How do you sell the worst president in American history? The work focuses on the 2012 campaign and shows how lies perpetuated over a mountain of challenges: a dismal economy, the faded hopes of the first campaign, and the struggle to raise enough cash to compete. Only a small amount of how negative Obama is comes across in this volume.

There is a decent section reviewing how advertising has impacted presidential campaigns which helpfully sets the context.

Obama "is a newcomer who promised to upend the status quo but seemed all too ready to live within its conventions and limitations. Inside the White House, he never resolved those tensions, especially if they involved the personal conflicts on his political team. He centralized decision-making around himself and his inner circle, but his decisions were often painfully slow in coming. He aired on the safe side of big decisions for too long before edging into the risk filled choices that presented themselves inside the Oval Office. Whether it his decision to arm the rebel forces in Syria or to support same-sex marriage,

Obama was a constant source of frustration and mystification for his supporters inside and outside the administration. On Capitol Hill, even Democratic members complained that his absence and coldness left them struggling to understand his motives and his management style: if they didn't love him or fear him, why should they take a bullet for him? They were unclear about where he was headed, so they focused on the lack of personal outreach. But the reality was that personal contact left them no clearer about his true identity and purpose (pp. 245-46).