NY Times Magazine Profiles Reid

New York Times Magazine has an excellent piece out on the web which profiles Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) as he navigates President Obama’s ambitious legislative agenda while trying to win another Senate term.  It’s really a must-read.

Here’s an excerpt in which he discusses Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME):

He said he had been shocked by the behavior of Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican, since returning from his failed bid for the presidency. “My disappointment — no, that’s the wrong word; I’ll try to find a better word. My amazement has been John McCain. I thought he’d turn out to be a statesman, work for things. He’s against everything. He’s against everything! He didn’t used to be against everything.”

He said he thought the White House erred in trying to win the support of Olympia Snowe, the Republican senator from Maine, for a health care compromise. “As I look back it was a waste of time dealing with her,” he said, “because she had no intention of ever working anything out.” And while making clear that he was not complaining, he said Obama may have been asking for too much in his first year. “I personally wish that Obama had a smaller agenda,” he said. “It would be less work.”

I found that last quote about the President’s agenda to be particularly interesting.

Here’s an excerpt on his leadership style and respect for committee leaders:

Committee chairmen and chairwomen, the Senate’s traditional barons who lost some power in the past two decades, have found themselves newly ascendant under Reid. “Other leaders who I’ve worked with and respect, like Tom Daschle, would say, ‘We need a task force; we need to bring in people who aren’t chairs,’ ” Durbin says. “Harry is very respectful to committee chairs, and they are loyal to him as a result of that.” Reid is a transactional politician, unashamed to dole out an earmark to win a vote, a bit of sausage-making that draws him condemnation in editorials. There are days, aides say, when they almost feel like concierges as Reid — hearing a fellow senator was going to Las Vegas, and seeing a way to build good will and promote his home state — asks them to line up restaurant reservations, choice hotel rooms and hard-to-get show tickets. By contrast, “I have never heard him threaten a member,” Durbin says. Reid said he disdains the tough-guy style of one of his more famous predecessors, Lyndon Johnson. “I don’t think he’d last for five minutes today,” Reid said. “You can’t bully.” Besides, he added: “I couldn’t be Lyndon Johnson if I wanted to be. He was too crude and physical for me.”

(credit image – getty)