Book Review: Bush Books

by Carmen Nge


“George Bush is a liar. He has lied large and small. He has lied directly and by omission.” So begins David Corn’s plainly written and boldly critical book: The Lies of George Bush. The statement that Bush is a liar is, perhaps, almost as equally well-known (and frequently used) as the assertion that Bush is stupid. But for a so-called stupid man, an overwhelming number of books have been written about him this past year. CNN has called it the “literary arms race” and bookstores scramble to bring in the latest, fattest and most incendiary tracts on the American President.

From books about his lying ways (Joe Conanson's Big Lies; Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars That Tell Them; Paul Waldman’s FRAUD: The Strategy Behind the Bush Lies and Why the Media Didn't Tell You) to those about his religious background (Paul Kengor’s God and George W. Bush: A Spiritual Life; David Aikman’s A Man of Faith: The Spiritual Journey of George W. Bush; Stephen Mansfield’s The Faith of George W. Bush), bookstores from New York to Kuala Lumpur have trouble keeping up.

Attention grabbing titles, such as The Bush-Haters Handbook: A Guide to the Most Appalling Presidency of the Past 100 Years and House of Bush:House of Saud : The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties, lure readers into a world where well-respected psychoanalysts, students and editors-in-chief (notably Vanity Fair’s editor-in-chief, Graydon Carter and his book, What We’ve Lost) can equally claim the right to be published. Poet Calvin Trillin has even committed the Bush presidency to verse in his slim volume, Obliviously On He Sails: The Bush Administration in Rhyme.

But the slew of books on Bush are not all scathing indictments about his ineptitude, dishonesty and ignorance. There are those, like THANK YOU, PRESIDENT BUSH: Reflections on the War on Terror, Defense of the Family and Revival of the Economy, that state a clear case for why the President should be given another chance at leading the United States for another four more years. Other Bush-positive books (Ronald Kessler’s A Matter of Character: Inside The White House Of George W. Bush; John Podhoretz’s Bush Country: How Dubya Became a Great President While Driving Liberals Insane; Christopher Andersen’s George and Laura: Portrait of an American Marriage) focus on predictable topics such as Bush’s solid character, his strong family values and his unflailing ability to weather any political or catastrophic storm.

This publishing flood can be read two ways: book publishing is indeed a viable capitalist enterprise and democracy in America is alive and well. If the strength of a nation’s democracy is reflected in its citizens’ ability to express themselves freely and to be given the avenue and space to be heard on a nationwide scale, there is no denying that American democracy continues to thrive.

The four books reviewed here by no means represent the diversity of publications on the American president, but in this writer’s view, they are cogent examples of how capably and courageously writers use their constitutional right to free expression in America.

The Lies of George Bush

David Corn’s book is a well-structured, almost mechanically composed record of George W. Bush’s litany of lies. Laid out in fourteen topic-driven chapters, ranging from September 11 to domestic tax policies, Corn segments each chapters with a direct quote from Bush himself and then systematically goes about proving exactly how each statement is a lie. If Bush is the consummate liar then Corn is the hard-hitting, no-holds barred teller of plain truth.
Corn, a long-time Washington editor of The Nation, is extremely thorough in his research and meticulously discredits Bush using a combination of hard facts already in the public domain and the President’s own words. He carefully traces the beginnings of Bush’s deception–right from his 2000 presidential campaign, throughout the elections and into the chaotic present, post-9/11 and Iraq. Particularly in litigious America, an author who fearlessly claims that the President is a liar can afford no gaps in research or lapses in argument.

For a writer who has published a highly praised novel, Deep Background, and written a short story, "My Murder", that was nominated for the 1997 Edgar Allan Poe Award, David Corn delivers The Lies of George Bush in a straight and narrow, fairly dry and matter of fact style. It is written in this way to possibly deflect criticisms from pro-Bush advocates, who often lambast a book for its spin value and lack of concrete proof. Ultimately, readers thirsty for hard facts will not be disappointed.

The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America

And if Corn’s book does not deliver enough facts and figures to demolish George W.’s credibility, then The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America, is an excruciatingly comprehensive and overwhelmingly detailed analysis of every aspect of Bush’s administration, covering both domestic as well as foreign policy concerns and issues. The title is well-deserved: Eric Alterman and Mark Green’s 419-page book easily aspires to be the definitive book on the policies of the current President.

The two writers—Alterman, a media columnist, weblogger and a fellow at the Center for American Progress; and Green, a writer, lecturer and former elected Public Advocate of NYC—expand on areas not covered by Corn, specifically domestic concerns of the day: civil liberties and the Patriot Act, the mismanagement of health care coverage, issues of race, education, poverty and labour, crime, and the judiciary. Alterman and Green, both liberal progressives, devote their attention to Bush policies in these major areas in an attempt to construct a “detailed map of the entire political and policy landscape.” Theirs is a commendable task, especially noteworthy considering how the authors’ intention is to arm the American public with as much facts about the current administration as possible before they vote in the upcoming elections.

While the emphasis on domestic policy may not interest the Malaysian reader as much as the American one, The Book on Bush is a valuable asset in understanding exactly why another term for Bush will devastate the American people. As much the non-American world may loathe the imperialistic designs and arrogant actions of the United States, there is no denying that the current administration is also wreaking havoc and wilfully oppressing a large majority of its own citizens.

The Right Man

But contrast both Corn and Alterman & Green’s efforts with the well-written, highly engaging, personalized and anecdotal yet seemingly intelligently impartial book by David Frum, and you will begin to see how even the non-partisan American voting public can be ever so subtly (and without even their own knowledge) swayed to the right.

The Right Man is former Bush speechwriter David Frum’s adroit and well-crafted attempt at finessing support for the President, based on the simple fact that this president will surprise you as he did Frum. The famously “misunderestimated” Bush, according to the author, is precisely that: underestimated and misunderstood. After hearing Bush speak publicly and in person for the first time, Frum is awed by his observation that Bush’s speech “was not only very good, it was very smart—and not smart in the disturbing way that the campaign [had] been smart, but smart in an interesting way, even a promising way.”

Careful to construct himself as having no connection to Bush’s campaign or family, Frum very early on in his book confesses that he preferred Bush to John McCain but by no means was he a diehard supporter of the President. In fact, Frum cleverly begins his first chapter, “Into the Mess,” with details and examples from the popular media of Bush’s stupidity and ignorance, his incompetence as president, and the dearth of ideas exemplified by Republicans in general.

But as his term as speechwriter lengthens at the White House, Frum’s admiration for Bush grows. Some of this undisguised regard comes from Frum’s apparent dislike for the former president, Bill Clinton. He paints a picture of Bush as the immaculate anti-thesis to Clinton: unlike Bill, George is always on time, impeccably attired in a suit and tie at all times in the Oval Office, has a wife who eschews any prominent role in public policy making, and is the paragon of moral and religious virtue, opening every cabinet meeting with a prayer. Bush is authoritative and directive, taking charge of meetings and making his presence felt in any room he is in. In short, George W. Bush takes the role of being the president of the most powerful nation in the world very, very seriously.

Bush is always referred to as “the president” by his staffers and he expects them to treat his position with the respect it was due. Frum contrasts this with Clinton, whose staffers liked to call him “POTUS”—what the author calls the “pompous acronym for ‘president of the United States’.” Respect for Bush extends to the White House staffers’ personal behaviour as well; during his time there, Frum recalls that only one person smoked, hardly anyone had one drink too many and not a single person cursed. In fact, the culture of non-cursing is so ingrained, Frum had a tough time saying “Damn” without raising a few eyebrows.

The allure of The Right Man has to do with Frum’s anecdotal accounts of his stint at the White House and, most notably, his ability to furnish the reader with the kind of intimate detail only an insider would be privy to. There is also no denying that Frum writes with flair and adopts a conversational style that appears almost effortless—we are led to believe that Frum has written his book off the cuff, on the fly, without any manipulation of his experiences. His witty, smooth-flowing, highly readable prose translates to seamless, un-constructed truth. So, when Frum paints a picture of the President as being essentially a man of principle, it is not too difficult to believe him.

But let’s not forget that this is David Frum, author of Dead Right, a book The New York Times hails as “the smartest book written from the inside about the American conservative movement.” A Canadian now living in Washington D.C., Frum, like Bush, is a Yale alumni and has written countless articles and opinion pieces for the likes of The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and The Weekly Standard, among other conservative publications. From his book, there is no doubt that Frum is a staunch Bush supporter; his genius is that he misguides the reader into thinking that he can be an impartial and objective White House insider as well.

American Dynasty

But, as Kevin Phillips so wilfully attests, a conservative does not a Bush supporter make. In his extremely well-researched and highly provocative book, American Dynasty, Phillips—a former Republican strategist who used to work for Richard Nixon—furnishes his readers with one of the most damning portraits of an American presidential family ever written.

With historical precision and an uncanny ability to connect seemingly disparate threads—aristocratic lineage, investment banking, Nazism, evangelical Christianity, crony capitalism, the military industry and the oil crisis—Phillips reveals the extent to which the origins and destiny of the Bush dynasty are inextricably tied to American politics and government. He does not only discuss Bush 41 and 43, but their ancestors as well: the great grandfathers of the current President—Samuel Prescott Bush and George Herbert Walker. In short, four generations of the Bushes gets Phillips’ critical treatment.

Liberal and conservative critics alike have lauded American Dynasty for bringing to the fore the kinds of issues that deserve national attention and demand intellectual engagement. Chief among these issues is the problematic relationship between politics and economics. Phillips argues that both the Bush and Walker clans are part of an American economic elite who have, time and again, relied on and exploited political power for personal gain.

He pays particular attention to the Bush and Walker generations’ involvement with finance, specifically the “investment side of the petroleum business,” and indicates that the Bushes are “the first presidential clan to have ties—off and on over a full quarter century—to the bin Ladens” and who, furthermore, have a history of “embroiling involvement—business, financial, political and military—in the Middle East.” In a three-chapter section entitled “Religion, Oil, Armaments, and War”, Phillips, utilizing copious amounts of research and harnessing astute historical, political and economic analyses, delivers a devastating critique of both Bush presidencies’ war efforts in the Middle East.

Phillips also highlights a little known fact: the crucial role played by the Middle East and oil in both world wars. He argues that the Germans and their allies have been pursuing oil interests in Iraq as far back as 1898, and both world wars further intensified the world’s reliance on petroleum. The military and petroleum industries are, thus, intimately interconnected and interdependent. The situation is indeed ironic: nations go to war over oil and in the process, find themselves needing more oil to fuel the war effort. As Phillips quotes the former French premier, Georges Clemenceau: “Oil is as necessary as blood.”

It is impossible to do justice to the wealth and depth of Phillips’ analyses of the Bush dynasty in a book review. The section of his book on “Crony Capitalism, Covert Operations, and Compassionate Conservatism” is easily one of the most engaging discussions about the Bush-Cheney and Enron-Halliburton affair. It is indeed remarkable to read about the financial wheelings and dealings in the hallowed halls of First World presidential politics. As we suspected, corruption, crony capitalism and corporate-political greed do not only exist in our own ‘Third World’ backyards. What is missing from our national consciousness is, however, a lack of full disclosure about the players and stakes involved, and open, public discourse about the consequences of such realpolitiking.

Kevin Phillips’ book is a revelation because it strikes at the heart of power itself; it fully and unashamedly explores how political power consolidates itself on the foundations of corporate capitalism. But Phillips’ courage and audacity are nothing new; he has, in the past, authored similar, controversial books such as The Politics of Rich and Poor and Wealth and Democracy—both of which were on the New York Times bestsellers list.

Educated at the University of Edinburgh and Harvard Law School, Phillips’ intellectual pedigree is matched by his staggering writing output. He has published eleven books, all of them touching on American politics, economics and important public issues of the day. Rising above petty partisan politics, Phillips has been characterized by Time magazine in glowing terms: “in the shoot-from-the-hip world of Washington prognostication, Kevin Phillips stands out like Nostradamus.”

As Americans gear themselves up for the November elections, there is no denying the impact that such books on Bush have generated. The erosion of American civil liberties may be gaining momentum, but courageous and indignant writers, commentators, and analysts continue to barrel their way through the smokescreen of Bush-speak. At the heart of this publishing fury is a deep and abiding tradition of dissent, coupled with an unwavering commitment to a core American value: the freedom of speech. The famous saying, “I may not like what you have to say but I fully defend your right to say it” has become ingrained in the American consciousness, due to years of legal precedents and public debates.

In our own neck of the woods, such values are easily dismissed as being too individualistic, too self-absorbed. To be free to speak, one also has to be held accountable for one’s statements; what is good for a few may not be good for all—these are common refrains.

What the Bush-book publishing race exemplifies is, however, not speech in its abstract but political speech; the American public is more informed about decisions that affect their lives as citizens because they are beneficiaries of the exercise of unrestrained and uninhibited political speech, beyond the boardrooms and political podiums of power. As taxpayers, they have earned their right to know and to tell others what is really going on behind the closed doors of the Oval Office and the halls of public policy. And this is a right that writers such as Corn, Alterman, Green, Frum and Phillips haven chosen to exercise.

While there is no telling the outcome of the American presidential elections, what is certain is that the American public has become more conscious, more politicised and more mobilized as a result of the wealth of information made available to them. The question is no longer ‘what don’t we know’ but ‘what do we do with what we know?’
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This review was published in the November 2004 issue of Options2, The Edge.