How an Ambassador Sees Washington: “If anyone tells you why a particular decision was made in Washington, he is either a fool or a liar.”

From the book,  The Washington Diaries, by Alan Gotlieb, a former Canadian ambassador to Washington:

Sir Nicholas Henderson is reputed to be the best British ambassador to Washington in modern history. . . .We talked about the complexities of Washington. The players are so numerous and dispersed, he said, you can never explain what actually happened. “If anyone tells you why a particular decision was made in Washington, he is either a fool or a liar.”
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My predecessor and mentor Marcel Cadieux warned me that the most demeaning part of his job was trying to get an appointment with a senator, or waiting around to see him, or trying to get him to the house for dinner and coping with the seating plan when he, as so often happens, cancels his acceptance at the last minute.

These Senate calls are very time-consuming. . .and there is usually an air of expectancy on the part of the senator. An attitude of “What are you asking me to do for you today?” One always feels as though he is begging. One is. The challenge is how to beg and keep your dignity.
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Dinner tonight at a large, countrified home. . . .I didn’t know anyone there, and I didn’t talk to anyone other than to exchange a few banalities. I went, however, to be seen. “Visibility” is much-prized in this media-dominated town. “Visibility,” in turn, leads to “access,” and “access” leads to “influence.” That’s the theory, and it corresponds perfectly to the Washington reality. But you can’t mine for information at many of these affairs. Lots of dry holes and I was in one tonight.