his usual thorough, almost too much so, narrative of the current Afgan war, and the many problems there after the country was left to languish as Bush turned his sights on Iraq. The only minor complaints are that the long and almost repetitive narratives become background noise after awhile. Plus, the subject matter is quite narrow in scope. I wanted to hear more about the other trials and problems in the White House ongoing at the same time. There are also clear moments in the audio where the narrator was either starting a new day of reading, or had to "punch in" some audio changes after the fact. A bit shoddy for this stature of book.

Interesting, but too wordy

Is there anything you would change about this book?

This book has some quotes by non-English speaking leaders (Pakistani, Afghani, etc). The narrator tries to simulate some kind of weird accent to do this. I did not like this.

Second, the book solely describes US presence in Afghanistan. I had the idea that it would also be on the topic of other conflicts the US is involved in. Nut then again, I could have read the description better.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

I like the way Woodward has a way to give you the idea that you are present at the conversations he's quoting.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Boyd Gaines?

No idea

Do you think Obama's Wars needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No, for me it was already too lengthy. I don't mind lengthy books, but it became wordy here

disappointment

Not in the book so much but the President himself, the lack of command was shocking

Obama: Not getting my vote in 2012

Wow. I bought this book because of the whole debate of Iraq and Afghanistan and wanted to see the "behind the scenes" aspects of how this debate was occuring w/ the major power players. What I realized after reading this book is that although our President is a strong leader, charismatic, and seems to assemble alot of smart people around him, he doesn't seem to have an ability to make a decision. He also does not seem to have an ability to understand the intricacies of Washington politics. The fact that he alienated nearly 90% of his senior advisers and cabinet in the first 18 months as president does not bode well for how the rest of this term in going to play out. I tell you what, I am for hope and change, I hope we change presidents in 2012.
(On a non-substance input, I did not like the speaker/voice of the person reading the book, it sounded like somebody trying to do a bad Admiral Mullen impersonation for 10 hours).