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Summary
Summary
The Price of Politics chronicles the inside story of how President Obama and the U.S. Congress tried, and failed, to restore the American economy and set it on a course to fiscal stability. It spans the three and a half tumultuous years beginning just before Obama's inauguration in early 2009 and lasting through the summer of 2012.
Woodward pierces the secretive world of Washington policymaking once again, with a close-up story crafted from meeting notes, documents, working papers and interviews with key players, including President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner.
At the center of The Price of Politics is a high-stakes personal and political struggle between the president and the speaker. The Price of Politics takes the reader through the electric 44 days during the summer of 2011 with day-by-day, often hour-by-hour, accounts as the two attempt a "grand bargain" to cut entitlement spending and increase tax revenue.
As they struggled through the most intense moments of the crisis, each contended with powerful conflicts in his own party. At the prospect of serious budget cuts, Obama told Woodward, "Our friends on the left would howl and act as if we had dismantled the New Deal." In the House, Boehner was looking over his shoulder, worrying that his second-in-command, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, was undermining him in concert with extreme conservative House members and others with ties to the anti-tax Tea Party. At the same time, Boehner described the president as "moaning and groaning and whining and demanding. Threatening. He was pretty desperate."
The Price of Politics shows why the grand bargain was never reached, and how the president, the speaker and the Congress settled for stopgap measures that delayed any serious deficit reduction until 2013.
With extensive documentation and firsthand accounts, Woodward reveals how the broken relationship between the White House and Capitol Hill drove the U.S. economy to the edge of the fiscal cliff, where it remains.
Author Notes
Bob Woodward is the author or co-author of seven #1 national bestsellers, including "All the President's Men," "The Brethren," & "The Agenda." He is Assistant Managing Editor of "The Washington Post" & lives in Washington, D.C.
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Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Woodward critically examines the recent economic challenges that the nation has faced and limns the political shift from a rhetoric of togetherness to one of confrontation as Congress and the president have worked to resolve the debt crisis. Woodward zeroes in on the middle of 2011 and political battles that occurred as government officials struggled to prevent a massive shutdown. As he did in his previous examinations of the Bush administration, Woodward pulls no punches here and provides a fascinating history and analysis. Narrator Boyd Gaines boasts a commanding voice that proves suitable for the important issues covered. His deep, slightly raspy voice and deliberate narration will grab the listener's attention from the very start. But despite strong prose and a great performance, this abridged audio edition is likely to disappoint. Listeners may find themselves confused and struggling to keep up without some of the more important excised sections. A Simon & Schuster hardcover. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Woodward's seventeenth book takes interested readers and they will need to be very interested behind closed doors to observe how the nation's debt crisis developed over the past three-and-a-half years. Copious interviews with major players in this stand-off between the president and congressional Republicans (more than 100 individuals, so the author states) led the author to prepare a you-are-there, fly-on-wall approach to detailing the struggle...to manage federal spending and tax policy. The specific focus, and subsequently a big chunk of the book,centers on the 44-day high-stakes negotiations between the two sides in June and July, 2011, a brutal haggling over raising the debt ceiling. The cast in this drama is huge, but of course President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner loom largest upon the stage. These two key players attempted to reach a grand bargain that would ease the crisis for some time to come. Woodward's purpose is to reveal how close they came and why an agreement failed. If readers are looking for an unbiased chronicle of these events, they better look elsewhere. Woodward appears to have walked into the writing of this book ready to lay most of the blame on the president. Some journalists in the know have reported that there is really nothing new here, but political junkies surely will read to the last page. For most readers, though, much of this will be TMI.--Hooper, Brad Copyright 2010 Booklist
Kirkus Review
A reconstruction of how Republican brinkmanship threatened to bring down the global economy by forcing a U.S. debt default. Pulitzer Prizewinning Washington Post editor Woodward (Obama's Wars, 2010, etc.) chronicles how Republicans used a previously routine vote on increasing the debt ceiling to blackmail President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party. Emboldened by their midterm victory in 2010, the Republicans aimed to force the president to accept major cuts to the budget and entitlements while holding the line on taxes. In explaining this display of brinkmanship, Woodward explains that for the U.S. president, default was not an option and could in fact bring down the entire global economy. The action takes place in the summer of 2011, beginning with a failed attempt by the White House to craft a workable deal in negotiations with House Speaker John Boehner. When these negotiations collapsed, the entire political leadership of both parties was brought in, leading to recriminations on all sides. The debt ceiling was raised but at the cost of a January fiscal cliffhanger. Although the author faults both Boehner and the president for their "fixed partisan convictions and dogmas," his main purpose appears to be to discredit Obama. He compares him unfavorably to former Presidents Reagan and Clinton, both of whom handled similar crises. Although admitting that "Obama was handed a miserable, faltering economy and faced a recalcitrant Republican opposition," Woodward faults him for being both arrogant and inept at building political consensus. An occasionally intriguing look into political grappling at the highest level but mostly an exercise in excruciating detail, most of which boils down to trivial political gossip.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Excerpts
PROLOGUE The lavish dinner at the Capital Hilton Hotel in downtown Washington on the evening of Saturday, March 11, 2006, was about the last place you would expect to find him. But there was Barack Obama, age 44, the junior senator from Illinois for only the last 14 months, in formal white-tie with tails and very much at ease in the crowd of 600. His trademark smile, broad and infectious, dominated his face as I met him for the first time. We were at the annual Gridiron Club dinner--a rite of passage for national political figures such as Obama. The crowd included President George W. Bush and most of the major politicians in Washington. It was one of Senator Obama's maiden voyages into the unsavory belly of the Washington beast. Bush was to speak for the Republicans, and Obama had been selected to speak for the Democrats. Founded in 1885, the Gridiron--named because its motto was to "singe but not burn"--had the reputation of being an old-school event of in-jokes, skits and music that seemed more fitted to a bygone era. "You're from Wheaton, Illinois," Obama said to me, referring, unprompted, to the small town where I was raised in the late 1940s and '50s. Wheaton, 25 miles west of Chicago, is home to Wheaton College, best known for its alumnus evangelist Billy Graham, whose influence permeated the town. "I'll bet you didn't carry Wheaton," I said confidently, referring to his Senate race 16 months earlier. A bastion of Midwestern conservatism and country-club Republicans, Wheaton was the most Republican town in the country in the 1950s, or at least regarded itself that way. "I carried DuPage County by 60 percent!" Obama responded, beaming that incandescent smile. Wheaton is the county seat of DuPage. I said that seemed utterly impossible. That couldn't be the Wheaton or DuPage I had known. Obama continued to smile me down. The certainty on his face was deep, giving me pause. Suddenly, I remembered that Obama's opponent for the Senate seat had been Alan Keyes, the conservative black Republican gadfly. Keyes had substituted at the last minute for the first Republican nominee, who withdrew from the race when divorce and child custody records revealed that he had taken his wife to sex clubs in New York, New Orleans and Paris. "Well, everyone who runs for office should have Alan Keyes as their opponent," I said, trying to hold my ground. Obama smiled some more--almost mirthful, yet unrevealing. The conversation turned to Illinois politics, and Obama ticked off the areas where he had strong support--Chicago, the labor unions--and weak support, downstate and the farm areas. He defined the categories skillfully, expanding on the state's interest groups and voting blocs. He made it clear he knew where he had work to do. He sounded like a graceful old-fashioned pol. Though he had carried DuPage by 60 percent, he had won 70 percent of the statewide vote. His wife, Michelle, stood by his side in a stunning gown. But the focus and the questions from people crowded around were all directed at the dazzling new star. • • • When he appeared at the podium several hours later, Obama stood perfectly erect, projecting radiant confidence. "This is a true story," he said. 1 "A friend sent me a clip about a new study by a psychologist at the University of Scotland who says sex before a public speaking engagement actually enhances your oratorical power. I showed this clip to Michelle, before we arrived here tonight. She looked it over, handed it back and said, 'Do the best you can!' " The laughter ignited instantly. "This appearance is really the capstone of an incredible 18 months," he said, citing the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, cover of Newsweek , a best-selling autobiography, Dreams from My Father , a Grammy award for reading the audiobook. "Really what else is there to do? Well, I guess . . . I could pass a law or something." The self-deprecation played well. Referring to Senator John McCain's positive treatment by the press up to that point, Obama said, "Some of my colleagues call John a prima donna. Me? I call him a role model. Think of it as affirmative action. Why should the white guys be the only ones who are overhyped?" The self-awareness played smooth. Noting the speculation that the 2008 presidential campaign could come down to McCain, a maverick Republican, versus Senator Hillary Clinton, he said, "People don't realize how much John and Hillary have in common. They're both very smart. Both very hardworking. And they're both hated by the Republicans!" This played bipartisan. Obama turned toward President Bush, who was on the stage nearby. "The president was so excited about Tom Friedman's book The World Is Flat . As soon as he saw the title, he said, 'You see, I was right!' " The joke played confident. "I want to thank you for all the generous advance coverage you've given me in anticipation of a successful career. When I actually do something, we'll let you know." The audience clapped and hooted in delight. After dinner the buzz was like a chain reaction. Not only could this young Obama tell a joke on himself, with the required self-effacement, but he had remarkable communications skills. An editor at The Washington Post once said that journalists only write two stories: Oh, the horror of it all, and Oh, the wonder of it all. Obama was the wonder of it all that night and he basked in the attention he had captured. Rarely have I seen anyone manage the moment so well. He had frankly and forthrightly trumpeted his lack of accomplishment, and the roomful of egos ate it up. But if he had done nothing much so far, why was he there? Why the buzz? The approbation? What exactly was being measured? It was the dramatic impact he was having on his audience. The triumph was the effect. Twenty-five years earlier in 1981, I had attended a Gridiron dinner where the speaker for the Democrats was Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the bookish intellectual who had served in prominent posts in both Republican and Democratic administrations. Moynihan, then 53, made some good jokes, but his theme was serious: what it means to be a Democrat. The soul of the party was to fight for equality and the little guy, he said. The party cared for the underdogs in America, the voiceless, powerless and those who got stepped on. It was a defining speech, and the buzz afterward was that Moynihan was going to be president. He wasn't, of course. That was then, this was now. Obama had not once mentioned the party or high purpose. His speech, instead, was about Obama, his inexperience, and, in the full paradox of the moment, what he had not done. Two and a half years later, he was president-elect of the United States. Excerpted from The Price of Politics by Bob Woodward All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
