Prologue: Discouraged, disorganized, defeated -- The new direction : '6 for '06' -- "I had to wine the House first" -- Madam Speaker -- "Everythign becomes urgent" -- The slowest ship -- The economy wobbles -- The flagship -- "You can't have it the way you want to have it" -- "The prospects don't look good" -- Yes, we can! -- The abyss -- "We have to look out for ourselves" -- "The country is falling apart!" -- "Like swans going across the lake" -- The firehose -- Short-circuited -- "Number one among equals" -- The summer from Hell -- "The most important bill you will ever vote for" -- "Let's go for it!" -- The unwinnable war -- "Keep steering the ship" -- The unfinished agenda -- The "shellacking" -- Their last bow -- Conclusion: The perishability of power
