Saturday, January 14, 2012

The Pact by Steven M. Gillon

Telling the, until recently, top secret story of how President Clinton and Speaker Gingrich almost solved the Social Security/Medicare problem.

If you were old enough during the 90s, you may remember how heated the political climate was between Democrats and Republicans. This era was based on two personalities: Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich.

Author Gillon takes us back to these two personalities and how their upbringing through the 1960s shaped what was to come thirty years later.

While I would call this book slightly pro-Clinton, I do think this is one of the most balanced political book I have ever read. Gillon points out the values of both men as well as their vices.

When you boil both men down, you'll actually find two very similar people. Although they never trusted each other, they wanted to be part of something historic.

After the Republican take-over of Congress and some public venom from Gingrich, the two men realized that they needed to work together in order to accomplish something no politician ever wants to touch.

Meeting in secret, so secret that Hillary didn't know about it, Speaker and President met in the White House to talk about how they could create a new coalition of middle ground in order to pass significant legislation.

Everything was in place to succeed until "Monica happened".

The Pact is a wonderful political epoch. It provides a wonderful behind-the-scenes narrative which will lead you to imagine, What if...

This book was provided for review, at no cost by Oxford Publishing

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