Power Plays: Win or Lose--How History's Great Political Leaders Play the Game (Hardcover)

by Dick Morris (Author) "Politics is the pursuit of power..." (more)
Key Phrases: nomination acceptance speech, New York, United States, White House (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Dick Morris is one of America's sharpest political minds. As a professional consultant, he has helped candidates from both parties understand public opinion and win elections--most notably President Clinton in 1996 (an experience Morris described in the bestselling book Behind the Oval Office). He is also a founding father of "triangulation," a strategy Clinton employed to great effect; according to Morris, George W. Bush also uses it quite well. "The identification of certain problems with certain parties or factions opens up a magnificent strategic opportunity: the chance to solve the other side's problems," writes Morris in Power Plays. In other words, if public concerns about welfare dependency drive voters toward the GOP, then Democrats ought to confront this issue head-on. "Solve the problems that keep the other side in business, and it will go broke. Give them what they want and they will go away." Power Plays, however, is not simply a primer on triangulation; it is an analysis of how various political strategies have helped and hindered candidates. Morris writes at length about determining when standing for principle works and when it doesn't, as well as a number of other approaches, including "divide and conquer" and "reform your own party." This is a first-rate book for readers who enjoy the gamesmanship of politics.

From Publishers Weekly
Aspiring politicians who can't afford to hire high-priced campaign consultants could do a lot worse than to buy this election manual from former Clinton political guru Morris (Behind the Oval Office). He offers 20 case studies illustrating how history's greatest politicians sealed their fate by following or ignoring six classic Morris rules: "Triangulate," "Divide and Conquer," "Reform Your Own Party," etc. These strategies work, Morris maintains, regardless of party affiliation or ideological bent. For example, Morris shows how both Bill Clinton (on welfare) and George W. Bush (on education) managed to trounce the opposition by co-opting its core issues a classic "triangulation" maneuver. In contrast, Morris says, both Woodrow Wilson and Barry Goldwater failed to provide a convincing explanation as to why their fringe ideas (the League of Nations and passionate anticommunism, respectively) were right for America. This is quintessential Morris ideology: the content is less important than the approach. Ronald Reagan, in this understanding, won the White House because he was able to "Stand on Principle" and present a clear, consistent description of who he was and what he stood for. Al Gore lost because he failed at the same task. Obviously, such a reductive analysis oversimplifies an extraordinarily complicated process. Morris's arguments are broadly convincing, however, and work well in the context of a "beginner's manual" on political strategy, despite some occasionally spooky language Reagan's move toward social conservatism in the 1960s, Morris writes, was like an "established corporation launching a new product line."
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1 edition (April 16, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060004436
• ISBN-13: 978-0060004439
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #552,117 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Instant, fast-moving political and history primer: G-R-E-A-T, May 3, 2002

By	Joel L. Gandelman (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In Power Plays former Clinton advisor and Fox News Channel political analyst Dick Morris has written an instant political and historical classic for the early 21st century that mirrors and duplicates the energy and quality of an instant political and historical classic of the late 20th century.

Thr other book was Chris Mathews' 1988 book, Hardball, which pulled together anecdotes and strands culled from his years working as a Congressional staffer. Critics called Hardball a modern day version of Machiavelli's The Prince, it became a best-seller, and for many years was MUST reading for anyone event remotely in a political career or studying political science. Hardball also solidified Chris Mathews' role as a superb political analyst.

Now, in Power Plays, Morris offers us another book with another great title -- and the content lives up to the title. Even a person who finds politics and history a bit dull will
find it hard to put this book down. Power Plays MOVES...and DELIVERS.

Lucidly and convincingly, Morris outlines what he calls the five classic kinds of Power Plays: Stand on Principal, Divide and Conquer, Triangulate (enacting some of your
opponents programs so they don't have ammunition, while still delivering to your supporters) , Reform Your Own Party, Use a New Technology, and Mobilizing the Nation in Times of Crisis.

But Morris doesn't offer sleep-inducing stuff: he provides clear-cut, highly lively, quote-filled and painstakingly-researched examples of powerful politicos (in the US and in other countries) who succeeded in using, or failed because they failed to use, these kinds of power plays.

Power Plays is a primer for those in power, those who aspire to power, and those who analyze power. I suspect it'll be in print for a LONG time since much of it will not be outdated. The only part that will date is his analysis of President Bush (who triangulates and mobilizes the nation) compared to former President Bill Clinton -- but this is a book will probably be reprinted and updated for many years to come.

Morris also notes that these power plays can be applied to the business world -- for advancing a company or office employee's position, image and power.

My favorite sections were his analysis of Al Gore (unsuccessful: didn't stand on principle), the late NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller (failed triangulation), Bill Clinton and
George W. Bush (successful triangulations), plus the chapters on FDR, JFK and Richard Nixon. The most dazzling foreign leader power plays: Churchill's (several kinds of power plays). The most dazzling American leader, in terms of using the power plays: Ronald Reagan.

This 360-page, well-index book is MUST READING for anyone a)interested in a political career, b)students of political science, c)office seekers, d)students of history who
will enjoy the way he has classified events and personalities into specific political trends and strategies, d)anyone who is interested in politics.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some Valuable Insights But Not WIthout Its Flaws, November 16, 2002

By	dougrhon "dougrhon" - See all my reviews

Dick Morris, well known political operative and architect of Clinton's 1996 "triangulation" strategy has attempted to write a book of political history. He partially succeeds and partially fails. In this book, Morris looks at a number of different political figures from the 19th and 20th century. (Actually, except for Lincoln, all are from the 20th century) In trying to analyze why some had success and others failed, Morris breaks his stories into categories of strategies. Some politicians such as Churchill and De Gaulle are regarded as having stood up for their beliefs while waiting for others to come around to their view. Others are regarded as having triangulated their positions between two opposing views. These would include G.W. Bush and Clinton of course. He also examines politicians who exploited new technologies such as FDR with radio and JFK with television. The book is generally interesting but Morris has two major problems. First, he sees all policy advocated by political figures as strategic. This is certainly what I would associate with the Clinton administration but I hardly think that Churchill had electoral strategy in mind when he entered the wildreness for a dozen years. Morris fails or perhaps cannot differentiate governing from running for office. The other problem is in his insistence on forcing square pegs into round holes. There is really very little similarity between De Gaulle's France and Lincoln's pre-Civil War united States. Nor can Wilson's problems in selling the Versailles treaty be equated with actually running for office. In my view, Morris would have done better to simply take a dozen or so of these stories and looked at each one as unique while using his expertise in electoral strategy to show what a political figure did right or wrong. To force each story into a few very broad categories weakens this book considerably. I would still recommend reading it, however.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Splendid Historic Look at Campaign Strategy From A Master, November 5, 2002

By	John Kwok (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"Power Plays" is one of the finest books I've read on politics. Dick Morris does an exemplary job underscoring the successes and failures of major political figures ranging from the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill and Charles De Gaulle to Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and George W. Bush. He successfully compares and contrasts how politicians like Clinton and Blair successfuly reformed their political parties, and led them to victory, while others, most notably George McGovern, led reformations within their parties yet lost their own bid for political power. Morris succinctly outlines several different types of political power plays, ranging from standing on one's own principles to divide and conquer and what Morris has coined as "triangulation"; co-opting the positions of your opponents and turning them into yours. "Power Plays" is a fascinating look at political history which should be required reading for both politicians and historians.

Dick Morris has organized successful political campaigns since his days as a student at New York City's illustrious Stuyvesant High School. His perceptive insights on current political campaign strategy as well as his terse historical overview of major American and foreign politicians will be of interest to anyone intrigued with politics, not only politicians and historians.