This Elizabeth Drew offering demonstrates an adage of politics: There are no final victories.
When the 104th Congress arrived in Washington in January 1995, few inside the Beltway knew what to expect. Republicans held control of both chambers of Congress for the first time in forty years and the House was infused with a freshman class more ideologically conservative than the rest of the body. As a result, the showdown between House Speaker Newt Gingrich and President Bill Clinton was of historic proportions — including the longest and most disruptive federal government shutdown ever.
Showdown portrays this twelve-month period with such great detail that Drew sometimes seems to lose sight of the long-term implications of the events she is chronicling. While Drew’s access and thorough interviews are commendable. her relentless detail becomes burdensome. There are lessons to be learned from this period, but these lessons may require a less dramatic and more long-term view of the process than Drew provides.
In January 1995, motivated by their historic victory and conservative ideology, the members of the Republican Congress appeared to be cohesive. The Clinton administration, on the other hand, showed signs of floundering. This perception is confirmed by Drew, who reveals that two months after the election the Clintons “were still angry and hurt by the results of the midterm election…. When one friend said [Clinton’s] mood was doing him no good — that he should pull himself together and get on with the presidency — Clinton screamed some more.”
