40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation by James Carville

The U.S.-pundit class is filled with half-crazed ideologues that prefer to rant rather than think. Whether it’s the obnoxious jerks of the “right” (e.g. O’Reilly, Limbaugh, Coulter and Hannity) or the blowhards of the “left” (e.g. Ed Shultz and Keith Olbermann), political discourse in the U.S. has been hijacked by poseurs who would rather yell than exchange ideas.

James Carville – the famed strategist who helped elect President Bill Clinton – is a card carrying member of the screaming punditocracy. As this book demonstrates, Carville is very good at insulting Republicans, but not that good at engaging his political opponents in order to find solutions for the problems facing the United States.

That being said, this book does contain some thoughtful analysis. After ploughing through more than 100 pages of insults, Carville provides a convincing argument for why Democrats are better managers of the economy than Republicans. He also has an interesting chapter on young voters, and how Barack Obama's ability to capture the youth vote in 2008 could translate into long-term electoral victories for the Democrats. Besides these hidden gems, however, this book is just another addition to the sad canon of political temper tantrums.

1 out of 5 stars