Customer Reviews

Like No Other Time: The 107th Congress and the Two Years That Changed America Forever

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4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Unlike most memoirs written by politicians, this book focuses more on historical events than Tom Daschle's ego. At the same time, the book sheds light on Daschle's political philosophy as well as the amazing events between the 2000 and 2002 elections, including the remarkable 2000 presidential election, the evenly-divided Senate, Daschle's sudden switch to Majority Leader, September 11, and the anthrax attack on Daschle's office.

The book covers the tragic death of Senator Paul Wellstone and how it affected Daschle, as well as the 2002 election in which the Republicans retook the majority. It also gives you a sense of the incredible lengths to which the Bush Administration, the Republican congressional leadership, and people like Rush Limbaugh have gone to undermine Daschle. There's no sensationalism, yet some of the stories are quite dramatic -- these were, after all, tumultuous years. Like No Other Time is a well written, fascinating history lesson.

A lot of tension in this book. Daschle was a participant in many of the major events described here: the Gore/Bush split vote, Trent Lott's apologized-and-rightly-so racism debacle, the Jim Jeffords defection, the 9/11 attacks, the anthrax attacks on Daschle's office, the Afghanistan and Iraq war decisions, and of course the dismal Democrat election defeats of 2002. I came away from each of these chapters impressed by the seriousness and emotional volatility of what was going down. Most of this stuff was the News to many of us; but to Daschle and other Congressmen, it was a series of almost daily make-or-break crises that had life-shattering and sometimes lethal consequences.

A favorite chapter was the account of Daschle's first meeting with George Bush, fascinating if somewhat creepy. The Senator's view of the President is of course mostly negative, but he also does a fair job of describing Bush's character strengths.

While the mudslinging and character assassinations that go on in national politics is common knowledge, it's disturbing to read about these things from an up-close perspective.

It's not all negative. Daschle describes his thoughts on the function of Congress. He quotes a history that describes it as "designed by geniuses to be run by idiots". Why have both a House and a Senate? To "cool down" new legislation, like pouring hot coffee into a saucer.

The current Congress strikes me as too divisive, though I'm sure that's been the case before. The Republicans clearly view themselves as the drivers. When they propose legislation, their approach is *the* approach; Democrats are imbeciles and traitors; divergent views aren't welcome. Dissenters should be pulverized, not reasoned with.

I heard this one on abridged Audio CD.

The Senator from South Dakota gives us a great look at two very eventful years in our history, from the chair of what has to be one of the most difficult jobs in the world, the minority leader of the United States Senate. The period Senator Daschle writes about may be considered a turning point in the history of the United States, and the account, from his unique perspective, sheds much light on this troubled time. A very well told chronicle of these turbulent years.

It's easy to understand, after reading, why Senator Daschle choose to print his account of these extrodinary times. These events did not happen that long ago, yet I found myself remembering things I had forgotten and learning much that was new to me. I found it very interesting to read Daschle's almost hour by hour account of his experience during these historic events. Some may call parts of the book partisan. I think he's simply saying what he truly believes. There is a deep sense of genuiness throughout. You'll like the book!

"Like No Other Time" is Daschle's stream-of-consciousness diary of the last couple of years, covering Bush's arrival, the evenly split Senate, Sept. 11, the Anthrax attacks, Afghanistan, the Jeffords' switch, Paul Wellstone's death, his ruminations on running for president, Iraq, and the 2002 elections. I found Daschle to be a very engaging writer and really appreciated his up-close insight over what were intriguing yet distant news stories for me.

Unfortunately, Daschle's highly partisan opinions (e.g., Republicans are bad, Democrats are good) offset some very good reporting and commentary. I almost quit the book after the first few chapters. No doubt Republicans dealt him some underhanded blows, but responding with the same black-and-white mentality does not help his own credibility.

Some of "Like No Other Time", specifically the terrorist attacks, indeed describes heretofore extremely unique events that could make for interesting reading years from now. However, much of the events described in "Like No Other Time" is definitely like every other time in Washington, and while interesting now, probably won't sustain the book through multiple printings.

I like this book and, after completing it, like Tom Daschle, but "Like No Other Time" is really more of a serial magazine interview/article rather than history book.

I normally just read fiction, but I liked this book. I'd bought a copy of the book to give to my Dad at Thanksgiving, and hadn't intended on reading it myself. But a six hour delay changing planes in Chicago left me with nothing else to do and I can honestly say that I was shocked at how interesting and readable it was. It was kind of like watching a whole season's worth of the West Wing, only that all this stuff actually happened. A lot of what he talked about I had just barely been aware of at the time, like all the power-sharing stuff, while other sections, like anthrax and 9/11, really opened my eyes to what was really going on. Definately worth reading.

Tom Daschle's memoir of the 107th Congress should ultimately be recognized as one of the best first person accounts of the critical two years following the 2000 election. Like No Other Time is an exceptionally good senatorial memoir. Daschle is a keen observer of people and of politics. Thus, his memoir is a candid and revealing look at the people and events that shaped America during two transformative years.

Daschle offers some sharp assessments along the way. His nuanced and careful impressions of President Bush are very persuasive, contradicting both the idealized portrait of the right and the left's ridiculous notion of the President as an idiot. Daschle is no supporter of Bush, but is careful to note his strengths.

Also of interest are the dynamics between senators as described here. Daschle's sometimes-cooperative, sometimes-conflictual relations with Trent Lott are described amply. One gets a sense of just how much the Senate relies on such relations (I regretted that the book was published too early to record his impressions of Bill Frist and certainly too early to record Frist's tacky visit to South Dakota to support John Thune against Daschle). Also explored in fascinating detail is the successful campaign to bring James Jeffords out of the GOP.

Daschle writes with frustration about the decline of civility in the Senate and Congress as a whole - an early section details the change in tone wrought by Newt Gingrich. This trend has since been accelerated by the machinations of the White House - one section details just how much Bush committed himself to the Thune-Johnson race in South Dakota. With evident pain, Daschle also discusses how the emotional farewell service to Paul Wellstone inadvertently became a more partisan rally (his balanced account of the event is a nice corrective to polemical accounts from either side)

Like other reviewers, I wish Daschle had commented about more topics. He declines to discuss the outcome of the Thune-Johnson race, but does imply that Bush's inattention to economic relief for South Dakota was a strong factor. Nor does the later victory of Mary Landrieu in Louisiana receive coverage. But his discussion of the Democratic Party's debate, in the fall of 2002, over going to war in Iraq is priceless. Daschle aptly conveys the slanderous attacks made against the party over Iraq and the Homeland Security bill. Though Daschle is clearly in a position of partisan authority, he makes a notable effort to keep his tone balanced and restrained.

I was really impressed by this book and by its author. Whatever the outcome of his race this year - and I'd very much like to see Daschle reelected for the sake of South Dakota and this country - I hope that this is not the last book he writes about American politics. This is a book worth buying and reading for the insights it offers about American politics and the current tumultuous era.

South Dakota Senator Daschle describes the 107th congress and its events, such as the September 11 attacks, the anthrax contamination of the Senate's Office Building, and other dramatic episodes during his term as majority leader. Daschle talks about the loss of bipartisanship and his disagreement with President Bush and Republican House Speaker Tom De Lay. This audio book is a good, inside account of the workings of the U.S. government.

It was so easy to read and once I got started was hard to put down. I am really proud of Tom Daschle and the work he has done
while in office. It really makes you get a feeling what goes on
in Washington and you respect your Senators and Congressmen for
what they go thru.

Tom Daschle wrote this book with another author, or I think he dictated the book to the author would the produced what we have to read. I felt this way after reading the text because the book reads like a two hour C-SPAN interview without the questions. I may be a little too hard on the team here, but I wanted more then just some rambling account of these two years. I was looking for behind the scenes, blow by blow accounts of some of the political battles Daschle was involved in. I wanted dialog like Woodward always seems to fill his books up with. His guy was meeting with the President and all the other highest-ranking members of the government and he could barely give me the details of when or if he talked to them let alone a good feel for the conversation.

The book spends about 40% of its time on the anthrax attacks to his office and about 5% on the attacks on 9-11. Ok, I understand that his office received one of the letters, but in the big picture of the past two years, September 11th and what he was involved in is more important and interesting to me then his office being off limits for a few months. And what is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, this book is about the 107th Congress, I would have appreciated it if the author could have held his ego in check and not given me the Cliff Notes version of his biography. All it did for me was to get me to skip pages.

I should not spend all my time on the negatives. I found the information on the Jim Jeffords switch very interesting as well as the information on the homeland security and Iraq war bills. I thought his comments on the Wellstone memorial service to be insightful and a bit surprising. The author did have an interesting insight into the process and I found a lot of what he had to say informative. Overall, the book was easy to read and full of good information. I will give it credit for that, it is just that I expected and wanted more. Maybe the author is holding back for his end of career memoirs to give us the really good inside stuff I was looking for.