One of McLynn's persistent themes is the frequent influence of fools in the making of policy and war.
"We're in a unique position to have a front-row seat and actually be involved in the making of policy," Vilsack said over coffee in Ames.
A vote last month against the agreement to share banking data illustrated to Mrs. Clinton, among others, how issues like privacy — which are often politically sensitive in Europe — are likely to become more important in the making of policy.
That Dr. Marburger found it necessary to inform the public that his boss might actually consider facts in the making of policy is as clear an indication as any that narrow ideology, often contemptuous of facts, drives this administration.
And the committee is blatantly uneasy about issues of process, not least the marginalisation of the cabinet secretary (who gives evidence to the inquiry today) and the extent to which Mr Campbell was allowed to become an over-mighty official (though not in the absurd caricature of the sitcoms) in the making of policy and conduct of business.
To switch sports metaphors, the making of policy in government or any organization has something in common with football.
And once the action, such as it is, switched over to the dreary sausage-making of policy debate, political addicts, me included, suffered withdrawal pangs.
In the making of economic policy, too, the changes have been incremental rather than revolutionary.
The final question: how much does an event like this affect the making of domestic policy?
On occasions, the newspapers have directly intervened in the making of government policy.
