Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush | Robert Draper

Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush | Robert Draper | Good book

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Dead Certain: The ...

	Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush Robert Draper Free Press, 2007 - 480 pages average customer review:based on 50 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

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 a beleaguered administration. Virtually every page of this book crackles with scenes, anecdotes, and dialogue that will surprise even long-time observers of George W. Bush.
With unprecedented access to all the key figures of this administration from six one-on-one sessions with the president, to Laura Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, Karl Rove, and perhaps 200 other players, some well-known, some not Draper has achieved what no other journalist or contemporary historian has done thus far: he has told the story of the Bush White House from the inside, with a special emphasis on how the very personality of this strong-willed president has affected the outcome of events.
Bush loyalists and the growing number of Bush detractors will all find much to savor in this riveting political page-turner. We begin with a revealing lunch at the White House where a testy, hot dog-chomping president finally unburdens himself to the inquisitive reporter, a fellow Texan who well understands the manly argot that courses through this administration.
We revisit the primaries of election-year 2000, in which the character of the candidate and indeed the future of the Republican Party were forged in the scalding South Carolina battle with Senator John McCain. We proceed forward to witness intimately the confusion and the eloquence that followed the September 11 attacks, then the feckless attempts to provide electricity to a darkened Baghdad, the high- and lowlights of the 2004 re-election bid, the startling and fruitless attempt to spend capital by overhauling the Social Security system, the inept response to Katrina, the downward spiraling and increasingly divisive war in Iraq.
Though the headlines may be familiar, the details, the utterly inside account of how events transpired will come as fresh reportage to even the most devoted followers of mainstream media coverage. In this most press-wary of administrations, Robert Draper has accomplished a small miracle: He has knocked on all on the right doors, and thus become the first author to tell a personality-driven history of the Bush years. In so doing, he allows us to witness in complete granularity the personal force of a president determined to achieve big things, who remained an optimist in the face of a sometimes harsh unpopularity, who confronted the history of his time with what can surely be described as dead certainty.

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Selective insights into Bush but a pleasant book overall

The Bush presidency still has almost a year to go, and already the stream of "definitive" books on his presidency is starting to trickle down.

In "Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush" (480 pages), author Robert Draper paints a very closely researched picture of the Bush presidency. It appears that Draper had unprecedented access to the President and those around him. Draper spends very little time on what it is that brought Bush to the presidency, his previous life as governor of Texas and owner of the Texas Rangers are being dealt with in a couple of pages. Even more questionable is why the 2004 general election and its aftermath, leading to the Supreme Court's decision in Gore vs. Bush, is taken care of in 1 paragraph! In contrast to that, the author brings in great details the brutal 2000 Republican primaries, in which McCain unexpectedly won New Hampshire (when the day before the election the Bush entourage found itself with an extra hour or two on its hands, they decide to go bob-sledding on the spur of the moment!). The author doesn't hide his criticism of the war in Iraq. The 4400 Project (which was to restore up to pre-war levels of electricity with 4,400 megawatts of electricity by Oct. 1, 2003) was one of the many failures, and later $18.4 billion emergency funding was requested to get supply up to 6,000 megawatts. The author notes dryly: "The money came. But the 6,000 megawatts never did. Not by June 2004.Or by 2005. Or 2006. Or 2007."

In all, this is a pleasant read. The author has done his home work even if for some reason he is selective in what episodes to cover or not to cover. But the book finishes in an open-ended way, not surprising since this book came out 16 months before the end of Bush's presidency.

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Good book

Wolffe states in his review that "Here is a president who boasts of reading around 100 books a year, promotes reading standards and No Child Left Behind, graduated from Yale and Harvard, and is married to a librarian. Yet he thinks he can't learn lessons by reading. You can almost hear the critics scoff."

Perhaps Wolffe needs to learn to comprehend what he's read a bit better. Bush is correct: there are just some things one can't learn by reading; instead one has to learn by doing. Wolffe's failure to comprehend this renders anything else he has to say as unreadable, as, how can one trust a reviewer who doesn't understand what they're reading to begin with?

People should read this book with an open mind and no preconceived ideas about who George Bush is. Only in that way will they truly understand him.

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Great first draft of the history of the GWB presidency

Dead Certain is a fantastic first attempt to objectively judge the GW Bush years. That will not be an easy task for a decade or more. People will argue about Iraq, the deficit, Katrina, and so much more for decades to come. Yet Draper did a fine job of walking the tightrope of objectivity, so much as is possible. Well written with just enough new nuggets to make it worthwhile reading even for those who follow politics.

Fills in some gaps about Bush's character

As Mr. Draper stated, "Bush's virtues and his vices were one and the same." This statement pretty much sums it up for every person that has been our president. Mr. Draper has done a fine job of helping to make President Bush a more rounded character. However, I would not recommend the author's book as the definitive analysis of this controversial man. In fact, there is no such book that I am aware that can claim to be so. Mr. Draper's book has plenty of areas that could have been covered in more detail, but will have to be left to other historians. Ultimately, if you appreciate political books, you'll likely enjoy this one. The story moves along very well, is informative and quite entertaining.

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3 1/2 stars...

Although this book is less an account of personality and more a historical look at Bush's presidency, Draper does a good job of summarizing his career and provides an accurate and comprehensive narrative of the man's life. I found a lot of insight into his career prior to his candidacy in 2000 and also on the events that unfolded while I was deployed in 2004 and 2005.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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