Posted on 01/12/2003 12:59:52 PM PST by Jean S
WASHINGTON - Former speechwriter David Frum has authored the first inside account of the Bush White House. It is characterized by Frum's exceptional intelligence, historical fluency and pungent prose.
Frum has produced an intensely gripping account of his personal experience inside the White House at one of the turning points in our history and a chronicle of the dramatic metamorphosis of George W. Bush.
True, "The Right Man" is not a cheerleading book. Frum, who joined the White House somewhat skeptical about the president, maintains his critical distance and keen discernment throughout. That is what makes his insights so valuable and his ultimate admiration for Bush so telling.
Frum demolishes with a few quick strokes the enduring myth that Bush is unintelligent, or simply profited from good advice.
Frum writes: "How often did we hear that in the first year, as if it were obvious which advice was good and which was not? Presidents are inundated by advice, and the very worst of it often sounds as beguiling and plausible as the very best. A president who consistently recognizes and heeds good advice will make good decisions. . . . Bush was a very unfamiliar type of heavyweight. Words often failed him, his memory sometimes betrayed him, but his vision was large and clear. And when he perceived new possibilities, he had the courage to act on them - a much less common virtue in politics than one might suppose."
Long before Sept. 11, Frum had seen that Bush's instincts, even those that conservatives lambasted, like his early embrace of Vladimir Putin, were solid. Bush's praise for Putin after their first meeting provoked howls. Bush had liked what he'd seen in a former KGB man? But as Frum notes: "Sixty days later, America was at war. And at the head of the queue to help was . . . Vladimir Putin. Putin ordered up an increase in Russian oil production to help calm world markets."
Frum described Bush's private demeanor as "tart, not sweet," and this has been greeted as a stunning revelation. But critics have overlooked the far more interesting examination of one of Bush's most defining traits - unswerving integrity. The president's honesty reached into the smallest details. He refused to say in a radio speech recorded before a planned visit to California, "I'm here in California." Speechwriters learned never to insert boilerplate like, "I'm happy to be here with you" because Bush would say it only if he meant it. And the last straw for Bush regarding Yasser Arafat was the latter's insistence that he knew nothing of the Karine A, the ship containing tons of military ordnance headed for the Palestinian authority but intercepted by the Israelis.
Although Frum has some
less-than-flattering reflections on the first year of the Bush administration, the book as a whole refutes every major myth in circulation about the president. A puppet in the hands of Dick Cheney? Hardly. Bush runs the show - and a tight ship. Stupid? Bush emerges as both quick-witted, and, what is far more important, wise.
Do men make the times or do the times make men? Both. And you will find no more lucid illumination of both than in "The Right Man."
This seems to contradict all the things I have read (and sometimes seen) about Bush's genuine concern for people such as the White House staff, the wait staff at facilities where he visits, door men and elevator operators, etc.; as well as the way that he generously pats other people on the back, giving them lavish praise and credit.
I find myself wondering if the observations are from those that Bush demanded such high standards ..... meetings would start on time; cell phones would not be tolerated; etc. To those who were expected to live up to tough standards of promptness, preparedness, and performance the one who made the demands might come across as "tart."
When my daughter was young, our family doctor recommended that she get her tonsils removed and suggested a doctor who had a reputation for being a real ogre. I was quite apprehensive about taking her to him. He turned out to be wonderful ...... kind, gentle, great sense of humor, and an excellent physician ...... and his office was the most efficient doctor's office I have ever been in. The staff not only performed efficiently but they were quite pleasant, friendly, and helpful. His staff performed so well because he would accept no less than their best. I am sure that more than one incompetent person received rebuke from him at some time or another, thus leading to his reputation. But the results for the patient were top-notch medical care with a minimum of fuss, bother, and frustration.
I wonder if there is a sort of parallel here. Some people take the demands for excellence as being too sharp and harsh ..... but the results prove the "right" expectations. The perception of tartness might be more of a comment on the one who thinks it than on the subject of the observation.
My impressions are......
-Frum isn't a good enough writer to get to write for the President......Bill Sammon's book is far more engaging, IMO.
-Frum is too impressed with himself, and includes way too much information about him at the expense of information about the subject of the book (and includes a downright silly psychoanalysis about Barbara, Laura and George W.)
-The President is completely and absolutely admirable, regardless of your political opinions, and this book reveals how deep his character goes.
I'm very anxious to finish it, since I just got to the chapter on 9/11. I have a feeling it will get better now.
kayak.....a parallel I see is in education. The absolutely best teachers most of us had were 'tart, not sweet.' They demanded much of us, expected the best, kept us on our toes, taught us a whole lot, and in the end revealed how deeply they cared about us.
The President, remember, is a lot like his Mom in personality. I think he has an edge that might be described as 'tart,' but clearly loves people and treats everyone with respect.
Of course he's not cloying, bleeding heart sweet. Thank Heaven.
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