| AMBLING INTO HISTORY The Unlikely Odyssey of George W. Bush Frank Bruni New York: HarperCollins, 2002 |
Rating: 4.5 High |
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| ISBN-13 978-0-06-621371-2 | ||||
| ISBN 0-06-621371-1 | 278pp. | HC/BWI | $23.95 | |
A campaign reporter's life is not an easy one. Consider poor Frank Bruni, forced to ride around on planes with presidential candidate Bush in 2000, listening to the same speech filled with the same catch phrases over and over and over again and again — to be reminded that Bush would "usher in the responsibility era", would strike the "federal cufflinks" from the wrists of educators, so that "the American dream can touch every willing heart". This repetition, coupled with the non sequiturs and the malapropisms (like "cufflinks" for handcuffs, or "bariffs and tarriers"), and the constant mispronunciation of "nuclear", fostered in Bruni and his colleagues the assessment of Bush as an unlikely man to become president of the U.S. Bush seemed too jocular and playful, too uninformed about international affairs, domestic issues, or even popular culture (he did not recognize Sex and the City as a television show, for example), and too uninterested in becoming informed.
The first five chapters of the book recount Bruni's experiences on the campaign trail in great detail. This narrative is revelatory of his own character and that of his fellow reporters as well as that of the candidate he's covering. Most of it supports his initial impression of Bush as a lightweight in both intellectual and leadership terms. And yet, occasional flashes of greater ability occur. For one thing, Bush's well-known refusal to read newspapers and books is only a pose, as Bruni learns about six months into his coverage.1 Bush also demonstrates an ability to focus when it really matters, as during the three debates with Al Gore in the summer of 2000. Chapter 6 discusses Bush's family and their relationships, and examines some pop psychology aspects of the candidate's contradictory character — whether George W. Bush's decision to run, his choice of Cheney as running mate, and even his tax cuts and other policy choices sprang from a sense of inferiority to his father. Finally comes the president's response to the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, which for Bruni proves that Bush is smarter, tougher and nobler than he is popularly perceived to be.
The book offers insights into the process of conducting and covering a modern political campaign as well. "What was most conspicuously different about Bush, when it came to other issues, was that he was a craftier salesman than his Republican forebears had been." (page 98) Both candidates come off as cynically self-serving, but the print reporters travelling with them do not come off much better. In Chapter 7, for example, Bruni describes how, after the Democratic convention of 2000, a story by Mike Allen of the Washington Post that portrayed the Bush campaign as faltering came to seem reality instead of just perception — a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. Bruni blames his own profession for such superficiality in several places. He also indicts the public, pointing out on page 101 that "Modern politics wasn't just superficial because the politicians made it so. It was superficial because the voters let it be."
Ambling into History is part character study and part reporter's notebook. Policy matters like energy2 or the environment are mentioned only in passing. The same is true of the people Bush chooses for his cabinet and other high-level posts. One revelation (see page 67) is that many of Bush's picks of cabinet officers and others is done not for shared ideology but on the basis of familiarity, because he is comfortable with set routines and known quantities. Still, for those concerned with the election of 2004, there is enough material here to make the book worth reading. Bruni has the good reporter's gift for the keen observation and the telling phrase. He describes Christie Whitman, for example, as Bush's "straitjacketed environmentalist". As you might expect of a reporter, Bruni's writing is smooth, colorful, and free of typos. I found a few quibbles, listed on an Errata page as usual. The book is typeset in a larger font than usual, and there is no index. I recommend it for its insights into Bush and other contemporary political figures. It does not, however, provide much insight into whether Bush deserves to be re-elected. The closest Bruni comes to this is to note, in several places, those flashes of unsuspected ability, and to suggest that they were fired into place in the crucible of the terrorist attacks3 (page 265):
It was all somewhat difficult to process. Until September 11, Bush had never cut a profoundly commanding political figure; his pursuit and attainment of the presidency had been less a passionate quest than an excellent adventure. He lacked the churning ambition of Lyndon B. Johnson, the roiling demons of Richard Nixon, the pristine idealism of Jimmy Carter, the ideological certainty of Ronald Reagan, the enormous and self-destructive appetites of Bill Clinton. He was simpler and plainer than most of his predecessors, and that seemed to be one reason many Americans voted for him; he was an unthreatening, easygoing man for unthreatening, easygoing times. Yet the abruptness with which those times changed, trapping Bush in a labyrinth of obligations for which he was ambiguously prepared, was turning him into one of the most interesting presidents in decades. He had indeed exceeded expectations, at least as an unusually riveting character in a newly compelling drama. |
I got the distinct impression from this passage that Bruni thinks Bush would manage to meet his defining challenge. It is a more charitable assessment than I would make, and does not alter my belief that the Bush administration should be turned out of office come November.
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