The Bush Tragedy by Jacob Weisberg
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Book Summary Author: Jacob Weisberg Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2008-10-14 ISBN: 0812978358 Number of pages: 304 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Product features:
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Book Reviews of the The Bush Tragedy
Customer Review: The Bush Tragedy
Summary: 3 Stars
To say that I am not a Bush supporter would be an understatement. I have endured the last eight years with gritted teeth and the knowledge that the nightmare of this administration would end on January 20, 2009, one way or another. The question had always been just how much damage to our civil liberties would be done, how far the Constitution could be bent like a pretzel before it actually broke, and how far would America's stature in the court of world public opinion sink before that date. So for me to even read this book is somewhat bemusing. I already knew the Bush/Cheney administration was a tragedy. The fiasco treatise was read daily in the press and watched on the news channels. We had elected someone who could barely speak intelligent English and we had given him the codes to the arsenals. I did not have to read a book to tell me what we American's had been living through the past eight years was a tragedy. It was like the quintessential Greek play, only it was real life. You had to laugh at times, or eat Prozac or Lexapro or whatever your flavor.
I must have read a review of this book in Newsweek that caused me to order it from Amazon.com. I remember I was intrigued by two things, the review said the author approached his subject (Bush) not as a joke, but in a serious attempt to explain the man and the reasons of the actions taken. And the author is the editor in chief of Slate magazine, a web portal that I have been known to frequent. Then there is the "Bushisms" series that the author has been associated with. Given the fact that Jacob Weisberg is said to try and write a serious work about the court jester, I decided to give it a go.
Overall the book is a fairly good read. The author takes some leaps here and there trying to tie his take on the actions of the man and pin them to what he feels is the motive behind them. Sometimes they stick, other times not so much. Weisberg does take some of his own armchair psychoanalysis a bit to far at times, pointing backwards inside the Bush family tree one and two generations as to why something was done. Then there are other times when he is able, due to his access to back door information and background, to provide some insightful revelations about the man Dubya and those around him, specifically Karl Rove. There should be no doubt that Karl Rove was the evil puppeteer who worked the marionette and got him into the oval office in 2000.
The first chapter is meant to introduce you to the family tree and who is who in the grand scheme of things. However this is probably the weakest chapter written by Weisberg, and very hard to follow, even with the photo family tree provided. Weisberg insists of calling the same person multipule names, often on the same page. At one point he refers to George Herbert Walker Bush as George H. W., #41, Poppy, Pop, and little Pop all within a matter of sentences. Being a somewhat amateur genealogist, this is taboo. You designate a name, one name for a person, and refer back to that name at all times. This constantly changing of monikers to reference the same individual gets confusing fast, and it did. And of course everyone in the family had to have at least two names, and two different nick or pet names as well. Take it slow, refer back to the photo family tree, and you will make it through.
Jacob Weisberg is at his best however when providing details on Dick Cheney, the vice president, revealing the real authority behind the administration. A good bit of background information is given on where Cheney came from, who he had worked for and why, and how he came to be the #2 man in the administration. Let there be no doubt, Dick Cheney has done more to undo the Constitution and personal liberties of American's than any other man in the 232 years of our history. Dick Cheney is so powerful (or so he would assume) that he singlehandedly took the office of vice president out of the executive branch of government and moved it to the legislative branch!
Something that did surprise me that came out in this book was the basic revelation that George H.W. Bush was a better statesman, president and leader than he has been given credit for in the court of public opinion. Bush senior was able to take advice from different sources, reflect on them, and eventually formulate a plan or make a decision based on several different points of view, and in particular, based on facts. Dubya on the other hand, has little use of facts, or briefing points, or other bits of empirical evidence. Even Dubya's wife, Laura Bush, makes comment that her husband is not able to retain facts and information, instead bases his decision making process on some form of "I got a feeling about ..." Like the time Bush looked into the eyes of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and seeing into his soul, found goodness. Possibly the citizens of Russia are wondering just where Dubya looked, for they are still searching for the goodness.
There are many personalities that come into play in the development of Dubya and who he is today. His mother, Barbara, who does not fair well in this book; an great-uncle, George Herbert "Herbie" Walker Jr., who favored Dubya's father more than his own sons; a grandfather that insisted the grandchildren call him "Senator"; and of course Dubya's brother, Jeb, who was favored to be a president until Dubya wrestled that away.
If you want some family background and insights to THE.WORST.PRESIDENT.EVER than this book is a read for you. If you are just so glad the nightmare might be coming to an end soon (notice I said might, as it will take years, possibly decades to undo the damage done by this administration) than take a pass on this book.
Either way, I am just glad we will soon be able to talk about President Bush in a past tense form.