It is an outright attack.
There's a difference between disagreeing and attacking. It's possible to disagree with the President (which I do, on a LOT of domestic issues) and come off not sounding like a snarling yapping attack dog. It sounds like Bartlett went a little over the top in his book.
And, yes, it sounds like Reagan's Eleventh Commandment is falling by the wayside. Again, you can disagree with someone without "speaking ill" of them.
}:-)4
I used to like Bartlett, but he is just another guy with an axe to grind. Not appealing at all.