![]() ![]() When the preceding words first appeared, I had no idea this book would become a classic, that many hard-nosed politicians would employ it as their bible, that CEOs would be caught carrying it in their briefcases, that young people set on bright careers would cherish their tattered copies as if they were treasure maps, that political science professors would assign it as required reading, that the word "hardball" itself would so penetrate the country's vocabulary. It is the discipline of gaining and holding power, useful to any profession or undertaking, but practiced most openly and unashamedly in the world of public affairs. Let me define terms: hardball is clean, aggressive Machiavellian politics. Its subject is not the grand sweep of history, but the round-the-clock scramble for position, power and survival in the city of Washington. ![]() ![]() It is not an aerial judgment of how leaders of this or any country ought rightly to behave, but an insider's view of the sometimes outrageous way they actually do. It is not about pristine procedures, but about imperfect people. ![]()
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