Book Review - The President Factor: The Reality Show That Rocked a Nation, by Pat Obermeier

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

The sun had set. Clusters of people lined the road, making everyone in the convoy of four U.S. military Humvees nervous. They streaked toward a group of low, spread-out, nondescript buildings two miles ahead: the airport. General Sykes wanted a safer mode of return transportation for Adhemar than the transports they arrived in. The general was right. The buzz was on. But whether it was benevolent buzz as in Let’s go see if we can catch a glimpse of the guy running for president of the United States or a Let’s run into the road and stop the convoy and then rob them crowd no one knew. The drivers weren’t slowing down to ask.

What if presidential candidates auditioned for their job? With carefully scripted situations that don’t have obvious solutions, the most important part may be keeping the "reality" out of reality TV.

Official synopsis:

Fed up with the lack of credentials in an ever growing field of candidates, Democratic hopeful, Senator Adhemar Reyes spouts off on C-Span, “I’m tired of the I can see Russia from my porch candidates! I propose all presidential candidates be required to participate in a reality show to show how they handle crisis situations before we put them in the White House!” Uh-oh. Congress buys onto the idea and Reyes is sucked into the mother of all reality shows, The President Factor. As Reyes and his Republican counterpart tackle the challenges, the TV networks go about misusing the show's footage to satisfy their own political agendas, the slanted cable talk shows ratchet it up a notch and the current president spies on the team from the opposite party. Kinda like business as usual in DC today. Will the charismatic Hispanic candidate win? Why is one team getting Malaria shots? Can Washington politics be even more absurd? Yes...to the last question. The rest is inside.

While Senator Reyes originally proposes a reality-show-style presidential contest as a sort of joking comment, he is very charismatic, and the right (or wrong) people take him seriously. Before he knows it, he’s picked his VP and a couple cabinet members to compete alongside him on The President Factor. On paper, this may have seemed like a way to really see how the major party’s presidential candidates handle the proposed catastrophe. In the actual playing of the game, they also have to deal with spies, cheating, and major world players misinterpreting the fiction of the show.

Overall, this was an entertaining read that may seem to be hitting close to home in parts. I did appreciate the final chapter, with a check-in to find out what happened to key candidates after the reality show. I’d give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars and recommend it for those who enjoy political fiction and humor.

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Becki Bayley obviously enjoys reading. She also likes drinking Southern Comfort and Cherry Coke, munching on Chewy Sprees, and lounging in new PJ pants and sweatshirts. See some pictures of her life on Instagram as PoshBecki.