George W. revisited

V roce 2009 začal George W. Bush chybět karikaturistům (ale i v Africe na něj vzpomínali s láskou), v roce 2010 si založil Fb page a sepsal memoáry a pomalu se uklidil do Texasu. Hraje golf, jezdí se zraněnými veterány na kole a v roce 2013 se jeho "approval rating" usadil v modrých číslech (49:46). Pět let od konce Bushovy administrativy tak pomalu začíná doba, kdy bude jeho prezidentství hodnoceno z širší, řekněme historické, perspektivy.

Jedním z prvních takových pokusů je nová kniha Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House od Petera Bakera. Baker je americký novinář, který posledních 25 let píše pro WashPost a NYTimes jako "White House corespondent", tedy ve světě novinářů dost prestižní pozice. Byl i např. jedním z autorů prvotního článku o Clintonově skandálu s Monicou Lewinski.

V NYT se předevčírem objevil úryvek z knihy, který popisuje Bushův texaský život s golfem,  malováním ve sprše (?)... a fundraisingem....

• After early self-portraits in the shower and then dozens of paintings of dogs and cats, Mr. Bush, it seems, has now moved on to world leaders. He told Mr. Glassman that he wanted to produce portraits of 19 foreign presidents and prime ministers he worked with during his time in the White House.
• When the rollout of the federal health care exchange was botched, some looked to Mr. Bush’s expansion of Medicare for lessons. When President Obama vowed to fix it, he promised a “tech surge,” echoing the language used for Mr. Bush’s second-term troop buildup in Iraq. And when Mr. Obama pushes lawmakers to overhaul the immigration system, he makes a point of noting that his predecessor supported it too.

Nedávno se na Bakerovu knihu objevila recenze ve WashPost, kterou sepsal Michael Mann, autor výborné knihy Rise of Vulkans o neoconech, který o Bushovi právě píše biografii.

• The book has few groundbreaking revelations or startling judgments. Its virtue lies in the mass of information Baker has collected and the way he has pulled it together, so that the jumble of material on the Bush years is consolidated in one smooth narrative.
• The heart of “Days of Fire” lies in the changing relationship between Bush and Cheney — how Bush in the early years of his administration relied heavily on his vastly more experienced vice president, but during his second term he increasingly operated on his own, relegating Cheney to the margins.
• In this, Baker sometimes succeeds, yet his approach has some flaws, too. The book is overwhelmingly event-driven and chronological. ... “Days of Fire” makes far too little effort to separate the wheat from the chaff.