50 Shades of Politics, Paperback/Eileen McGann
Descriere
Description I've seen it all. For the past fifty years, I've been immersed in the thrilling kaleidoscope of American politics. It's been an amazing journey and unexpected evolution as I passed through the shades of political coloration from blue through purple to bright red. I've changed along the way. As a student in the 1960s, I began my career on the left side of the political spectrum-embedded in the darkest shade of radical blue Democratic party politics. From there, as a political consultant, I progressed to another shade-purple, the result of combining blue and red to form a new color. That's when I worked with both parties, sometimes in that extinct arena of politics formerly known as bipartisan cooperation. It was clothed in purple that I helped Bill Clinton pass landmark legislation like welfare reform, with bipartisan support. The rest of my journey-from purple to red-was largely involuntary. As Ronald Reagan once said, "I didn't leave the Democratic Party. It left me." Bipartisanship stopped working as the Democrats lurched so far to the left that I didn't recognize them or support their agenda. So, ultimately, I became a bright red Republican. Fifty years of laboring through the labyrinth of competing shades and hues of party politics gave me a unique vantage point and understanding of the perspectives and workings of both the right and the left. I understood them both and I also understood that-at that time-things were not always so black and white. Instead, there seemed to be at least 50 shades of politics. I've advised Democrats and Republicans, men and women, conservatives and liberals. And I've helped elect 19 senators and governors (11 Republicans and 8 Democrats) and the presidents or prime ministers of 12 foreign countries. I wrote this book to share some of the wonderful experiences I've had-the fun, the people I've met, the places I've traveled to, and the memories that stand out. It's not a typical political memoir or an accounting of the most serious a
