Page 33 - Harvard Business Review, November-December 2018

Dirty Dozen, and we defeated seven of them. Then the survivors knew that this was a voting

issue—so what happened? The Clean Air Act, marine mammal protection, coastal zone

management. We created the EPA, and Richard Nixon felt enough pressure that he signed it into
law even though he obviously wasn’t an ardent environmentalist. That’s what has to happen

now. Accountability for the presidency has to be a voting issue. So does a better, more affordable

health care system, and so do workplace issues, particularly wages. When 52% of America’s

income is going to 1% of Americans, you have an unsustainable political equation.

You’re advocating for a grassroots uprising. But in the past, congressmen and senators could nd

common ground and x these problems. How can we achieve that again?

Those in power have to decide that it’s important. They have to stand up courageously and say,
“I’m not going to get dragged into this party orthodoxy or tribalism in our political structure. I’m

going to fight to do what’s best for the country and to keep the bipartisanship of the Senate on

track.” The American people elect representatives to go to Washington and get the job done.

When you don’t have a budget year after year, when you don’t fix something that everyone

knows is broken—like immigration—because you want to create a wedge issue to exploit

politically, you are complicit.

You talk in your book about how compartmentalizing can help even archenemies learn to work
together.

Yes. Take Russia and Putin. What they’ve been doing in our elections is absolutely unacceptable.

What they’ve done in Ukraine is unacceptable. What they did in Crimea is unacceptable, and we

stood up to that with very strong sanctions. But you have to compartmentalize because at the

same time, you’re working with Russia on getting chemical weapons out of Syria or the Iran
nuclear agreement or the Paris climate change accord. Ronald Reagan compartmentalized when

he focused on the evil empire but then asked Gorbachev to meet with him in Reykjavík so they

could get out of a wasteful, insane arms race. It’s the only way to run a large nation and make

important things happen.

But how can you bring parties or nations locked in terrible conict to the table?

Create a framework in which they see that their own political survival depends on their

participating. You’ll get the fastest response you’ve ever seen in your life.

You’ve had some huge setbacks in your political life, not least losing the 2004 presidential

election. After those experiences, how did you reset and recover?