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The Argument
Widely cited by journalists and bloggers as the man to read to understand the political races, New York Times Magazine writer Matt Bai has written a book about the Democratic Party that's as riveting as it is timely and vital. The Argument takes readers to the front lines of the grassroots progressive movement that is seizing power from the party's weakened D.C. establishment, capturing a colorful cast of donors and power brokers struggling to articulate a direction: an argument. The result is a fascinating, uniquely candid look at present-day politics.
- GenresPoliticsNonfiction
336 pages, ebook
First published August 16, 2007
9 people are currently reading
196 people want to read
About the author
Matt Bai
11 books22 followersThis is the place on the site where I answer those often asked questions: "Who do you think you are?" or "Just where do you get off…?"
You can get the official version of my bio here.
For more than seven years, I've written on national politics for the New York Times Magazine. You can access most of my work on the 2004 and 2008 campaigns and other topics here. My work for the magazine was featured in both the 2005 and 2006 editions of "The Best American Political Writing."
I’m also the author of "The Argument: Inside the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics," published by the Penguin Press, which is now in paperback. The book, which took me several years to report and write, is an inside account of the new progressive movement in America and an analysis of the state of Democratic politics in the years before Barack Obama. The New York Times named it one of the best books of 2007.
In 2006, I contributed a personal essay to an anthology called "I Married my Mother-in-Law and Other Tales of In-Laws We Can't Live With—and Can't Live Without." I recommend the anthology, and not just because I'm in it.
I grew up in Trumbull, Connecticut, a nice little town just outside of Bridgeport, the city where both of my parents were born. Those who have ever driven through Bridgeport will understand how I came to care about politics and industrial decay. In fact, I've never lived more than a few miles from a housing project, which probably explains my skepticism toward both Darwinian social policy and the notion that expansive government can fix everything. I went to Tufts and Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism, where the faculty generously awarded me the Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship.
Early in my career, just out of college, I was a speechwriter for what is now the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, where I wrote for the great Audrey Hepburn during her last years. (I’ve still never seen one of her movies, but she was a lovely person.) I started my journalism career at the Boston Globe, where I covered crime and breaking news, and then spent five years traveling the country as a national correspondent for Newsweek, which was a terrific opportunity. (I also did a disastrous little stint at Rolling Stone, which included no articles and a lot of weirdness, but I'm contractually prohibited from talking about that.) There are probably several states in the country from which I still haven’t reported, but I can't easily think of them.
When I’m not traveling, I live a life of domestic tranquility in Washington with my wife, Ellen, and our two small children, Ichiro and Allegra. For hobbies, I enjoy woodworking and mountain climbing. Actually, that's not true at all; I couldn't build a birdhouse, and, after a brutal game of touch football and a whole mess of knee surgery, I can barely climb a Jungle Gym. My main hobby, outside of reading history and fiction, is watching the Yankees. In this arena, at least, I am entirely partisan.
You can get the official version of my bio here.
For more than seven years, I've written on national politics for the New York Times Magazine. You can access most of my work on the 2004 and 2008 campaigns and other topics here. My work for the magazine was featured in both the 2005 and 2006 editions of "The Best American Political Writing."
I’m also the author of "The Argument: Inside the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics," published by the Penguin Press, which is now in paperback. The book, which took me several years to report and write, is an inside account of the new progressive movement in America and an analysis of the state of Democratic politics in the years before Barack Obama. The New York Times named it one of the best books of 2007.
In 2006, I contributed a personal essay to an anthology called "I Married my Mother-in-Law and Other Tales of In-Laws We Can't Live With—and Can't Live Without." I recommend the anthology, and not just because I'm in it.
I grew up in Trumbull, Connecticut, a nice little town just outside of Bridgeport, the city where both of my parents were born. Those who have ever driven through Bridgeport will understand how I came to care about politics and industrial decay. In fact, I've never lived more than a few miles from a housing project, which probably explains my skepticism toward both Darwinian social policy and the notion that expansive government can fix everything. I went to Tufts and Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism, where the faculty generously awarded me the Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship.
Early in my career, just out of college, I was a speechwriter for what is now the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, where I wrote for the great Audrey Hepburn during her last years. (I’ve still never seen one of her movies, but she was a lovely person.) I started my journalism career at the Boston Globe, where I covered crime and breaking news, and then spent five years traveling the country as a national correspondent for Newsweek, which was a terrific opportunity. (I also did a disastrous little stint at Rolling Stone, which included no articles and a lot of weirdness, but I'm contractually prohibited from talking about that.) There are probably several states in the country from which I still haven’t reported, but I can't easily think of them.
When I’m not traveling, I live a life of domestic tranquility in Washington with my wife, Ellen, and our two small children, Ichiro and Allegra. For hobbies, I enjoy woodworking and mountain climbing. Actually, that's not true at all; I couldn't build a birdhouse, and, after a brutal game of touch football and a whole mess of knee surgery, I can barely climb a Jungle Gym. My main hobby, outside of reading history and fiction, is watching the Yankees. In this arena, at least, I am entirely partisan.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
April 7, 2010
Interesting read. As a Virginian, I was pleased to see that there are brief mentions of Tim Kaine and Jim Webb. And Matt Bai spends a little more time on Mark Warner, who jumped out of the Presidential race in October 2006.
As a politically active person, I really liked the inside stories of the recent movements to creating a progressive infrastructure.
As a politically active person, I really liked the inside stories of the recent movements to creating a progressive infrastructure.
May 28, 2017
I enjoyed this book - it provided detailed accounts of the established and emerging groups and stakeholders in the Democratic Party during 2004-2008. The book introduced many of the Democratic leaders, characters, personalities, institutions, trends, tensions, themes and events that played important roles in the 2008, 2012, and 2016 election cycles. It helped me better understand the source of tension between progressive and traditional forces, personalities, and resources in the Democratic party that influenced their strategies, communications, ideas, and platforms they adopted in an attempt to reorient the party for the 21st Century.
March 16, 2017
Pretty good insight, especially with what happened in November.
April 21, 2008
This is not a book many of my friends would expect to see on my book list, but it arrives with a strong recommendation. Matt Bai, an editor with the New York Times Magazine, dives into the struggle to redefine, reinvigorate, and reposition the Democratic Party since 2002 by diverse groups of ultra rich, ultra sophisticated techies and plain old disaffected, mostly upper middle class, baby boomers. The vehicles of choice for these groups are semi-secret organizations, internet blogs and collectives like MoveOn.Org.
Bai is clearly sympathetic to the basic desire to bring Democrats back to a place of political prominance, but he is also too honest an observer not to tell it like he sees it. And more often than not he sees people incredibly jealous of conservative success in the war of ideas using groups like American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation, but completely unable themselves to get to any fundamental ideas beyond, "We hate George Bush!"
The one thing these people seem to agree on (because they only talk to each other?) is that the majority of the country is really liberal and that the only way to pursue politics is in an unending assault on anything Republican. The rich folks in this camp also know that they are far smarter than anyone else, including the Democratic Party traditionalists, and can therefore pursue very un-Democratic beliefs, simply because they know they are right. Bai ends the discussion with the idea that even if the Democrats win the executive and Congress in 2008, their success in taking back the country in the long run will depend upon them coming up with real ideas. Given the cast of characters described by Bai, this appears a long shot, at best.
Bai is clearly sympathetic to the basic desire to bring Democrats back to a place of political prominance, but he is also too honest an observer not to tell it like he sees it. And more often than not he sees people incredibly jealous of conservative success in the war of ideas using groups like American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation, but completely unable themselves to get to any fundamental ideas beyond, "We hate George Bush!"
The one thing these people seem to agree on (because they only talk to each other?) is that the majority of the country is really liberal and that the only way to pursue politics is in an unending assault on anything Republican. The rich folks in this camp also know that they are far smarter than anyone else, including the Democratic Party traditionalists, and can therefore pursue very un-Democratic beliefs, simply because they know they are right. Bai ends the discussion with the idea that even if the Democrats win the executive and Congress in 2008, their success in taking back the country in the long run will depend upon them coming up with real ideas. Given the cast of characters described by Bai, this appears a long shot, at best.
August 18, 2012
Well-written, engaging, and attempting to capture many of the competing personalities at work.
I enjoyed the book, and it was a quick read, but the underlying pretensions and argument the author was trying to frame over the situation became the largest character, which became distracting. It made me feel that there might be other stories here that he's only scratching the surface of, and instead of trying to make his argument for the book override the experiences he's witnessing, he could have chronicled events and people and told a different story.
Making a work of non-fiction fit into this neat little soundbite thesis just seems contrived. The things that were happening were more complex than just 'the argument', but that's what we got, because the marketing works well. In a way, it's ironic considering how much the author pans people like George Lakoff, who argues that marketing is more important than ideas.
Good writing, good research, quick read.
I enjoyed the book, and it was a quick read, but the underlying pretensions and argument the author was trying to frame over the situation became the largest character, which became distracting. It made me feel that there might be other stories here that he's only scratching the surface of, and instead of trying to make his argument for the book override the experiences he's witnessing, he could have chronicled events and people and told a different story.
Making a work of non-fiction fit into this neat little soundbite thesis just seems contrived. The things that were happening were more complex than just 'the argument', but that's what we got, because the marketing works well. In a way, it's ironic considering how much the author pans people like George Lakoff, who argues that marketing is more important than ideas.
Good writing, good research, quick read.
August 19, 2008
Very interesting and informative look at the different forces vying for sway in the Democratic Party between 2004 and 2006. Bai starts with the positive descriptions of how each group is genuinely concerned with changing the course of our country, but balances with an insider's view of major flaws within each movement. The billionaires are progressive and connected, but suffer from grandeur. The bloggers bring fresh outsider analysis, but tend to be too critical and unwilling to compromise. MoveOn represents the closest to grassroots our political system has been moved by, but MoveOn's momentum has waned. Great study of the real maneuvering going on in politics today!
January 21, 2009
Matt Bai does an excellent job of telling the story of the Progressive Movement from around 2003-2008: the constant arguments about what the Progressive stand for, their fights for control of the party and the online movement, etc.
This serves as a useful history to inform conservatives/libertarians of what we might expect in the next few years under the Obama administration.
Fortunately, I don't think that we suffer from a lack of ideas in the ways that the progressives do. Matt mentions in his stories how the leaders of the movement talk about about wanting to find a philosophy or idea but in the end they give that goal up for strategic short-term wins.
This serves as a useful history to inform conservatives/libertarians of what we might expect in the next few years under the Obama administration.
Fortunately, I don't think that we suffer from a lack of ideas in the ways that the progressives do. Matt mentions in his stories how the leaders of the movement talk about about wanting to find a philosophy or idea but in the end they give that goal up for strategic short-term wins.
January 6, 2009
Matt Bai is a very distinct voice on Democratic politics, and this book was teased at the bottom of his New York Times Magazine articles for a few years before its release, so the anticipation was mounting. The Argument did not disappoint. Bai was fair in giving certain this segment of Democratic activists their credit without being afraid to point out their faults. Not a perfect book, but definitely an excellent one.
June 23, 2008
A fascinating, frustrating book -- not frustrating because of anything the writer does wrong, but because it left me with a slightly greater understanding of a problem, but still no real sense of how to solve that problem. Well worth reading for democrats who aren't quite sure what the party stands for anymore.
March 29, 2013
Loved it. LIvely writing, a combination of sharp-eyed portraits of a host of fascinating, smart, quirky, arrogant, shrewd and caring people by a very smart, funny guy who spent a lot of time as more than a fly on the wall. A view into how things are done now that there aren't many smoke-filled rooms.
January 28, 2008
Good read, funny, and informative of *some* of the powers that be...but where are the real grassroots organizations? The netroots are a new and exciting constituency, but how does it connect to the real folks, and how can we use it to build a more sustainable progressive movement?
December 10, 2008
A great, fun political read about the problems that have faced the Democratic Party and the attempts to alleviate them. Focus is on reactions to the results of the 2004 election and the time following.
February 23, 2010
This book is a must read for anyone interested in the current political crisis. Especially for anyone of the Democratic persuasion looking for an explanation as to the deterioration of the "people's party".
September 4, 2007
I don't only read books related to my professional field, but my boss assigned this one as homework. I think I want to be a blogger now . . . or a billionaire.
December 29, 2007
Brilliant analysis of the problems of the current Democratic Party. Must reading for Democrats and Republicans alike.
April 9, 2008
Pretty engaging for a politico book. Great insider's view of the dems, though a bit gossipy.
July 30, 2008
It's in interesting book that illustrates how the progressives in our nation stopped being bullied and instead began to win.
September 7, 2008
Matt Bai is so friggin smart. I wish he'd run for office.
September 14, 2008
this book managed to convince me that i might be interested in politics. quite a coup.
very well written, very well reported, and a pretty unique look inside the new democratic party machine.
very well written, very well reported, and a pretty unique look inside the new democratic party machine.
May 4, 2011
Interesting book and a fast read.
May 18, 2014
A bit too narrativized for my tastes, but a pretty good intro to the subject.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews