Wright’s Wrongs (review of The Ambition and the Power, by John Barry)

Hubris in a politician is a dangerous thing—for the politician. But overweening ambition in a politician is dangerous for the rest of us. John Barry, not altogether intentionally, has given us a case study in both.

Jim Wright’s hubris knew no bounds. The mere fact that a seasoned politician would grant a reporter unrestricted access to his private meetings and intimacy with his most closely held strategies is example enough. Wright was apparently influenced by a fawning profile of him that Barry had written for a national magazine. But no amount of fawning— and there is plenty here—can disguise the record Barry lays bare of Wright’s egotistical grab for power as Speaker of the House: violating the constitutional separation of powers as he attempts to control foreign policy, jabbing aside the Democratic committee barons as he pushes through his own agenda, running roughshod over historic House procedures as he puts down Republican-led revolts.

WA

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Wick Allison

Hubris in a politician is a dangerous thing—for the politician. But overweening ambition in a politician is dangerous for the rest of us. John Barry, not altogether intentionally, has given us a case study in both.

Jim Wright’s hubris knew no bounds. The mere fact that a seasoned politician would grant a reporter unrestricted access to his private meetings and intimacy with his most closely held strategies is example enough. Wright was apparently influenced by a fawning profile of him that Barry had written for a national magazine. But no amount of fawning— and there is plenty here—can disguise the record Barry lays bare of Wright’s egotistical grab for power as Speaker of the House: violating the constitutional separation of powers as he attempts to control foreign policy, jabbing aside the Democratic committee barons as he pushes through his own agenda, running roughshod over historic House procedures as he puts down Republican-led revolts.