Thursday, January 8, 2009
Outside Reading post 10 of 12
The whitewater incident was one that caused the Clinton white house to be rattled around quite a bit. This incident, plus some other minor ones in general, caused tremendous stress and chaos in the job of the author of my book, George Stephanopoulos. Because of the crisis, there was craziness in the days of every staffer in the White House. People had to miss appointments, and fill in for other people nonstop, which caused confusion in the administration. This is illustrated when Stephanopoulos writes, "The crisis had scrambled everyone's schedules. White House public liaison Alexis Herman asked me to fill in for Ickes at a meeting with business lobbyist on health care, which made me late for a long-scheduled lunch with two reporters writing a political history of the deficit, during which Heather popped in with a request from the White House social Office. Could I do an emergency "grip and grin" over in the East Room?" (246). Mr. Stephanopoulos was constantly going from place to place, trying to fill the needs of a million people at once. Tremendous stress was building up inside him, but because of the multiple issues that needed to be handled, much work had to be done. His days continued like that, he illustrated this point by saying, "That was it- four encounters totaling about ten minutes over the course of of fourteen-hour period during which I had more than a hundred conversations" (247). In a political job, direct communication is immensely important to get everyone informed and assured of what was going on. Even if it takes all of your energy, it is vital for an administration to connect with many different people, just to keep the boat afloat. In the end, with a plethora of issues and people building up on your plate, you have to meet the challenge, or your ship will sink.
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4 comments:
I do agree with you. You seem to be saying that no matter the amount of stress things just have to get done. Generally that's how I feel about schoolwork. I never stress too much about it because I know that it has to get done and that it will get done. I like your quotes they really helped me understand the gravity of the situation.
That is true Jade, no matter the stress, all must get done. Bill Clinton handled the stress well and will be remembered as a solid president. Even though he had the eyes of two hundred some million impatient Americans on him, he was able to get the job done. That's what all good politicians should be able to do. People are inherently impatient, and that fact should be accepted or else one will crumble under the pressure.
The quote lost me. A perfect tribute to the situation no? I don't feel any remorse for any mistake Clinton made or makes or will make. He brought it all upon himself and the administration. All out of his perverted appetite. Anyone who would put the White House on the line for that kind of activity doesn't belong in office. However, obviously, the People thought otherwise and kept him in there. Though I admit I would've done the same (why risk a crappier president?). Very few people pass by in this world with admiration from all without showing some equally bad weakness. JFK had the similar problem. One of our greatest presidents was just like Clinton. Two of our greatest presidents were addicts to the X rated stuff. Perhaps thats not the worst flaw they could have?
Your quotes did a really good job of demonstrating the stress the people in the book were going through. I think any sort of political job would be way too stressful for me, and I agree with you that no matter how much stress you are under, you have to get your work done. Even though I hate stress, I think that if I was never under stress, I wouldn't ever get anything done. It seems that I work better and more efficiently when I have a huge amount of work to do.
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