Me Essays (1120 words) - English-language Films, Chris Matthews

Me In the world of politics, nothing is of absolute guarantee and nothing is everlasting. In politics, "wars" come and go but the "soldiers" stay forever and to get ahead, one must always be ready to be a team player and must always not forget old allies and the people that worked to get you to where you have gotten. Chris Matthews reflects this sentimental in his book "Hardball" as he shares his political experiences and knowledge. In his book, he shares three lessons that can help anyone rise within the political realm and they are "all politics is local," "Dance with the one that bring ya," and "it's not who you know, it's who you get to know." Hardball by Chris Matthews is an interpretation of what many know as hard-politics. The book describes the skill of playing the game in Washington and how to be successful at it. The book is a guide that teaches a series of maxims that would be in favor of politicians to learn in order to be successful. The different tactics provided in the book hold a lot of knowledge that would make the life of anyone following these strategies much easier when trying to get ahead in life. Matthews describes a countless number of examples of successful politicians that rose to the top. Those politicians are the ones who learned how to play hardball in Washington. To be a team player and to make allies, one must first get into a team. In politics, the key advantage is knowing the people that are already in positions of power or getting to know people that have "connections." Thus Chris Matthews brings to the first key step for a successful political career and that is to get to know people and find friends. The easiest example is the rapid success of Lyndon Baines Johnson. When LBJ was staying at the Dodge Hotel, he took four showers, brushed his teeth five times and he did this with a pain-staking precision, planning to "run into" as many congressional secretaries as possible. LBJ knew that to rise in bureaucratic ranks, gaining allies and contacts was one big key factor in politics. Thus within three months of arriving in Washington, he got elected to the position of the speaker for the organization of all house staff assistants. With this secret power of getting to know people, LBJ used it well especially since he joined the senate. Within three years of joining the senate as a "nobody," he became the top Democratic leader. Thus LBJ was able to get ahead in the game of politics, first when he got into the "Washington Politics" by getting into contact with people in the Dodge hotel and then again to get himself elected onto the "little congress" and once again LBJ used his "skills" to get to know people in the senator and thus using that to his advan tage during his presidency. Thomas O'Neil said that when people come to see you, do not ignore their problems, but pay attention to what they have to say to you because it is important to them. Otherwise they would have never come to you. Thus dealing with people on this individual basis, as a politician would of the voters, can be of great advantage if you can use it properly. Chris Matthews says that this is what local politics mean and that is a rule in the world of politics. To get ahead, you have to know this rule, that "all politics is local." To even farther your career, you must show that you can be loyal to your locals back home as well as to your associates, friends, party members and supporters. No one will trust a traitor in the world of politics and even the voters will not respect them. A important example of this is Ronald Reagan who showed his great strength in loyalty by sticking to the conservative side even though the "middle of the road" side showed to be more promising in the political spectrum. Sometimes to win, you have to stick to your guns no matter what the cost may seem to you, because you can win the hearts of the people and your