Decision Point by George W. Bush

Introduction

The substance of Decision Points will come as little surprise to students of the second President Bush. Organized in a series of tightly argued, discrete chapters on strategic crossroads in his presidency the decision to run, to supplant the Taliban and overthrow Saddam Hussein, to establish policy on stem cell research, to contend with Hurricane Katrina, and so on it bears the hallmark of our first commander in chief with an MBA. However the book was produced and I am assuming that it was assembled in the manner of presidential memoirs since Dwight Eisenhower, it successfully conveys what we know of the quality and character of George W. Bush, and the sound of his voice (James, 36-40). Bush is neither omnipotent nor especially defensive in tone; he admits to mistakes and misgivings, and acknowledges regret and uncertainty. He is careful to explain the principles that informed his actions, and describe the options and dissenting arguments as he reached those decisions. He is, to adapt a famous phrase, fair and balanced (Dowdle, 69-78).

To be sure, there are minor details that have attracted the attention of the press: the harrowing tale of Barbara Bush's miscarriage, Dick Cheney's offer to resign from the ticket in 2004, the still-pulsating wound of Kanye West's televised assertion that “George Bush doesn't care about black people.” But these incidents, insignificant in themselves, serve only to emphasize important impressions that Bush conveys. He is, by his own reckoning, more his mother's son than his father's duplicate; Cheney is a politician of integrity, but a politician as well as a statesman; Bush cares very much about African Americans (Cohen, 52-55).

Task master

Bush was known to be a brisk and exacting taskmaster in the White House, a quick study with a taste for action when action was called for, and a horror of aimless discourse. That side of his managerial style is obvious here. But as might be expected in a memoir that strives to explain as well as defend, it is interesting to observe the president's varied reactions to problems and incidents, and to appreciate the burdensome detail and dread responsibility of the office (Goeglein, 12-19).

It is also evident that Bush's religion is neither disingenuous nor apocalyptic: It is a sincere, mainstream Protestantism which, while described in greater detail than this reader might prefer, is well within the confines of presidential experience. Decision Points begins with an extended version of his choice to quit drinking at age 40, which clarified the course of his life and made his subsequent history possible. But while Bush is at pains to give credit to his admirable wife and Christian faith for the happy outcome, the incident may also be seen as an impressive exercise in self-examination and self-discipline a process repeated, more than a few times, in the Oval Office (James, 36-40).

Decision Points is a classic recipe for a benign dictatorship, a uniquely American form of dictatorship, to be sure from its rigid understanding of morality (good versus evil) ...