Amateurism

The title of "The Amateur" immediately suggests that the core theme of the book is that Barack Obama is, in some sense, an amateur. Klein begins the book by arguing that Barack Obama, when he took office as president, was an amateur, meaning that he was politically inexperienced, not ready to hold the nation's highest office. Klein uses Bill Clinton's own description of Obama in this regard, as Clinton spoke these words when encouraging Hillary to run for president.

In the beginning of the book, the notion of an amateur is fairly straightforward, close to its dictionary meaning. But Klein faces a problem as the book progresses through Obama's time in office. After all, all presidents start off not knowing the details of the job very well. But Obama is supposed to still be an amateur after four years of being president. How could this possibly be? Klein's...