Status Updates From The Class of '74: Congress ...

Members of the Class of '74 still recall that even in the late '70s, it was still considered a good thing to accomplish bipartisan efforts and to have friendships across the political aisle. We need to bring that back. We need to stop attacking politicians for working together. When a Republican backs an effort the Dems put up to help children or veterans or whoever, that's a GOOD thing.

One of the reasons I'm having such a tough time getting through this book is that it has so many "characters" no personalities stand out as protagonists. An interesting personality who pops up here is Phillip Burton (1926-1983), the legislator who held the seat currently occupied by Nancy Pelosi. Burton was acerbic, profane, and undiplomatic. He was a complicated man, but not an entirely bad one.

Progress on this dense tome is painfully slow.