Review of Hardball by Chris Matthews Essay

The very first thing Matthews wants us to know is how important personal relationships are in Washington. “Retail politics,” a method by which a politician wins people over one at a time, plays a huge role in this chapter. According to Matthews, retail politics is a very important and useful strategy in Washington politics. Lyndon Baines Johnson was a master of retail politics. Matthews describes in

Moneyball, the story of a dynamic change agent who rallied a small group of undervalued professional baseball players and executives to overturn convention and rethink how Major League Baseball (“MLB”) was managed and played. Its really a book about hustlers. Moneyball consecrated the notion that its noble to win inexpensively, but believe its good to stay a cheap baseball club, because of their fat annual revenue-sharing check they get at the end of the year. Michael Lewis wrote an un-organizational confusion, his misunderstanding of baseball, to his constant interruption of financial and statistical talk, that turned interest in the book away from many.

Hardball by Chris Matthews is an interpretation of what many know as “hard-politics”. The book describes the skill of playing the game in Washington and how to be successful at it. The book is a guide that teaches a series of maxims that would be in favor of politicians to learn in order to be successful. The different tactics provided in the book hold a lot of knowledge that would make the life of anyone following these strategies much easier when trying to get ahead in life. Matthews describes a countless number of examples of successful politicians that rose to the top. Those politicians are the ones who learned how to play hardball in Washington.

Politics was a word that was used flippantly in Plunkitt’s vocabulary. To him, being a politician and living in the world of election and re-election was all a game. He used his status as a politician to gain power, money, and influence on the people surrounding him. An example of Plunkitt using his status to gain money can be found in the first chapter of the book.

My first topic comes from the “All Politics Is Local” section of Chris Matthews’ book. In politics, anyone who holds a place or is trying to hold a place in the political scene is constantly influencing others, correct? What Matthews means by “all politics is local” is basically if you want to influence someone, do not focus on the big picture. Instead, you should focus on what matters personally to the people you strive to influence.

A politician will have enemies because of their different point of view on certain issue. Good politicians shake hands with their enemies and easily talk with them. LBJ once said, “Better to have ‘em inside the tent pissin’ out than outside pissin in.” During the time Lincoln was president he had an entire administration filled with people who were angry and all felt that they’d make a better president him. This is smart because once you have your enemies working with you they can’t bad mouth you and their interests collide with yours. Having enemies work for you makes people trust you, because it gives off the impression you’re open minded. Politician use ridicule in order to bring down their opponent, so it’s best if one come up with a quick witty remark because ignoring it is the worst possible thing one can do. It proves to people that the statement is true. Jimmy Carter ignored the “Keep you enemies in front of you” rule and paid for it dearly. Having defeated the Democratic establishment on his way to the Oval Office, carter soon found out that same establishment was rooting for

He provides examples of how former presidents kept the powers of their enemies in check. Reagan got the nomination against Bush by successfully using his enemy Baker. Mathews explains that if your enemies are working with you, then they would not be able to talk bad about you since your views will collide. Also you will earn the trust of others to be open minded by having your enemies work for you.

It doesn’t matter how much experienced you’ve stocked on a resume. Getting ahead is sometimes falsely claiming to care for other concerns in order to gain the support of others. Yes, I agree that networking is an important aspect to get ahead in life. Many people I’ve met have emphasized that in order to be successful, one must network. I’m glad to know that Matthews took the risk of knocking on many top politicians’ doors in order to seek job opportunities, and I’m also glad that he took a lesson in starting from a smaller position than just sprinting to the top. A lot of people are desperate for a reward, but what they don’t realize is that it takes years to get to that destination. I’m satisfied with the majority of the content in this chapter; however, I would never waste my time trying to win the support of another politician in order for me to sympathize with a preoccupation I do not care for at

"Along with sturdy plotting, Rosenstiel will an honest job of describing the grandstanding that takes place behind the scenes and on the Senate floor..."

manipulated their way into the high positions they received. When you have that type of power

Being a politician is not a bad thing but when one has a taste of true power that is when things become interesting. The person slowly starts to think that they could do better or the nation (or empire) is headed in the wrong direction. Also they start to think of what position of power could do for them personally. This is called

Some individuals find it funny that people today are naive to believe that going into politics with a friend or a spouse means that their “tight bond of friendship” will last through it. Actually politics usually work against that belief. Politics can be deadly.

Politics is a bloodsport, one big game of corruption, muckraking, prostitution, and defilement, which is played by the politicians, the media, and the seemingly innocent public that tends to forget that politicians are humans also, no better than the masses except for one thing, the ability to play the game. Primary Colors by Anonymous portrays this fraudulent game perfectly, exhibiting all of the dark aspects of a political campaign: from the vicious media in their pursuit of scandals, to the traitorousness of opposing candidates to destroy each other, all the way to the secretive sexual interactions taking place during the campaigning process. Yet in this vice-corrupted novel, Anonymous also manages to let the human side of the tainted

"Politics has come to be considered not only inappropriate in the arena of sports, but actually antithetical to it," Zirin says. "We want so much to see sports solely as an arena of play, not seriousness. But here's the thing, this can cheapen not only the greatness and relevance of sports to us as a society, but also the courage of the athletes" . The pursuit of fame, wealth and status can blind the human conscience, which is why it is important for us to encourage athletes to voice their opinions. As a nation, we should not silence our athletes, because it is the truly courageous athletes who have the audacity to stand up when it is socially unacceptable. Sports should be used as a platform for a certain kind of politics such as

Retail politics can best be described as gaining support or backing for an individual through direct personal connection and networking. This type of politics is incredibly important because it creates a more intimate and special kind of deal that makes that person more willing to support a particular politician. Not to mention it can help on a personal level by moving up social and trust levels, which is a huge part of politics. This kind of politics is different than wholesale politics which targets a large audience rather than an individual person. A congressional cloakroom is a communal meeting place that can be compared to the kitchen or water jug in a typical office. It serves as an informal meeting place where politicians can meet