Weigel

There’s Gonna Be A Showdown

By

On my reading list: David Corn’s new insta-history of Obama and the Tea Party Congress, titled SHOWDOWN. There wasn’t much time to pore through it while in Alabama and Mississippi, but what did get read looked good. Would you believe that anonymous White House aides curse quite a bit? Turns out they do.
Screen shot 2012-03-15 at 9.12.02 AM The one problem, and it might have been unavoidable, is that “SHOWDOWN” is one of our most over-used titles for Washington books. The obvious antecendant to Corn’s history is Elizabeth Drew’s 1996 classic about the Gingrich Congress.
Screen shot 2012-03-15 at 9.20.17 AM What if you have a more niche product and you need to hype the conflict? Use the same title.
Screen shot 2012-03-15 at 9.11.46 AM Or a look at political special interests.
Screen shot 2012-03-15 at 9.13.33 AM Or foreign policy: Screen shot 2012-03-15 at 9.14.58 AM
Amazon would do well to offer a six-pack of “Showdown” books, for the discriminating reader who loves insider details of conflict but doesn’t care what’s being fought over.