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Title: The Bush Tragedy
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Manufacturer: Random House
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| The Bush Tragedy by Random House Wizard of Woo & Wound | A look behind the curtain of a political wizard who lives in a world of obstinate illusions. Watch as the White House is turned into the Bush/Cheney Chamber of Secrets; wonder how a recovering alcoholic can be voted the candidate they'd most likely sit down and have a beer with; be fascinated by an election won by a chad; gallop through the evangelical political world with a Christian Cowboy; marvel at fumble tongued "Dubya's" ability to speak clearly in evangelical and conservative code words; meet Bush's ghosts - "Defense Against the Dark Arts" mother-teacher, invisible Dad, prodigy brother; the demons he deals with - the Nightmare of Iraq, Curse of Katrina, the Spell of Al Qaeda, Phantom Bin-he-who-must-not-be-named-Laden, Bogeyman Iran, the Miracle of the Surge; the dementors - Abu Grab, Gitmo, extraordinary rendition: meet Bush's surrogate family - Rove, Cheney, Rice, Churchill, T. Roosevelt and Truman; be dumbfounded by "Gentleman C's," Skull & Bones and Bush's ability to make lightening-bolt decisions; be startled by the put down spells - Turd Blossom, Evil Genius, Dino, Wonder Girl, Brownie, Rummy, Quasimodo; descend into messianism - conservative saints, Jesus talk, the habit of pious simplification, the sense of Putin's soul; be astonished by the magic smirk Bush so effectively uses to make the public look where he wants them to look, so they don't look where they should.
Jacob Weisberg does an outstanding job of demystifying Bush. Weisberg is not fooled by ideology, spin, legends, propaganda, hoaxes, secret memos and magic tricks. Until The Bush Tragedy was published, the Russian FSB (former KGB) briefing book - read "I was able to get a sense of his [Putkin] soul" story - had better intelligence on how Bush might react to an Orthodox cross than the American public. Winston Churchill said of Americans... "they can always be counted on to do the right thing - after they have exhausted all other possibilities."
Caution! This is a gut-wrenching read. Those who fear the dark arts, the supernatural or a look at, to again use the words of Sir Winston Churchill - the American disease of arrogance, may need a wizard or an exorcist afterwards. However, as Weisberg enlightens us through Shakespeare's words "when you are confronted with a political failure, look deeper and judge less."
The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls
"I think -- tide turning -- see, as I remember -- I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of -- it's easy to see a tide turn -- did I say those words?" (George W. Bush - June 14, 2006) | | The Bush Tragedy by Random House The tragedy of Bush - - - is Bush | Who was Albert Einstein's son?
Hans Einstein, a thoroughly decent chap, reflects the fate of many children of high achiever parents. George W. Bush could have been much the same, except for an almost insane desire to prove his father wrong. Weisberg nicely sums up the career and foibles of Dubya and his efforts to be a complete opposite of his father by citing Shakespeare's wastrel 'Prince Hal' who grew up to be King Henry V. (Suppose Hans had devoted his life to drinking and disproving the Theory of Relativity, instead of becoming a successful civil engineer?)
It's a nice sympathetic simple biography, aptly summing up a pile of newspaper and magazine clips with an added bit of pop psychology. The "tragedy" is blamed on neoconservatives and principal enablers including Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, First Lady Condoleeza Rice and Laura Bush, who should have told him to "straighten up or I'll leave". Laura warned him once before and it sobered him up. Where was Laura when America needed her most?
The strange element is repeated references to King Henry V, who spent 10 years commanding troops in the field before becoming king. President "Dubya" is more like the man Hal defeated, King Charles VI of France who ruled weakly, led his nation into deep divisions and ended up insane.
The glaring omission is any analysis of why, in an increasingly globalised world, President Dubya wanted sycophants - - such as "Bush's Poodle" in England - - willing to follow his follies into Cloud Cuckoo-land. Weisberg cites Bush's admiration for Sir Winston Churchill, but ignores the years of careful and often crafty diplomacy Churchill used to build the World War II alliance with a largely isolationist United States.
All in all, it's not a "bad" book. Dubya is smart, but unwise. His fans will like it for the blame it places on others; his foes will like its descriptions of his limited acumen. It portrays Dubya as a man who lives by intuition rather than intellect, a contrast to his father who ruled by caution instead of nonchalance and Bill Clinton who ruled by schmooze instead of subtlety.
Tragedy? By all means. Sen. John McCain has repeatedly detailed Dubya's many failures, and been duly rewarded as the presumed Republican presidential nominee. No one needs to ask Democrats for evidence of Dubya's many follies; this book is an interesting start on explaining his mental, moral and muddled absence of rigorous thought processes.
Next time, instead of using Shakespeare and King Henry V as a benchmark; think of Jonathan Swift and the fate of Gulliver in Brobdingnag.
| | The Bush Tragedy by Random House The Bush Tragedy | The Bush Tragedy
This book is boring but does present an informative history of the Bush family. | | The Bush Tragedy by Random House a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions.. | | "all the world's a stage and all the people in it merely players". I have often thought of Shakespeare's Henry IV and Henry V when thinking of our 43rd president. Jacob Weisberg has written a insightful, analytical book on our 43rd president. To understand the son, one must first look at the father, for all sons develop from their relationship to their father. Mr Weisberg does this convincingly and it all makes clear sense when put in that perspective. While the 43rd president looks upon himself as a combination of Ronald Reagan, Winston Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt and Harry Truman the ultimate comparison might be made more to William McKinley or LBJ but of course this cocksure Texan will never admit to that. | | The Bush Tragedy by Random House A Tragedy for America | 'His flawed character proved to be his destiny'-
from the conclusion of "The Bush Tragedy" by journalist & editor Jacop Weisberg.
Mr. Weisberg skillfully organizes a wealth of material on G.W.Bush, his immediate family & forbears,friends,Cabinet members(often the same thing)around a Shakespearean theme.It is that of the partying,trivial heir who suddenly emerges to assume his father's over-size mantle-- Henry V.-- but there the comparison must end. Quotations from the Henry plays begin each chapter. While it's always good to see Shakespeare lines,I found William Hazlitt's judgment of Henry V. in a 19th C.essay more intriguingly relevant. In a passage Mr.Weisberg notes, "His principles did not change with his situation and professions...because he did not know how to govern his own kingdom, determined to make war upon his neighbors.'
This book makes for painful reading, very painful indeed. I decided to read it because GWB is not a man, or a person, I have cared to be close to, enough anyway to understand him intellectually. But the ruination of another, non-invasive country & the domestic havoc his policies have wrought make one wonder. How could it all have happened? Mr. Weisberg goes through three generations on both sides of the family and does a fine job of explicating the fraught family dynamics involved. These wealthy, priveleged families produced an immature man who 'was careless, dissolute, and ambitious;--idle, or doing mischief. In private, he seemed to have no idea of the common decencies of life,which he subjected to a kind of regal license;'(Weisberg from Hazlitt).
While lacking the stature to be an authentic tragic character himself, GWB's reign has consequences ultimately & inevitably tragic for both the American & the Iraqi peoples. | | The Bush Tragedy by Random House Product Description | This is the book that cracks the code of the Bush presidency. Unstintingly yet compassionately, and with no political ax to grind, Slate editor in chief Jacob Weisberg methodically and objectively examines the family and circle of advisers who played crucial parts in George W. Bush’s historic downfall.
In this revealing and defining portrait, Weisberg uncovers the “black box” from the crash of the Bush presidency. Using in-depth research, revealing analysis, and keen psychological acuity, Weisberg explores the whole Bush story. Distilling all that has been previously written about Bush into a defining portrait, he illuminates the fateful choices and key decisions that led George W., and thereby the country, into its current predicament. Weisberg gives the tragedy a historical and literary frame, comparing Bush not just to previous American leaders, but also to Shakespeare’s Prince Hal, who rises from ne’er-do-well youth to become the warrior king Henry V.
Here is the bitter and fascinating truth of the early years of the Bush dynasty, with never-before-revealed information about the conflict between the two patriarchs on George W.’s father’s side of the family–the one an upright pillar of the community, the other a rowdy playboy–and how that schism would later shape and twist the younger George Bush; his father, a hero of war, business, and Republican politics whose accomplishments George W. would attempt to copy and whose absences he would resent; his mother, Barbara, who suffered from insecurity, depression, and deep dissatisfaction with her role as housewife; and his younger brother Jeb, seen by his parents as steadier, stronger, and the son most likely to succeed.
Weisberg also anatomizes the replacement family Bush surrounded himself with in Washington, a group he thought could help him correct the mistakes he felt had destroyed his father’s presidency: Karl Rove, who led Bush astray by pursuing his own historical ambitions and transforming the president into a deeply polarizing figure; Dick Cheney, whose obsessive quest to restore presidential power and protect the country after 9/11 caused Bush and America to lose the world’s respect; and, finally, Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice, who encouraged Bush’s foreign policy illusions and abetted his flight from reality.
Delving as no other biography has into Bush’s religious beliefs–which are presented as at once opportunistic and sincere–The Bush Tragedy is an essential work that is sure to become a standard reference for any future assessment. It is the most balanced and compelling account of a sitting president ever written. |
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