Tip And The Gipper: When Politics Worked (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
This book provided a great amount of information into the background of Tip O’Neill and Ronald Reagan’s rise to power. Matthews worked as a speech writer for President Jimmy Carter and was an aid to Speaker Tip O’Neill so he is writing as an insider. Matthews’s eyewitness account of the collapsing Carter campaign in 1980 is one of the strongest sections in the book.The 1980 election made Ronald Reagan, who was the most conservative Republican to date, President. The Republicans got control of the Senate but the Democrats controlled the House. Matthews paints Reagan and O’Neill as mirror images of Irish American politicians. O’Neill fits the type but Reagan was a product of a protestant small Midwest town and southern California and down played his Irish heritage. Matthews misread Reagan as affable when his election depended on his very public meanness, his zest for the punitive ---the vow to crackdown on “welfare Queen’s” and domestic spending. Reagan began his political career working for Barry Goldwater. Reagan launched his campaign for presidency in the heart of KKK country to counter Jimmy Carter.Matthews portrayed O’Neill as a blustering, tough Irish Bostonian who came up through the ranks of Congress, a consummate political insider. Reagan by contrast likes to portray himself as an outsider somehow innocent of the machine. His politics are still being played out today in the suspicion of all government programs and the conviction that all taxes are bad. Reagan the actor was head of the Actor’s Union and former Governor of California.The book is instructive with lessons on legislative flexibility and budget protocols that are now often ignored. Political scholars will profit from Matthew’s emphasis on documentation in his recounting of the pivotal role played by James A. Baker III, Reagan’s chief of staff, in the Reagan-O’Neill deal. Baker was not too proud to trek to O’Neill’s home at night to craft the compromise. Tip was able to rescue a tottering Social Security system and keep it going a good long time to come with the help of Reagan and Bob Dole. Tip’s support was crucial to Reagan achieving a historic nuclear arms reduction treaty with the Soviet Union whom Reagan called the “evil empire”. On the other hand, the 1981 fight over the budget O’Neill failed to stop the slashing of taxes on the rich. O’Neill supported Reagan on deploying Marines to Beirut and tried unsuccessfully to thwart the President’s domino fixation on Nicaragua and the Contras.I am a middle of the road independent and I was wondering how a democrat was going to portray a republic president. I must say for the most part Matthews just laid out the facts and did not add political commentary. The book is interesting and entertaining. I read this as an audio book downloaded from Audible. Chris Matthews did a good job narrating the book. Mathews has written, from an insider's perspective, an excellent history of the six years that Ronald Reagan served as President while working with and against the Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill. Covering the years 1981-1987, Mathews served as O'Neill's spokesperson and key political and policy advisor. He describes the issues (Social Security, tax reform and immigration) that the two compromised on for the good of the country, as well as the issues (budget and Central American policy) on which they fought. The principal theme of the book--from part of the title "When Politics Worked"--is a yearning for Washington's leaders, the President and the Congress, to work together for the good of the country. (Rob's review)
What do You think about Tip And The Gipper: When Politics Worked (2013)?
An excellent look at pivotal moments in history and two of the giants of US politics.
—Kezia
Great reflections on how compromise is done when democracy is working.
—bdl1187
