Posted on 09/15/2011 2:56:54 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
They still called him Junior when we first met, in forlorn Midland, Texas, back in July 1986. He was known then for being the son of the vice president of the United States, the agonizingly named George Herbert Walker Bush. As a young staff writer at The Washington Post Magazine, I was trying to persuade Vice President Bush to let me spend several months with him for an in-depth profile I intended to write. But the veep was skeptical, and he left it up to Junior to pass judgment on me and my request.
“Come on down and visit,” the man who would eventually be known to the world as President George W. Bush drawled cheerfully to me over the phone. “But I won’t tell you any good stuff until I’m sure you’re not going to do an ax job.”
So began a long and fascinating acquaintanceship with the man who would become one of the most admired and, later, reviled presidents in U. S. history. Over the next 25 years, our paths crossed again and again, most recently in his Dallas office last April. I had just read Bush’s 2010 memoir Decision Points, and I was struck by his many references to history. In the back of my mind was an article that Karl Rove had written for The Wall Street Journal in 2008, which revealed (much to the consternation of the president’s derisive critics) that Bush had read 186 books for pleasure in the preceding three years, consisting mostly of serious historical nonfiction. Intrigued, I asked Bush whether he would talk to me about how his passion for reading history had shaped his presidency and perspective, and he agreed.
When I sat down to write about that meeting, however, a different story emerged...
(Excerpt) Read more at theamericanscholar.org ...
Wow. Incredible memoir. Thanks for posting.
A definite MUST read.
““Tell those kids in your class not to give up on POTUS,” he wrote, using the popular acronym for president of the United States. “Tell them life for a president is not easy, yet I have never heard #43 whine about the loneliest job on earth, never seen him pose gazing out into the future to depict how tough his job is.”
hmmmmmmm...
A wonderful read. The kind you hope will never end. Thank you.
ping-a-ling for the weekend
For later reading.
This article was amazing. I read it in bits and pieces all day, but in it’s entirety it is excellent. I gained more respect for W having read it. One thing is for sure: he’s smart, well read, and a damn good statesman, with real awareness of history and the American presidency.
Obama couldn’t light a candle to him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TiGYDvc4lU
the contrast to what we have in the WH now is as stark as it gets
During the 2004 campaign I was asked by someone on FR to moderate a Bush forum in Yahoo groups. I had to choose a new screen name and, off the top of my head, I chose W4freedom. How’s that for prescience?
I loved this article, but I cannot fathom how someone who can write so admiringly about W could vote against him. Boggles my mind!
Thanks for the ping, though I’m a tad late picking up my pings.
It is quite the contrast, for sure!!
I did..I wasn’t..Wonderful read..God Bless Dubya
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