Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush
by Robert Draper
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Book Summary Information
Author: Robert DraperEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-03-25
ISBN: 0743277295
Number of pages: 480
Publisher: Free Press
Book Reviews of Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush
Book Review: George Bush
Summary: 4 Stars
This book was published in 2007. It seemed odd to me that the author would publish the book now rather than waiting until 2009 in order to review the entire Bush presidency.
The author spent months preparing this book, which included interviews with George W. Bush. In passing, Bush had mentioned to Mr. Draper (December 2006) that he was working on finishing reading his 87th book that year. I find that a little hard to believe. First, I wasn't aware that Bush could read let alone read eighty some books a year. That would be more than one a week. Either he is lying or he doesn't do much about being president and so has the time to read this many books or both. I am retired and I haven't read that many books this year.
Later in the book, it is obvious Bush doesn't read any news magazine even if a story is related to an issue he is working. He reads books, but not news magazines. Strange?
Republican publisher Steve Forbes is to have said of George W. Bush: Bush is a nice guy but an empty suite with no philosophical underpinnings.
Rove
Karl Rove and Karen Hughes can't stand each other.
There is a story about Rove as a teenager in 1960. He boasted to a girl that he was a strong supporter for Richard Nixon. The girl came from a Catholic family and was supporting Kennedy. When he told her that he was supporting Nixon, she knocked him to the sidewalk and smashed his nose.
Camp David
The road to Camp David is so far up in the mountains that one day Bush tried to use his cell phone to make a call and realized he couldn't get reception. You would think that things like that would have been fixed years ago. It is fixed now.
Iraq and 911
Bush can be very funny at times. Such as the "mission accomplished" event regarding the "end of the Iraq War". Or when he said, "I just don't think it's the role of the US government tell people what to do. We do it this way, so should you".
Cheney can be funny too. "If you wait for intelligence to drive policy, you will have waited too long."
Dick Armey tried to tell the Bush administration before the attack on Iraq this could turn into a quagmire. Cheney's response was: "We have great information. They're going to welcome us. It will be like the American army going through the streets of Paris. They're sitting there ready to form a new government. The people will be so happy with their freedoms we'll probably back ourselves out of there within a month or two". Armey didn't buy it. Colin Powell also raised some concerns whether this was the correct path to take.
In Jan 2006, Bush had a meeting with 13 former Secretaries of State and Defense to get "their assessment of Iraq". Photographers came in to take pictures of Bush "consulting with these former cabinet officers". Bush introduced the ambassador to Iraq, who spoke via video from Baghdad. Then General Casey, Rumsfield and Rice all gave presentations. After all this, there was only about 15 minutes for these former cabinet officers to speak.
When the 911 Commission interviewed both Bush and Cheney, they were expecting Bush to defer to Cheney. Instead Bush spoke 95% of the time and Cheney the remainder.
Attorney General
John Ashcroft was not Bush's first choice for Attorney General. Bush wanted Montana governor Mac Racicot. Racicot couldn't afford a plane ticket to the inaugural, much less four more years as a government employee. I find that odd. Bush felt Ashcroft was a problem for his presidency and asked Ashcroft to leave after Bush's first term. Then Bush appointed Alberto Gonzales, who wasn't anybody's idea of a brilliant legal mind.
Rice
Rice likes to read (only non-fiction). She learned how to read sheet music at the age of three and became concert pianist by 13. She felt she would never reach a level of distinction in the music world, so she started to study Russian.
She told a close friend the reason why she is not married is that there were few African American men who could cope with a woman of her stature. (Then why doesn't she look at white or Hispanic men?)
Social Security
Bush has always wanted to privatize social security and encourage people to save for retirement. Many of his experts in this area told Bush the Social Security trust fund would not run out until 2041 and even then we could fund 70% of what was promised. Bush ignored all this and forged ahead with his plan. His attitude seemed to be "Don't confuse me with the facts".
New Orleans
I am not sure any of us here in California can really comprehend all the devastation of Katrina. One church in New Orleans had over 100 members vanish and were never heard or seen again.
Bush was at Crawford Texas when the Katrina hit several states in the south. His aides told him he should go back to Washington to deal with this new situation. It was urgent he go back as quickly as possible. He did go back quickly, however not as quickly as when he had to go back to Washington to sign the bill that would keep Terri Schiavo alive.
Gays
As the governor of Texas, Bush was quoted to have said, "Let me tell you my view when I was asked about gays in my staff, I said: How do you know? Let me tell you my view about sex. It's private. It's not my business. I don't want to know. I don't want to know about your sex life, and I'm not interested in you knowing mine.
Just months prior to the 2004 elections, Bush stated very firmly his position marriage is only for one man and one woman. After the elections, he barely ever spoke about it. He was content to let the issue die.
Like me
Surprisingly one area I am very much like Bush. Time. He expects people to be early for meetings and he starts every meeting on time. (Clinton often kept people waiting for an hour or so) Bush demand letters get a response within days of receiving them. (With Clinton, it might be months)
Summary of Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush
In this ambitious work of political narrative, Robert Draper takes us inside the Bush White House and delivers an intimate portrait of a tumultuous decade and an embattled administration.Virtually every page of this book crackles with scenes, anecdotes, and dialogue based on access to every principal actor in the Bush administration, including six newsmaking interviews with the president himself.Historical Books
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