Just finished a book called The Price of Politics, by Bob Woodward. It was just relased last week, and provides an account of what happened regarding the debt ceiling crisis last summer from different perspectives of those involved. Emails, interviews, news articles and columns, press releases, and associated documents are all used as sources. Most if not all of these things are going to have some degree of spin to them, but the book does try to offer both sides of the story, and not just from one person either. Without getting into another argument over who was right or wrong, frames the issue and how events unfolded; you get what I think is a fairly accurate depiction of how Washington works in the White House and the halls of Congress, mostly from the point of view of the leadership and their immediate subordinates.
The overriding concern for everyone involved was to avoid a gov't default and arrive at a palatable solution that could be passed in the House and Senate and signed by the president. The politics of the various proposals were biased depending on who offered the proposal, it looked to me like both sides wasted a lot of time on ideas that one side or the other simply could not or would not accept. Which pissed both sides off, and that contributed to the eventual breakdown of negotiations that wound up with the sequetration. There were meetings going on that left some factions completely out of the loop, and when they found out that led to a lot of distrust, not just with the other side but within each party. Bottom line, it was poorly managed on both sides and nobody comes out of it looking very good. The approval numbers for the president and the Congress were very low for awhile thereafter, and IMHO deservedly so.
The overriding concern for everyone involved was to avoid a gov't default and arrive at a palatable solution that could be passed in the House and Senate and signed by the president. The politics of the various proposals were biased depending on who offered the proposal, it looked to me like both sides wasted a lot of time on ideas that one side or the other simply could not or would not accept. Which pissed both sides off, and that contributed to the eventual breakdown of negotiations that wound up with the sequetration. There were meetings going on that left some factions completely out of the loop, and when they found out that led to a lot of distrust, not just with the other side but within each party. Bottom line, it was poorly managed on both sides and nobody comes out of it looking very good. The approval numbers for the president and the Congress were very low for awhile thereafter, and IMHO deservedly so.
Last edited:
