A Peek at Jonathan Alter's New Book on Obama's First Year

Fellow Gaggler and esteemed NEWSWEEK columnist Jonathan Alter has been busily at work on a forthcoming book, and this weekend New York magazine's Gabriel Sherman provided a peek inside. The book, titled The Promise: President Obama, Year One, is a detailed, behind-the-scenes look at the first 365 days of the Obama White House.

Among the insights in the book: Obama's relative late arrival to the cause of health-care reform, his private support for Larry Summers's firing as Harvard president, and (naturally) plenty of F-bombs from Rahm Emanuel—including some aimed at Bo, the first dog. There's also the rivalry between Summers and Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget:

One of his chief antagonists was the powerful budget director Peter Orszag. Alter writes that a tennis partner of Summers's warned him of Orszag: "Watch out for the guy with the cowboy boots and the bad toupee." One of the more amusing fights inside the White House, according to Alter, was over Obama's coveted BlackBerry e-mail address, which was given to only 30 or so White House aides and Obama friends. "Summers was annoyed at not being included and complained to Rahm, who put him on the list," writes Alter.

Alter told Sherman: "I hope the book corrects some misconceptions and leads people to a more subtle understanding of who he is, where he has fulfilled his promise and where he's fallen short so far."

Alter, though, notes that New York jumped the embargo date on his book two months early, based on only a small portion of the book. None of the items in the ny mag story made are on his top ten important or exclusive nuggets from the book, so you'll just have to check back when it comes out for that. Look for The Promise on shelves May 18.