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August 7, 2008

book review: what happened


President Bush has made a lot of mistakes while in office. Most of them he won’t even admit he messed up. In many of the major mistakes, such as the war in Iraq, he won’t even acknowledge the possibility that it could be a mistake. The man won’t even flip-flop on the truth and outcome of the war. And now that has left a resounding mark and legacy on his presidency. Ironically, Bush won his second term on the slander that his competitor was a flip-flopper1.

I recently read, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception. The book was publicized as a Bush-bashing book from an insider’s view point. The author, Scott McClellan, former press-secretary for Bush, in his book was not so much bashing-Bush, but the way politics work in the White House. Bush and his cabinet were not the deceivers, but part of a system that deceives. McClellan, later in the book does begin to really criticize Scotty Libby and Karl Rove both who had fallouts in the White House.

The book does go in depth about the war in Iraq and about some of the scandals that revolve around the war. The book also talks about Bush’s mistakes after hurricane Katrina. This was really interesting to read even though it was a sub-point to the book. The book however is not all about Bush. Much of the first half of the book is about McClellan’s upbringing in politics and how he got to be the press secretary for the Bush administration.

Although McClellan is not a writer by trade (which is clear by the style of his writing) the content is interesting and seems to give a clear, honest, and down-to-earth inside look at the Bush administration during his tenure there.




[1] So, flip-flopping was probably not the reason – but I remember it being a big reason why people did not vote for Kerry.

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