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The Right Answer: How We Can Unify Our Divided Nation
The first declared candidate for president in 2020 delivers a passionate call for bipartisan action, entrepreneurial innovation, and a renewed commitment to the American idea
The son of a union electrician and grandson of an immigrant, John Delaney grew up believing that anything was possible in America. Before he was fifty, he founded, built and then sold two companies worth billions of dollars. Driven by a deep desire to serve, in 2012 he stepped away from his businesses, ran for Congress, and won. Now he has a new mission: unifying our terribly divided nation and guiding it to a brighter future.
As a boy, Delaney learned the importance of working hard, telling the truth and embracing compromise. As an entrepreneur, he succeeded because he understood the need to ensure opportunity for all, focus on the future, and think creatively about problem-solving. In these pages, he illustrates the potency of these principles with vivid stories from his childhood, his career in business, his family, and his new life as apolitician. He also writes candidly about the often frustrating experience of working on Capitol Hill, where many of his colleagues care more about scoring political points than improving the lives of their fellow Americans. With a clear eye and an open heart, he explains that only by seeing both sides of anargument and releasing our inner entrepreneur can we get back to constructive, enlightened governing.
Seventy years ago, John F. Kennedy appealed to our best instincts when he said, "Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer." In this inspiring book, John Delaney asks all of us to cast aside destructive, partisan thinking and join him in an urgent endeavor: working together to forge a new era of American greatness.
The son of a union electrician and grandson of an immigrant, John Delaney grew up believing that anything was possible in America. Before he was fifty, he founded, built and then sold two companies worth billions of dollars. Driven by a deep desire to serve, in 2012 he stepped away from his businesses, ran for Congress, and won. Now he has a new mission: unifying our terribly divided nation and guiding it to a brighter future.
As a boy, Delaney learned the importance of working hard, telling the truth and embracing compromise. As an entrepreneur, he succeeded because he understood the need to ensure opportunity for all, focus on the future, and think creatively about problem-solving. In these pages, he illustrates the potency of these principles with vivid stories from his childhood, his career in business, his family, and his new life as apolitician. He also writes candidly about the often frustrating experience of working on Capitol Hill, where many of his colleagues care more about scoring political points than improving the lives of their fellow Americans. With a clear eye and an open heart, he explains that only by seeing both sides of anargument and releasing our inner entrepreneur can we get back to constructive, enlightened governing.
Seventy years ago, John F. Kennedy appealed to our best instincts when he said, "Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer." In this inspiring book, John Delaney asks all of us to cast aside destructive, partisan thinking and join him in an urgent endeavor: working together to forge a new era of American greatness.
- GenresPolitics
240 pages, Hardcover
First published May 29, 2018
29 people are currently reading
100 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 25, 2018
I bought and read The Right Answer out of a completist's sense of duty: I am currently working on a book with a similar focus on bridging partisan divides, and I want to make sure that I am familiar with the discourse that I will be entering into. And from this perspective, the book was not quite what I was expecting. It is not so much a "here is what individual citizens can do to heal the national divide" book (which is what I am focusing on). This is a "this is what a president should do to make government work again" book. This approach only makes sense if the person writing it is running for president--which, as it turns out, John Delaney is. So it's good.
And the book is good too. I mean, it is a campaign biography combined with a bunch of policy proposals. But they are actually reasonably good proposals instead of the feel-good dreck that usually gets published in campaign books. And by all indications, he wrote the book himself, which is almost unheard of. So I did enjoy the book, though not for the reasons that I bought it. Sometimes that still happens, and I always count it as a win.
Delaney is currently a third-term Congressperson from Maryland. His approach to governing very much aligns with my own beliefs, so I thought he was right about a lot of things. Before running for Congress, he started several successful health-care businesses and apparently made several large boatloads of money. I would describe his overall approach as market-driven progressivism. He believes in the same goals as most progressives do: universal health care, environmental protection, reduction of income inequality, and so on. But he argues that those ends are best achieved through market processes and incentives: carbon taxes, for example, that create disincentives to pollute--something that has long been advocated by free-market economists--or a public health-care option that creates a non-profit insurance company to compete with for-profit companies currently offering insurance on the exchanges.
His background also gives him the ability to articulate the rationale for certain income redistributions in market-friendly terms. I particularly like his argument that universal health care is essential because it enables workers to move to where jobs are and allows businesses to "spend more time focusing on what they should be focusing on, which is the nuts and bolts of running their companies and making them more successful" (84-85). This is precisely the correct argument to make in favor of universal health care, which should never have been an employer's responsibility to begin with.
Unlike most campaign books, The Right Answer is light on outrage porn. Delaney takes pains to advocate more tolerance and respect between different political positions and, while remaining faithfully Democratic, to talk about what is good and right in the Republican governing philosophy. This does not mean that he just says lots of nice stuff. He presents some fairly good arguments against the 2017 Republican tax bil and the rhetoric of Donald Trump. But he doesn't call Trump supporters idiots. He acknowledges that globalization has been, on balance, a good thing, but that it has not been a good thing for everybody and that the legitimate complaints of those it was not good for were never addressed by either party, leaving a huge gap for a populist candidate to fill.
There is fair bit of overly general discussion of "getting along" without much sense of how to overcome some of the more difficult barriers. But not as much as in most campaign books, and both the author's history and his rhetoric suggest that he would probably try very hard to listen, compromise, and unite. Would be be successful? My hope says yes, but my fear says no. Those things are always on different pages.
So, the bottom line is that this is a pretty good book for the kind of book that it is, which is not a genre known for its literary merit or philosophical insight. More to the point, it is a book by a person who wants to be president who, judging just from what is in the book, wouldn't be a bad choice at all.
And the book is good too. I mean, it is a campaign biography combined with a bunch of policy proposals. But they are actually reasonably good proposals instead of the feel-good dreck that usually gets published in campaign books. And by all indications, he wrote the book himself, which is almost unheard of. So I did enjoy the book, though not for the reasons that I bought it. Sometimes that still happens, and I always count it as a win.
Delaney is currently a third-term Congressperson from Maryland. His approach to governing very much aligns with my own beliefs, so I thought he was right about a lot of things. Before running for Congress, he started several successful health-care businesses and apparently made several large boatloads of money. I would describe his overall approach as market-driven progressivism. He believes in the same goals as most progressives do: universal health care, environmental protection, reduction of income inequality, and so on. But he argues that those ends are best achieved through market processes and incentives: carbon taxes, for example, that create disincentives to pollute--something that has long been advocated by free-market economists--or a public health-care option that creates a non-profit insurance company to compete with for-profit companies currently offering insurance on the exchanges.
His background also gives him the ability to articulate the rationale for certain income redistributions in market-friendly terms. I particularly like his argument that universal health care is essential because it enables workers to move to where jobs are and allows businesses to "spend more time focusing on what they should be focusing on, which is the nuts and bolts of running their companies and making them more successful" (84-85). This is precisely the correct argument to make in favor of universal health care, which should never have been an employer's responsibility to begin with.
Unlike most campaign books, The Right Answer is light on outrage porn. Delaney takes pains to advocate more tolerance and respect between different political positions and, while remaining faithfully Democratic, to talk about what is good and right in the Republican governing philosophy. This does not mean that he just says lots of nice stuff. He presents some fairly good arguments against the 2017 Republican tax bil and the rhetoric of Donald Trump. But he doesn't call Trump supporters idiots. He acknowledges that globalization has been, on balance, a good thing, but that it has not been a good thing for everybody and that the legitimate complaints of those it was not good for were never addressed by either party, leaving a huge gap for a populist candidate to fill.
There is fair bit of overly general discussion of "getting along" without much sense of how to overcome some of the more difficult barriers. But not as much as in most campaign books, and both the author's history and his rhetoric suggest that he would probably try very hard to listen, compromise, and unite. Would be be successful? My hope says yes, but my fear says no. Those things are always on different pages.
So, the bottom line is that this is a pretty good book for the kind of book that it is, which is not a genre known for its literary merit or philosophical insight. More to the point, it is a book by a person who wants to be president who, judging just from what is in the book, wouldn't be a bad choice at all.
July 31, 2019
I started reading this book but then Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren came in the room, double-power bombed me and then the book burst into flames on its own. 0/10 would only read to get uninspired.
June 11, 2018
Disclaimer: I have known the Delaney family for the last decade in a professional relationship.
That said ... I enjoyed the book immensely, as it gave me more insight into John's background; his experience as a young entrepreneur; and his experience in our current day Congressional mess. I was quite surprised at his candor about what's going on in Congress. Nothing is a surprise to me, but it's nice when someone can just say: Hey look, this is what's happening now, this is what's wrong, let's see if we can make it better.
In all honesty, I wished there were a few more details about the HOW it was going to get fixed. I liked what he says he will do if elected, however I felt like I wanted and needed more details (i.e., more convincing that John - or anyone, for that matter! - can actually do something about it.)
But I will say: I know if anyone can fix it, John can. In the business world, I have watched him come up with creative solutions to complex problems, and am usually blown away by his ideas. And they work. His mind just doesn't stop, and is constantly working, finding solutions to every problem. Read the book, pay attention to the example he gave about his business being target by the short-sellers ... and how he managed to save his business during the market crash of 2008. This guy comes up with solutions.
No matter if you are a Democrat or Republican, or Independent: Read the book. And then ... Consider if YOU think some of his ideas might just work to get us back on track.
That said ... I enjoyed the book immensely, as it gave me more insight into John's background; his experience as a young entrepreneur; and his experience in our current day Congressional mess. I was quite surprised at his candor about what's going on in Congress. Nothing is a surprise to me, but it's nice when someone can just say: Hey look, this is what's happening now, this is what's wrong, let's see if we can make it better.
In all honesty, I wished there were a few more details about the HOW it was going to get fixed. I liked what he says he will do if elected, however I felt like I wanted and needed more details (i.e., more convincing that John - or anyone, for that matter! - can actually do something about it.)
But I will say: I know if anyone can fix it, John can. In the business world, I have watched him come up with creative solutions to complex problems, and am usually blown away by his ideas. And they work. His mind just doesn't stop, and is constantly working, finding solutions to every problem. Read the book, pay attention to the example he gave about his business being target by the short-sellers ... and how he managed to save his business during the market crash of 2008. This guy comes up with solutions.
No matter if you are a Democrat or Republican, or Independent: Read the book. And then ... Consider if YOU think some of his ideas might just work to get us back on track.
May 25, 2025
In December 2019, a friend gave me The Right Answer by John K. Delaney as a holiday gift. At the time, I was vaguely aware of Delaney as the first Democrat to enter the 2020 presidential race, but I hadn’t paid him much attention. The field was crowded with louder voices, flashier platforms, and sharper ideological lines. The gift felt like a gesture of quiet hopefulness—offering not just a book, but an invitation to consider what politics might look like if we chose construction over conflict. By the time I sat down to write this, Delaney’s campaign had long since ended—he suspended his bid in January 2020, before a single vote was cast. And yet, the book lingers—not as campaign literature, but as a thoughtful reflection on what our politics might be if we made more space for decency, data, and the discipline of governing.
I read The Right Answer that winter, marking passages that spoke to the civic impulses I still believe in: common ground, mutual responsibility, the hard but necessary work of listening. Delaney’s vision, laid out in earnest and unvarnished prose, wasn’t revolutionary—and that was precisely the point.
Delaney, a former congressman from Maryland and successful entrepreneur, brought a rare combination of business acumen and policy pragmatism to the national stage. Before entering politics, he co-founded two publicly traded companies focused on healthcare finance and lending to underserved communities—ventures that reflected his interest in both innovation and equity. Elected to Congress in 2012, he represented Maryland’s 6th District for three terms, earning a reputation as a pro-business Democrat who valued bipartisanship and data-driven legislation. His 2020 presidential bid was an extension of that philosophy: a campaign rooted in optimism, civility, and practical solutions—what he called “facts over fury.” He stood, in many ways, as the last echo of a brand of politics that once thrived in both parties but now seems dangerously close to extinction.
None of Delaney’s campaign was designed to set Twitter ablaze. All of it was grounded in the belief that Americans still wanted their government to function.
But The Right Answer arrived—and was largely ignored—at a time when the political center was already disintegrating. In the 2020 Democratic primaries, Delaney's moderation felt out of sync with a party energized by sweeping structural reforms and ideological purity. His voice was steady, not soaring; his appeal was to voters’ practical instincts, not their tribal loyalties.
Looking back, it’s clear Delaney wasn’t just running for office—he was submitting a kind of civic preservation report. His book reads like a blueprint for a governing philosophy built on what used to be bedrock: compromise, incremental progress, mutual respect. It now feels like a dispatch from a version of American politics we are dangerously close to forgetting altogether.
The erosion of the political center isn’t just about polls or party labels—it’s a slow unthreading of the civic fabric. We trade in the deliberative processes of governance for the dopamine hits of outrage. What once lives in Rotary halls and town meetings now festers in comment threads and curated feeds. The incentives are all wrong: media algorithms reward extremity, primary systems punish moderation, and fundraising emails raise more when they vilify than when they unify. This isn't a plea for false balance or nostalgic centrism—but a recognition that without a stable center, democracy cannot hold. The center is where the work gets done: where laws are negotiated, budgets are passed, and citizens feel heard rather than herded. It’s where humility still has a seat at the table, and where policy is shaped not by purity tests but by lived experience. When we lose that space, we don’t just lose consensus—we lose the conditions necessary for pluralism to survive.
And so The Right Answer stays with me—not as a relic of a failed campaign, but as a reminder of what we still risk losing: the belief that governance is possible without vilification, that policy can be more than theater, that democracy is slow, communal, and—if we’re lucky—boring. But if the center fades at the top, it still flickers below. It’s in church basements, PTA meetings, Rotary clubs, volunteer fire departments, and union halls—places where Americans still come together not as partisans, but as neighbors.
Reviving the center doesn’t begin in think tanks or TV studios—it begins with regular people doing regular things with civic intent. Democrats and Republicans alike can help breathe life into the center by simply showing up: for school board elections, for community listening sessions, for city council public comment. We ask harder questions of our political leaders—about real solutions, not slogans—and support candidates who are willing to risk a primary loss to preserve their integrity. We reward bridge-building over brand-building and remember that pluralism isn’t a liability—it’s the heart of the American promise. The work ahead is ours. Civic strength doesn’t trickle down from elite circles; it bubbles up from participation, trust, and collective effort. The center doesn’t have to be mushy; it can be muscular—rooted in values, powered by engagement, and carried forward by people who understand that compromise is not capitulation, but courage.
I don’t know if John Delaney would have made a great president. But I do know he wrote a book full of humility and resolve, and I’m grateful someone thought to give it to me. Like reading real history or sorting laundry by hand, the work of democracy is quiet, deliberate, and unfashionable. But it’s still worth doing.
I read The Right Answer that winter, marking passages that spoke to the civic impulses I still believe in: common ground, mutual responsibility, the hard but necessary work of listening. Delaney’s vision, laid out in earnest and unvarnished prose, wasn’t revolutionary—and that was precisely the point.
Delaney, a former congressman from Maryland and successful entrepreneur, brought a rare combination of business acumen and policy pragmatism to the national stage. Before entering politics, he co-founded two publicly traded companies focused on healthcare finance and lending to underserved communities—ventures that reflected his interest in both innovation and equity. Elected to Congress in 2012, he represented Maryland’s 6th District for three terms, earning a reputation as a pro-business Democrat who valued bipartisanship and data-driven legislation. His 2020 presidential bid was an extension of that philosophy: a campaign rooted in optimism, civility, and practical solutions—what he called “facts over fury.” He stood, in many ways, as the last echo of a brand of politics that once thrived in both parties but now seems dangerously close to extinction.
None of Delaney’s campaign was designed to set Twitter ablaze. All of it was grounded in the belief that Americans still wanted their government to function.
But The Right Answer arrived—and was largely ignored—at a time when the political center was already disintegrating. In the 2020 Democratic primaries, Delaney's moderation felt out of sync with a party energized by sweeping structural reforms and ideological purity. His voice was steady, not soaring; his appeal was to voters’ practical instincts, not their tribal loyalties.
Looking back, it’s clear Delaney wasn’t just running for office—he was submitting a kind of civic preservation report. His book reads like a blueprint for a governing philosophy built on what used to be bedrock: compromise, incremental progress, mutual respect. It now feels like a dispatch from a version of American politics we are dangerously close to forgetting altogether.
The erosion of the political center isn’t just about polls or party labels—it’s a slow unthreading of the civic fabric. We trade in the deliberative processes of governance for the dopamine hits of outrage. What once lives in Rotary halls and town meetings now festers in comment threads and curated feeds. The incentives are all wrong: media algorithms reward extremity, primary systems punish moderation, and fundraising emails raise more when they vilify than when they unify. This isn't a plea for false balance or nostalgic centrism—but a recognition that without a stable center, democracy cannot hold. The center is where the work gets done: where laws are negotiated, budgets are passed, and citizens feel heard rather than herded. It’s where humility still has a seat at the table, and where policy is shaped not by purity tests but by lived experience. When we lose that space, we don’t just lose consensus—we lose the conditions necessary for pluralism to survive.
And so The Right Answer stays with me—not as a relic of a failed campaign, but as a reminder of what we still risk losing: the belief that governance is possible without vilification, that policy can be more than theater, that democracy is slow, communal, and—if we’re lucky—boring. But if the center fades at the top, it still flickers below. It’s in church basements, PTA meetings, Rotary clubs, volunteer fire departments, and union halls—places where Americans still come together not as partisans, but as neighbors.
Reviving the center doesn’t begin in think tanks or TV studios—it begins with regular people doing regular things with civic intent. Democrats and Republicans alike can help breathe life into the center by simply showing up: for school board elections, for community listening sessions, for city council public comment. We ask harder questions of our political leaders—about real solutions, not slogans—and support candidates who are willing to risk a primary loss to preserve their integrity. We reward bridge-building over brand-building and remember that pluralism isn’t a liability—it’s the heart of the American promise. The work ahead is ours. Civic strength doesn’t trickle down from elite circles; it bubbles up from participation, trust, and collective effort. The center doesn’t have to be mushy; it can be muscular—rooted in values, powered by engagement, and carried forward by people who understand that compromise is not capitulation, but courage.
I don’t know if John Delaney would have made a great president. But I do know he wrote a book full of humility and resolve, and I’m grateful someone thought to give it to me. Like reading real history or sorting laundry by hand, the work of democracy is quiet, deliberate, and unfashionable. But it’s still worth doing.
September 8, 2018
I picked up this book because of the title, not knowing the author's political leanings, which was nice. I was able to go into it with an open mind. His political affiliation was soon apparent, but what he has to say has great merit. He advocates for a return to bipartisan cooperation and compromise to actually get some of our nation's problems fixed. I agreed with many of the solutions he has, disagreed with a couple, but overall got a good sense of who he is, what he stands for, and how he would fix the nation's issues if he was elected president.
July 29, 2018
Hmmm. I realize politics may not be super page turners but I had to give up half way through. I don’t know what it is but this was dry and without much enthusiasm. Some of the ideas were good ones. I hope Mr. Delaney can break through the noise of today’s politics but he’s going to have to be more interesting if he hopes to win an election.
August 14, 2019
This book is the John's take on how to heal the country. For him it is about compromise on finding paths to assure wins for everyone involved. It's a noble idea. On the other hand, the book is a bit self-indulgent as he contnually reminds us how he made his millions. That part gets old after a while.
April 11, 2020
Insightful read. Insightful to learn how Congressman Delaney achieved success in business first in lending to healthcare businesses and small to mid-sized companies with Tom Steyer. Interesting too to learn about Mrs. Delaney's connections to Idaho. Interesting to see how Delaney has approached legislation.
April 2, 2019
The first of many books by the 2020 presidential contenders, I like the frames of bipartisanship and forward-thinking. Not sure yet if he would be my presidential choice, but I would love to see many more like Delaney in Congress.
August 21, 2019
Iowa Caucus Book Club read. I am impressed. This tells not only about the life story but identifies problems and provides solutions. I am surprised his campaign is not going better. He has a lot to say and deserves your time to read his book and seriously consider his candidacy.
May 19, 2019
As part of 2020 Bookclub, I'm reading all the books of Democratic presidential candidates.
A must read for the next election! I loved John Delaney's plan for his first 100 days!
A must read for the next election! I loved John Delaney's plan for his first 100 days!
August 20, 2019
Presentation (Problems and Answers) needs to be more organized.
May 6, 2020
My New Year's Resolution for 2020 was to read biographies and non-fiction, particularly books written by the 2020 Democratic field, to better understand them and decide who to caucus for, but also to cull tidbits that would help improve myself as a person, teacher, and leader. This was my first book (and was free way back in the Fall when Delaney came to town his campaign gave me FIVE of them for nothing!). Had him sign the book later at a campaign stop in Tama on January 18th, a couple weeks before caucus night.
Delaney dropped out 3 days before the Iowa Caucuses.
Reading date is approximate. Didn't start using Goodreads until February.
Delaney dropped out 3 days before the Iowa Caucuses.
Reading date is approximate. Didn't start using Goodreads until February.
March 15, 2018
I received an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. The author laid out useful strategies for uniting a country that no longer seems to have empathy and compassion for people that have differing political views than them. Everyone should read this and use the advice from the author.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews