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Title: The Presidency of George Bush (American Presidency Series) by John Robert Greene, John Robert Green ISBN: 0-7006-0993-8 Publisher: Univ Pr of Kansas Pub. Date: January, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3 (1 review)
Rating: 3
Summary: A quick, respectable look at a forgotten administration
Comment: The title of this book is "The Presidency of George Bush." Needless to say, to adequately cover even the most insignificant president you need more than the paltry 200 pages that this book provides. So if Mr. Greene believes that he has written a major book on the Bush administration, he falls well short. Nevertheless, perhaps Mr. Greene sought to write a book offering fewer facts but more analysis. In that case, he also falls a bitshort. The final result is a hybrid of newspaper reporting, old and new facts, and a sprinkle of original analysis. It makes for a repectable work that is worth reading. Mr. Greene's final analysis of the Bush presidency is a positive one. He finds that "Poppy's" virtues of prudence and patience worked well in dealing with foreign countries and in conducting the Persian Gulf War. While admitting a dearth of domestic accomplishments, the author does praise Bush for the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Clean Air Act, both passed in 1990. One thing that stands out in particular is the author's emphasis on Bush's charcater. He sees the ex-president as a genuinely warm friend and gentle family man. This is absolutely true. In comparison to the other post-WWII presidents, George Bush probably would be the one you would most want to be your father. Nevertheless, I do not see why this quality should be an end in and of itself. This goes back to the recent debate over the role that character has for those who preside in the Oval Office. I do not believe that private values are an end. Instead, they should be a means to articulating public values. This lesson has been imprinted on Bill Clinton. Bush was a decent man but his public values were either a failure or more likely, unknown, because he never artiuclated them. The "vision thing" plagued him throughout his public life and his four years on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue did not awaken him to this essential aspect of any great presidency. There are three significant features when looking at the Bush presidency. First was the ending of the Cold War. Bush is given credit for this development even by many of his critics. But let's not forget that in 1989 when Bush took the oath of office, the die had been cast. The USSR was dying of a terminal disease. Bush largely sat and observed. He does deserve credit for not tipping the boat but that's hardly a compliment to build a legacy on. Bush deserves real applause for his handling of Germany's reuinfication. It was there that the Loan Star Yankee took an active and positive role. But should we ignore his appeasement of China following the Tiananmen Square masacre or his shiflessness on the ethnic cleasness in Yugoslavia? Its a mixed record. The second key issue was the Persian Gulf War. And clearly Bush's orchestartion of the allied campaign against Iraq was nearly flawless. But for every compliment that Bush receives here, he deserves criticism for his policies toward Iraq immediately prior to and following Deset Storm. With a little less prudence and more decisiveness, we could have either avoided the invasion of Kuwait completely or is so, removed Saddam Hussein from power following the war. The third issue was Bush's undoing: his lack of a domestic agenda of any shape or form. In 1989 it is true that he faced severe limitations when working with the legislative branch. But after the Gulf War he could have gotten a 30-acre personal mansion from Congress if he requested it. Instead, he rested on his own laurels, convinced that there was nothing he could do to help an American public, hurt and restless in the midst of an economic recession. He chose to do nothing and worst of all, he seemed blind to the concerns of his citizens. Who will ever forget the supermarket scanner? The result was a re-election fight that ended with 62% of the voting public unmoved by his pleas for a second chance. George Bush is a good man and he was not a bad president, per se. But he obviously had serious shortcomings as both a president and a public leader.
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Title: The Presidency of James Earl Carter, Jr. by Burton I. Kaufman ISBN: 0700605738 Publisher: Univ Pr of Kansas Pub. Date: March, 1993 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The Presidency of Gerald R. Ford (American Presidency Series) by John Robert Greene ISBN: 0700606394 Publisher: Univ Pr of Kansas Pub. Date: January, 1995 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The Presidency of Richard Nixon by Melvin Small ISBN: 0700612556 Publisher: Univ Pr of Kansas Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Slavemaster President: The Double Career of James Polk by William Dusinberre ISBN: 0195157354 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: The Leadership Genius of George W. Bush: 10 Common Sense Lessons from the Commander-in-Chief by Carolyn B. Thompson, Jim Ware, James W. Ware ISBN: 0471420069 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 27 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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