Pennsylvania Avenue: Profiles in Backroom Power.

• Author: Fischer, Raymond L.
• Position: Book review

PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE

Profiles in Backroom Power

BY JOHN HARWOOD AND GERALD F. SEIB

RANDOM HOUSE

2008, $26.00, 247 PAGES

Almost every important event in American history has "played out" in one way or another on Pennsylvania Avenue, the nation's most celebrated mile. Here, where the most important people in government have created moments of glory, they now confront fear, mistrust, and simple disagreement, thus producing confrontation and gridlock. Starling with Ronald Reagan's conservative sweep in 1980, followed by Newt Gingrich's revolution in the House of Representatives in 1994, and the Democratic comeback in 2006, the old establishment in Washington "has been pushed aside." Congress has become divided by party, ideology, money, and technology to the extent that work on Pennsylvania Avenue does not go well these days. Politicians have extreme difficulty getting things done in the nation's capital, as it is easier "to stop something from happening than to make something happen."

Power in Congress is so evenly divided that neither party has sufficient control to accomplish compromise or move beyond gridlock between the uniformly conservative Republicans and "unambiguously" liberal Democrats. In the past, conservative Southern democrats and liberal northeastern Republicans constituted within the political spectrum a strong middle from which to bridge the extremes. At present, maintain the authors, few politicians relate to "the center," and so gridlock grinds on.

Various changes have made compromise difficult. Thanks to the new media age, news oftentimes is "laced with opinions and attitudes." The explosion of cable-news outlets, radio talk shows, e-mall communications, blogs, and Intemet chat rooms have "fragmented" communications and produced more "insular" dialogues. The availability of niche media enables both parties to talk to only their own members and constituents. Moreover, close elections in 2000 and 2004 and war in Iraq have caused bitter divisions.

Many members of Congress who commute to their home states no longer meet and confer over dinner or cocktails, and spouses no longer meet socially. In the past, Washington had social affairs that brought rival politicians together. Such events have all but disappeared--closing the door on socially initiated compromises.

Expanded production of television news has fostered divisiveness. In the past, important Washingtonians watched the nightly newscasts between 6:30 and 7:30 on CBS, NBC...