Overview
The 2000 presidential election left the nation standing still, but it was no fluke. America is divided right down the middle - the result of a half century, unique in our country's history, of inconclusive, increasingly heated partisan battle. Tantalizingly close to victory, each party inflames and mobilizes its most loyal supporters and battles to gain even a small edge with some contested groups. Politics has become culture war - a fight about values, faith, the family, how people should live their lives. The result: partisans are more partisan, politics more polarized, America more divided.The Two Americas: Our Current Political Deadlock and How to Break It tells the history of each party's failed efforts to dominate the era's politics and ideas, radically changing the political landscape. The book provides an in-depth guide to the new groups at the center of our politics. Internationally renowned political strategist and pollster Stanley Greenberg puts the reader in the room with the strategists and politicians and shows how each party can win, even shatter the impasse. The Two Americas is a political primer and strategic playbook for this unique era - essential reading for any armchair political strategist or engaged citizen eager to understand our future politics.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Pollster Greenberg (Middle Class Dreams), who was part of Bill Clinton's victorious "war room" team during the 1992 presidential campaign, is dissatisfied with the country's political split down the middle and has ideas for how to break the Democratic/Republican impasse. He considers the last, embattled presidential election "just the current moment in an era of political deadlock" stretching back to the Eisenhower administration, a half-century in which the two parties have traded power back and forth unable to form a lasting dynasty. The 2004 election, he says, promises to be just as competitive. Analyzing each party's potential, Greenberg breaks down their loyalists into identifiable factions, like "F-You Boys" (Deep Southern white male blue-collar workers who "think President George W. Bush is their guy") and "Super-Educated Women" (Democratic loyalists though their husbands, "Privileged Men," are Republicans), Then Greenberg closely examines three regional blocs that may be up for grabs: he calls them Tampa Blue, Seattle's Eastside Tech and Heartland Iowa. In the second half of the book, he imagines how party leaders might plan to keep or retake the White House. His analysis of the GOP's strategy to present Bush as the carefully scrubbed "Reagan's Son" seems dead-on. Several possible strategies are described for Democrats, but his clear preference is for putting a 21st-century spin on the values and agenda of the Kennedy-Johnson era, with such talking points as universal health care and education, tax reform, even a new "Apollo project" to tackle energy security and global warming. Intricate strategic analysis and close attention to a wavering electorate make this political handbook stand out from the pack. (Jan. 8) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.Library Journal
Greenberg (CEO, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research) should know what he is talking about. The former adviser and pollster for President Clinton and Vice President Gore, Greenberg is paid to have his finger on the pulse of public opinion. In this ambitious book, he asserts that the United States is "trapped in an ugly parity that drives both parties, each tantalizingly close to tasting the fruits of victory, to more intense battles that leave the country more divided." Greenberg looks for a way to break out of this morass. He sees the past several elections as resulting in virtual ties between the Democrats and Republicans (the blue states and the red states), and with no clear governing or electoral majority. While not directly saying so, Greenberg suggests that as the parties become more partisan, the voters are becoming less so. This creates an opportunity for one party (he hopes it is the Democrats) to put "at risk the current game" and thereby capture the loyalty of voters and become the new majority party. Richly textured and powerfully presented, this serious book should make significant impact on the way we view politics in America.-Michael A. Genovese, Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.From the Publisher
"This highly original work is packed with relevant information, which Greenberg interprets lucidly and scrupulously, and from which he constructs his strategies for change. Anyone concerned with the prospects for moving from the existing political polarization and stalemate to a better America should read this book."
-Robert Dahl, Sterling Professor of Political Science Emeritus, Yale University, and author of numerous political science books including On Democracy and How Democratic is the American Constitution?
"The defining political fact of our time is the division of America. Stan Greenberg has devoted his career to studying those fault lines and strategizing about how to bridge them. The Two Americas is his master work. Whichever party absorbs his insights will have a master plan."
-George Stephanopoulos
"Written by the nation's most astute political analyst, The Two Americas dissects the U.S. electorate, revealing the human aspirations and historical forces at the root of the current partisan deadlock. Regular Americans speak out, and political parties come alive. Equally important, Greenberg goes beyond analysis to show Democrats the way forward. To recapture momentum and achieve an enduring majority, our party should fight for a '100 Percent America' combining patriotism with opportunity and security for all. This is a perfect formula for 2004 -- and let's hope the Democratic presidential aspirants are listening."
-Theda Skocpol, Professor of Government and Sociology, Harvard University and author of Diminished Democracy
"This is hands down the most important book in American politics in my memory. It is. I can't think of another...well, maybe since The Making of the President, in 1960."
-James Carville
"Memo to the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee: DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. IT LAYS OUT THE BEST STRATEGY I'VE SEEN FOR BEATING BUSH. THAT WOULD BE BAD FOR AMERICA. SO PLEASE, PLEASE-IGNORE STANLEY GREENBERG!"
-William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard and co-author of the bestselling The War Over Iraq
"The Two Americas is a serious book about a serious topic at a serious time. I'd much rather Stan Greenberg be writing smart books about politics than giving Democrats smart advice in them."
-Mary Matalin, Republican analyst and Bush White House adviser