Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Price of Politics
    The Price of Politics
    The Price of Politics
    Audiobook13 hours

    The Price of Politics

    Written by Bob Woodward

    Narrated by Boyd Gaines

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    See how and why Washington is not functioning.

    Bob Woodward’s freshly reported, thirty-five-page Afterword to his national bestseller, The Price of Politics, provides a detailed, often verbatim account of what happened in the dramatic “fiscal cliff” face-off at the end of 2012 between President Obama and the Republicans.

    Now it’s happening again. In fall 2013, Washington faces a new round of budget and fiscal wars that could derail the American and global economies.

    “We are primarily a blocking majority,” said Michael Sommers, Speaker John Boehner’s chief of staff, summarizing the House Republican position.

    It was the land of no-compromise:

    On health care cuts over ten years, Boehner suggested to Obama, you are $400 billion, I’m at $600 billion. “Can we split the difference here? Can we land at $500 billion?”

    “Four hundred billion is it,” Obama replied. “I just can’t see how we go any further on that.”

    After making $120 billion in other concessions, Obama pleaded with Boehner, “What is it about the politics?”
    “My guys just aren’t there,” Boehner replied.
    “We are $150 billion off, man. I don’t get it. There’s something I don’t get.”

    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. 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. Woodward lays bare the broken relationship between President Obama and the Congress.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateSep 11, 2012
    ISBN9781442353305
    Author

    Bob Woodward

    Bob Woodward is an associate editor at The Washington Post, where he has worked for more than 50 years. He has shared in two Pulitzer Prizes, one for his Watergate coverage and the other for coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He has authored 21 bestselling books, 15 of which have been #1 New York Times bestsellers.

    Related to The Price of Politics

    Related audiobooks

    United States History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Price of Politics

    4/5

    7 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      The book is well written and researched which you would expect from this author. The author does a convincing job of demonstrating the politics and lack of functioning in Washington and nothing like a crisis, the debt ceiling debate, brings out the worst in politics and politicians. The lack of cohesiveness and teamwork in Washington will make many readers sick. I thought the author did a good job at being objective in the writing of the book. I did not feel he leaned one way or the other, politically speaking. He made both sides of the aisle look bad. I expected him to paint the story with a liberal brush. One thumb up.
    • 4/5
      A typically Woodwardesque account of the 2011 fight over the debt limit and the budget which resulted in the "supercommittee." Reading this just after the fiscal cliff fight and just before the next debt limit fight, I was struck (and depressed) by the "Groundhog Day" scenario that seems to be continuing to play out over and over again in these political battles: we seem to be just getting the same kabuki dance every time, and that's a great disservice to the country.Nobody comes out looking particularly good from this account, although I think it's clear that the president and his team were much more invested in and willing to make a large-scale compromise on tax and budgetary policy than the congressional Republicans, who simply come across as reflexively anti-revenue ideologues, willing to take the country to the brink of economic collapse and balance the budget on the backs of the very poor in order to protect the interests of the extremely wealthy. I wish Woodward had been able to add to the discussion the perspective of some of the hardliners in the House (other than Cantor), since it was that bunch who very nearly kept a deal from happening at all, and who are, as we've seen since, largely responsible for ensuring that pretty much nothing gets done (unless Boehner goes around them as with the fiscal cliff fight, which may be the best possible solution for future debates over the debt limit and other such things).Like Woodward's other books, a basic tick-tock, offering different participants' own versions of events and filled with little insidery details.
    • 3/5
      the behind the scenes of politics which does not make it any more palatable