The World As It Is

The World As It Is is a look at what makes a functional and aspirational White House. It dives into all of the hard work that even a single piece of policy needs. Throughout his time at the White House, I’m sure Ben Rhodes worked on many things, but he does a smart thing here and focuses on only a couple: Cuba, Pakistan, and Russia. It also stays true to the description of the book: “a memoir of the Obama White House”. It doesn’t stray too far into inside baseball, and if it does, Rhodes is quick to tell us why, and give a more human side to the same story.

It does get a little more in depth than your regular “my time in office” books, but I think that works to it’s benefit. The pieces of policy he focussed on, for example: improving relations with Cuba, are complex issues that deserve to not be simplified. Basically, you will be smarter about foreign policy after you read this (even if it’s only a little bit).

He also goes into the stresses of working at the White House (I’m sure the current administration feels these same stresses). Between the extremely long hours, time away from family, working on vacation, and constant pressure from all sides of government, I’m surprised that White House officials last as long as they do. And Rhodes does a great job of explaining these parts of life as well as the more technical policy aspects.

I highly recommend this book not only for it’s intelligent writing, or a memory of a more competent time, but also because it gives you a more complete understanding of the world. And sure, he worked in a progressive White House, but this book (for the most part) is largely apolitical. The focus is very much on the issues, like the logistics of communicating with Cuban officials. If you get mad watching politics because all they do is spew talking point after talking point at each other, this book will make you feel like, and I mean this apolitically, someone is actually using their brain to run this country.