Collateral Political Damage
Policy victories and vulnerable allies are casualties of simultaneous operational and political storms. The Chesapeake bill's collapse and Tom Landis's political exposure show how crises aloft and media maneuvers can undercut fragile bipartisan deals. The theme highlights the asymmetric costs borne by moderates and less powerful actors when institutional energy is diverted to crisis control or when partisan pressures overwhelm negotiated compromises.
Events Exemplifying This Theme
During a late Roosevelt Room negotiation, Josh celebrates a bipartisan Chesapeake Bay deal with Republican Tom Landis only to be publicly rebuked by Hill Democrats Segal and Simmel, who warn …
Leo delivers bad news: the Chesapeake cleanup bill will not emerge from Committee, a casualty of partisan maneuvering and Deaver's objection to Landis's closeness with the White House. Josh absorbs …
After Leo delivers the crushing political news that the Chesapeake cleanup bill won't get out of committee, Josh runs into Donna in the basement hallway. Donna — previously sidelined but …
Josh learns from Leo that the Chesapeake cleanup bill has been torpedoed in committee — a casualty of intra-party ambition and pragmatic tradeoffs. He runs the technical theory of sabotage …