it is and your opponent's victory much smaller." (p. 202) Politics is a game that not everyone can play, as was made evident in this book. One has to have certain qualities and be able to do certain things that the average person would never do. One has to follow a certain set of rules and look to the past for instruction on what to do in certain situations. Matthews writes "To get ahead in life, you can learn a great deal from those who get ahead for a living...People are jockeying for position, all the while keeping an eye on the competition. There's a magnetism to this world of make-or-break." According to Matthews, there are certain ways in which people can get a head in politics, and he gave many examples of the past to support these tactics. The four main areas in which these tactics lie are alliances, enemies, deals, and reputations – the titles he so appropriately gave to the different sections of the book. Matthews does a great job of explaining the game of politics to even I, who doesn’t know much about the game, or even care much for the game. Through the use of understandable examples that have occurred throughout this century, Matthews enables anyone to see the tactics that politicians use in getting ahead in Washington. The language that Matthews uses sometimes is not understandable, but this is only to those like myself who aren't too familiar with political vocabulary. Although the title threw me off a little in the beginning, I was able to get the full sense of what Matthews was talking about. I will no longer look at Washington as a place full of dull, boring old men. Washington is all politics and only those who can play hardball will survive....
