Once I was sitting in the waiting room of an office when I looked up at the wall and saw thumbnail pictures of a certain president of the United States side by side with thumbnails of a certain favorite zoo animal.
Wow, low blow, thought I.
“Dangerous, simplistic.” “Frat boy.” “Neo-Fascist.” “Inept.” “Embarrassment.” These are the words we heard him called.
What the hey?, thought I. Can we put you all on Jeopardy and watch how you perform under pressure?
It’s one thing to disagree with a man’s policies. It’s quite another to go after him like middle-schoolers ganging up on the substitute teacher.
But he can take it.
Two years after George W. Bush walked out of the Oval Office for the last time, his memoir Decision Points appeared on the nation’s bookshelves. A little bit backstage-at-the-White-House, and a whole lot of hammering out agreements with prime ministers and senators, Bush analyzes, explains and defends the major decisions of his presidential career. He knows he made mistakes—faulty intelligence about WMDs, moving in too late after Hurricane Katrina.
This one’s for you history buffs. Learn the why and the how. Why didn’t he respond faster to Katrina? How did a free-market guy end up bailing out banks? Look over a president’s shoulder as he walks a tight line between the sanctity of human life and the promise of stem-cell research; between the needs of job-hungry citizens and the realities of entrenched illegal immigrants. And a whole lot more.
Read it on your lunch break and if anybody harasses you for opening up the memoirs of a much-maligned president, close ranks and refuse to share your great Cobb Salad Sandwich or your German Chocolate Cake Cookies.
As you can see, I traded in the coconut pecan frosting for good old chocolate buttercream. That’s because I find pecans intolerable.
Like certain presidents.
Just not George W. I actually like the guy.
Leave A Comment