Louise's Reviews > Al Franken, Giant of the Senate

A straight-forward, mid-western attitude comes through as Al Franken tells the story of his two careers. He gives you get a glimpse of how the original and early SNL shows were put together and what it is like to campaign for and then be a US Senator. While there is humor throughout, it often appears as a professional evaluation of the jokes he has used at opportune (and inopportune) moments (and some he wished he could interject).

While I’ve read a number of Senator bios and autobios, Franken brings new concepts. There are Washington conventions like never credit the staff and its OK to blame them with “staff error”. I never heard of a call time manager, and it is fascinating what they do. Speaking of managers, Franken shows that the value of having a good campaign manager is well beyond turning out crowds, I lost track of the tough calls and tougher phone calls Stephanie Schrock had to make.

The 8 month recount was even more vicious than I remember. Norm Coleman's statement on his narrow election night win was that Franken should concede because “the healing process is so important.” Then, when he was lost the re-count, healing was no longer important. He kept appealing to keep Franken from being seated and Minnesota from having a second Senator for 8 months. He shows how this was part of the larger Republican strategy to block President Obama from accomplishing anything, thereby setting him up to lose re-election.

Franken shows how his first career informs his second. He knows the communications business so when giant mergers that would consolidate media titans, while on the losing side, he was able to know what kind of restrictions would help mitigate corporate control of what we watch and how much we pay for it. He also shows how he makes alliances and breaks tense moments with humor.

Franken is realistic about what can be accomplished. While it is nibbling at the edges of larger issues, he has been able to make the lives better for some people, for instance getting better dental care to reservations in Minnesota, forbidding defense contractors from forcing arbitrated settlements on employees who are victims of sexual assault and allowing service dogs as a legitimate claim for VA benefits.

It is refreshing to read of the men and women in Washington who work to make a difference. For too long they have been tarnished with the “they all do it” meme, which has served to the advantage of those who run for the career and not for service to the country. I hope in the next election we see more who like Franken, take their fundamental role as seriously as he does.

If you don’t think that the government can and should be used to make lives better for people you should skip this book. You will not understand Franken and why he is passionate about his job.

If you are interested in public policy and understand the world he must operate in, while not a “must read”, you will like this book.