THE PERSPECTIVE

This book is about presidential leadership at a particular historical moment, and is the first book of its kind in the Obama years. Leading from Behind is solely concerned with the six pivotal decisions of the Obama years and how and why the president decided as he did. It is a book about leadership and decision-making, grounded in history, fact, and direct observation. The quality of the president’s leadership is the essential question of the year 2012.

It is important that this question be answered fairly. In that spirit, I have relied extensively and exclusively on President Obama’s admirers and advisors, allies, and associates. Democrats all. The stray few Republicans, who were interviewed for this book, were consulted solely to gather their eyewitness accounts of President Obama in private meetings. All of the secondary sources, newscasts, and newspapers, are mainstream outlets that, if anything, tend to favor the president over his critics and rivals.