Picked this book up during a dirty Santa party - traded it for a Justin Beiber book believe it or not.
My opinions were mixed for president Bush (43). He struck me as a man of integrity but he often came across as intellectually lazy. After reading this book a few things struck me:
1. He was overwhelmed with significant events - often with some overlapping.
2. He had more events of reaching across the aisle than I remembered - especially early in his presidency.
3. His integrity did not waiver throughout his decision making process - true leadership. His explanations and final outcome of stem cell research is riveting.
4. He could have placed the prior and post presidents in a negative light and chose to show them in a positive light.
5. My thoughts that he surrounded himself with some bad advisers was proven true but not to the extent I suspected. I still don't believe vp Cheney and Rumsfeld gave him the advice that he needed. I place the issues in Iraq after the initial invasion on Rumsfeld and his desire to show a soft military footprint. I believe Cheney presented a harder edge to the communication out of presidency than was necessary.
Something else struck me that I had not thought of previously. President Bush was first a business person. He peppers this autobiography with accountability and metrics - this is unusual in politics. Situation after situation shows he relied on information that could be measured and people who would stand up and be accountable for their areas of responsibility. The No Child Left Behind program is a perfect example of this type of thinking.
Before I read the book I was a skeptic of his presidency - after reading it I think maybe time will shine a positive light on his tenure.
