Includes index.

The burden of Southern history -- He looks me in the tie -- Banana-peel words -- I came to love our weekly polls -- The twenty-point kiss -- Issues are the last refuge of a scoundrel -- We're going to meet the people where they are -- And so, my fellow Americans, in conclusion.

Klein, one of today's top political observers, has watched from the inside as consultants, pollsters, the twenty-four-hour cable news cycle, and the lack of courage in so many of our political leaders have chiseled away at Washington's integrity. Klein's intimate knowledge of the system and the people who run it, as well as his backroom access to leading figures, informs his dissection of the last thirty-five years of American politics. Klein still harbors hope for the future, and in addition to his brilliant, if dismaying, analysis of the political landscape of the past three decades, he lays out a plan and a vision for what the next president must do to regain the trust of the country and turn politics back into an honest and passionate profession.--From publisher description.