The Price of Politics, Bob Woodward
The Price of Politics, Bob Woodward
3 Rating(s)
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
Club: $14.99

The Price of Politics

Author: Bob Woodward

Narrator: Boyd Gaines

Unabridged: 13 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/11/2012


Synopsis

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.

About Bob Woodward

Bob Woodward is the author of three consecutive #1 New York Times bestsellers on President Trump—Fear (2018), Rage (2020), and Peril (2021) with Robert Costa—and an audiobook of 20 interviews with Trump. He has authored 22 bestselling books, 15 of which have been #1 New York Times bestsellers, covering every president from Nixon to Biden.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Andrew

I've never really been one to purchase books on modern day politics, but I stumbled upon mention of The Price of Politics (TPoP) in a Wall Street Journal article and decided to give it a try. In this book, we obtain a picture of the first three years of the Obama Presidency, including the Obamacare......more

Goodreads review by Phillip

It was "okay." I always take his books for what they are worth -- well-sourced political gossip. They may be 100% true or not. Overall, it bogs down in the last 1/3 because it is just back-and-forth negotiations between President Obama and congressional leaders. I got a bit lost in some of the finan......more

Goodreads review by Frank

Another great glimpse inside Washington politics by the doyen of Washington journalists. This time Woodward focuses on the labyrinthine debates over raising the debt-ceiling in 2011. The first takeaway here is that Obama doesn't come off well. Woodward starts the book with an anecdote from a Washingt......more