The Bush Tragedy

Very detailed analysis of Bush's psychology and character, his relationships with his father, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, and the reglious right.

Read it and weep! Jacob Weisberg is editor of slate.com and his analysis of the Bush Presidency is disturbing, to say the least. Bush's childhood, his relationship with his parents and siblings and the choices he made as a young adult are examined from the perspective of how it affected his behavior and priorities as President. There is also a very insigtful analysis of his relationships...more

Read it and weep! Jacob Weisberg is editor of slate.com and his analysis of the Bush Presidency is disturbing, to say the least. Bush's childhood, his relationship with his parents and siblings and the choices he made as a young adult are examined from the perspective of how it affected his behavior and priorities as President. There is also a very insigtful analysis of his relationships with Dick Cheney and Karl Rove and his/their decision making strategies. Disturbing analysis.   hide

tells about how bush almost failed america and how he and his father where both bad

GD you Jacob Weisberg! You made Karl Rove a human being! A really good read and a very telling expose on why policy is being formed based upon the "faith" of the few.

Hmm. Not too bad. A look at the Bush administration thru the lens of family dynamics.

This book lacks focus. It starts out as an exploration of how George W. Bush's family dynamics shaped his character and his psyche. It goes into some fairly straightforward recent history about Rove and Cheney, but only tenuously connects this to W.'s psychological profile. The author drops in comparisons to Henry V at random moments. There's good stuff here, but it doesn't hang together.

Examines not if but how this presidency failed, including a serious and skillful psychoanalysis of Bush family dynamics and a fascinating comparison to Prince Hal. Smart, well written, and scathing. Highly recommended.

This goes a long way to explaining what happened in Washington these last seven years. Weisberg has given us the gift of a riveting compiliation of how family history, psychology, American hubris, power politics, and group think created the Perfect Dysfunctional Storm that has led us--and kept us--in this generationa's Vietnam.

Jacob Weisberg has written a great book. Rather than examining the actions of this president and analyzing why they led to a failed presidency, he has assumed that this IS a failed presidency and tried to figure out why a man of Bush's talents (and he does have talents) would choose the actions that led to this.He main thesis is that George W. has always measured himself against his father....more

Jacob Weisberg has written a great book. Rather than examining the actions of this president and analyzing why they led to a failed presidency, he has assumed that this IS a failed presidency and tried to figure out why a man of Bush's talents (and he does have talents) would choose the actions that led to this.He main thesis is that George W. has always measured himself against his father. The first forty years of his life were spent trying to be a pale imitation of the athlete, student, war hero and politician that his father was and failing miserably. Thus, the alcohol (and likely drug) abuse.After his conversion to evangelical Christianity (which Weisberg argues was convincingly argues was more politically motivated than we have been led to believe), W. defined himself as the opposite of his father, and finally began to achieve some success, except that he really had to trade on the family name to accumulate his fortune.A great book.    hide