[elli1]

Also he presents the Clarke line describing Rice as "disengaged" as if it had a factual basis...

I'm not sure that this is what Novak is trying to say. I think he means that Clarke & Rice didn't have the same working relationship that Clarke had w/ Sandy Berger. The sentence is somewhat ambiguous--my first take was the same as yours.

[cyncooper]

I agree he was saying that and that is why I said I wished there'd be more mention of the Shays letter to Rice. It seems obvious to me that influenced the relationship.

Also the memos where Rice requested Clarke start attending meetings he was missing go to it being a two-way street and not a matter of a disengaged Rice not holding meetings or not wanting to deal with an issue she was in fact very much dealing with.

So I do think by leaving out those aspects, Novak's analysis is flawed in that area.