Now or Never : Getting Down to the Business of Saving Our American Dream

In his bestselling It's Getting Ugly Out There , CNN’s Jack Cafferty skewered the liars and losers who were trying to harm the nation and explained why Americans had to take their country back. While the Bush exit from the White House brings a certain sense of "mission accomplished," for Cafferty that's only the beginning. In Now or Never , the curmudgeonly Cafferty applies his heat-seeking scrutiny to the hot-button issues that top the 2009 agenda, including the economy, China, Iraq, the war on terror, and our broken immigration, education, and healthcare systems. Will Obama turn things around or will it be business as usual? Will a hitherto spineless Democratic Congress hold individuals accountable for abuses of power? Cafferty gives voice to the fears and hopes of Americans from all around the country; he also gets personal with moving stories of his experiences raising kids with values that seem to be disappearing in our culture. Powerful, provocative, and drawing on the latest news from America and around the world, Now or Never makes lively reading for Cafferty fans and everyone who cares about America today.

In this take-no-prisoners survey of a nation in the grip of multiple crises, Cafferty turns his unflinching sights on what needs to go right in President Obama's first term. Putting his own signature stamp on Obama's campaign slogan, he tells the charismatic new leader that this is a time for change we will believe in when we see it.

Cafferty applies his heat-seeking scrutiny to the hot-button issues that will top the 2009 agenda, including the continuing economic and energy crises, Iraq, Afghanistan, China, the global war on terror, and our broken immigration, education, and healthcare systems, as well as other issues of domestic and international instability. He cuts through the spin and the blame games to reveal the truth about how these disasters happened and what we should expect our new president to do about them. He also offers ways we can monitor whether the new administration is really turning things around or just settling into its own version of business as usual.

While Cafferty certainly pulls no punches when detailing the misdeeds of Bush, Paulson, and the usual Republican suspects, he is, as always, an equal-opportunity critic of the rich, powerful, and complacent in both parties. He goes after the Democratic Party (examining its fiercely contested primary campaign), Nancy Pelosi, the ACLU, and causes beloved by liberals that he believes may threaten America's future.

One of Cafferty's most valuable skills is his ability to connect big-picture politics with the realities of day-to-day life for most Americans. Through moving stories of his experiences struggling to raise his own kids with values that seem to be disappearing in our culture, he brings seemingly abstract issues down to earth and reveals why they should matter to every citizen.

Jack Cafferty's distinctive combination of skepticism, patriotism, and caustic wit has long given voice to the fears and hopes of people from all around the country. In Now or Never, he joins the majority of Americans in offering President Obama his full support along with profound wishes for the new administration's success. On the other hand, should Obama be tempted at any point to emulate his predecessor's arrogance and try to hoodwink the great American middle class, he should remember: Jack Cafferty is watching.

Publishers Weekly

In the irascible style of his on-air CNN soap box The Cafferty Files, veteran political reporter and talking head Cafferty (It's Getting Ugly Out There) delivers an uncompromising account of George W. Bush's presidency and the current state of affairs in the U.S., focusing on the invasion of Iraq and the insider deals between the Bush/Cheney administration and corporations like Exxon and Enron. Also scrutinized is Bush's lackadaisical attitude toward the growing threat of inner Afghanistan turmoil, the brittle relationship between the U.S. and China, and new class warfare in a cratering economy. Perhaps more importantly, Cafferty recaps the 2008 presidential election, addressing the strategies that lost McCain-Palin the presidency and the cascade of problems Obama has inherited. The stolid Cafferty even takes an occasional step back from politics to offer glimpses of his family and his own climb to success, a personal touch that should surprise Caffety's fans almost as much as his sincere belief in a coming turn for the better.
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In his bestselling It's Getting Ugly Out There , CNN's Jack Cafferty skewered the liars and losers who were trying to harm the nation and explained why Americans had to take their country back. While the Bush exit from the White House brings a certain sense of "mission accomplished," for Cafferty that's only the beginning. In Now or Never , the curmudgeonly Cafferty applies his heat-seeking scrutiny to the hot-button issues that top the 2009 agenda, including the economy, China, Iraq, the war on terror, and our broken immigration, education, and healthcare systems. Will Obama turn things around or will it be business as usual? Will a hitherto spineless Democratic Congress hold individuals accountable for abuses of power? Cafferty gives voice to the fears and hopes of Americans from all around the country; he also gets personal with moving stories of his experiences raising kids with values that seem to be disappearing in our culture. Powerful, provocative, and drawing on the latest news from America and around the world, Now or Never makes lively reading for Cafferty fans and everyone who cares about America today. Now or Never: Getting Down to the Business of Saving Our American Dream 3 Contents 7 Chapter 1: Our Last Best Hope 9 Chapter 2: The Primaries: It Was Their Party and They Cried If They Wanted To 24 Chapter 3: As the Iraqis Stand Up, It’s Time for the United States to Clear Out 45 Chapter 4: China: The Global Superpower Goes for the Gold... Ours 65 Chapter 5: The Family’s a Corporation Where I Hold All the Voting Shares 85 Chapter 8: The Bush Legacy: Imperial Reign, Impeachable Ruin 103 Chapter 7: Time to Raise Our Grades in Education, Immigration, and Energy 124 Chapter 8: Are We Safer Yet?: A World of Foreign Policy Troubles Left Behind 151 Chapter 9: Marriage and Fatherhood Work Best as Sobering Experiences 177 Chapter 10: Debt and Revival 194 Chapter 11: The $1 Billion Battle to Mortgage Our Future 217 Chapter 12: The New Prez’s Real Campaign Begins: To Fix Our Broken Nation 241 Epilogue: One Change We Didn't Need but Are Learning to Live With 263 Acknowledgments 267 Index 268 Our last best hope may be Obama, not the bailout The primaries : it's their party and they'll cry if they want to As the Iraqis stand up, it's time for the U.S. to clear out China : the global superpower goes for the gold ours "The family's a corporation where I hold all the voting shares" The Bush legacy : imperial reign, impeachable ruin Time to raise our grades in education, immigration, and energy Are we safer yet? : a world of foreign policy troubles left behind Marriage and fatherhood work best as sobering experiences Debt on arrival : can Obama revive our American dream? High road or crass warfar e: the $1 billion battle to mortgage our future The new prez's real campaign begins : to fix our broken nation. In his new book, Cafferty covers the colossal blunders and hypocrisies the Bush administration has perpetrated on the world as well as the colossal mistakes the new Democratic-controlled Congress is making and the results of this past presidential election, among other topics.