How DC is Working

For John, BLUF:  Bob Woodward's new book suggests a lot of the blame for problems in Washington belongs on the carpet in the Oval Office.  Nothing to see; just move along.

This from the blog of Harvard Professor Greg Mankiw.♠  While panning the critical book about President Obama, The Amateur, he gives credence to the new Bob Woodward book, The Price of Politics.

It is a detailed recounting of the back-and-forth negotiations among President Obama's White House, the Republican leaders in the House of Representatives, and the major players in the Senate regarding the debt ceiling and long-term fiscal outlook.  The book is primarily an objective narrative, rather than a foaming-at-the-mouth polemic (unlike the over-the-top book The Amateur, which I read over the summer).  Nonetheless, the story Woodward tells does not make this White House look particularly good.

This does not make one optimistic about what will happen come the new year, when Sequestration hits us.

I may need to rethink my broad brush view of the faculty at Harvard.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Professor Mankiw is into the idea of Pigovian Tax.  There is a mouthful.