Decision Points
George W. Bush, 2010
Crown Publishing
497 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780307590619
Summary
In this candid and gripping account, President George W. Bush describes the critical decisions that shaped his presidency and personal life.
George W. Bush served as president of the United States during eight of the most consequential years in American history. The decisions that reached his desk impacted people around the world and defined the times in which we live.
Decision Points brings readers inside the Texas governor’s mansion on the night of the 2000 election, aboard Air Force One during the harrowing hours after the attacks of September 11, 2001, into the Situation Room moments before the start of the war in Iraq, and behind the scenes at the White House for many other historic presidential decisions.
For the first time, we learn President Bush’s perspective and insights on:
- His decision to quit drinking and the journey that led him to his Christian faith
- The selection of the vice president, secretary of defense, secretary of state, Supreme Court justices, and other key officials
- His relationships with his wife, daughters, and parents, including heartfelt letters between the president and his father on the eve of the Iraq War
- His administration’s counterterrorism programs, including the CIA’s enhanced interrogations and the Terrorist Surveillance Program
- Why the worst moment of the presidency was hearing accusations that race played a role in the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, and a critical assessment of what he would have done differently during the crisis
- His deep concern that Iraq could turn into a defeat costlier than Vietnam, and how he decided to defy public opinion by ordering the troop surge
- His legislative achievements, including tax cuts and reforming education and Medicare, as well as his setbacks, including Social Security and immigration reform
- The relationships he forged with other world leaders, including an honest assessment of those he did and didn’t trust
- Why the failure to bring Osama bin Laden to justice ranks as his biggest disappointment and why his success in denying the terrorists their fondest wish—attacking America again—is among his proudest achievements.
A groundbreaking new brand of presidential memoir, Decision Points will captivate supporters, surprise critics, and change perspectives on eight remarkable years in American history—and on the man at the center of events. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—July 6, 1946
• Where—New Haven, Connecticut, USA
• Education—B.A., Yale University; M.B.A., Harvard University
• Currently—lives in Crawford, Texas
George Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States (2001-2009), and the 46th Governor of Texas (1995-2000).
Bush is the eldest son of President George H. W. Bush, who served as the 41st President, and Barbara Bush, making him one of only two American presidents to be the son of a preceding president. He is also the brother of Jeb Bush, former Governor of Florida.
After graduating from Yale University in 1968 and Harvard Business School in 1975, Bush worked in oil businesses. He married Laura Welch in 1977 and ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives shortly thereafter. He later co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team before defeating Ann Richards in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election. In a close and controversial election, Bush was elected President in 2000 as the Republican candidate, defeating then-Vice President Al Gore in the Electoral College. He was named Time Person of the Year 2000 and 2004.
Early on, the Bush administration withdrew from a number of international treaty processes, notably the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. A series of terrorist attacks occurred eight months into Bush's first term as president on September 11, 2001. In response, Bush announced a global War on Terrorism, ordered an invasion of Afghanistan that same year and an invasion of Iraq in 2003.
In addition to national security issues, Bush promoted policies on the economy, health care, education, and social security reform. He signed into law broad tax cuts, the No Child Left Behind Act, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, and Medicare prescription drug benefits for seniors. His tenure saw national debates on immigration, Social Security, electronic surveillance, waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation techniques".
Bush successfully ran for re-election against Democratic Senator John Kerry in 2004, in another relatively close election. After his re-election, Bush received increasingly heated criticism from across the political spectrum. In 2005, the Bush Administration dealt with widespread criticism over its handling of Hurricane Katrina. Following this and other controversies, as well as dissatisfaction with the direction of the Iraq War, Democrats won control of Congress in the 2006 elections.
As the U.S. entered its longest post–World War II recession in December 2007, the Bush Administration took more direct control of the economy, enacting multiple economic programs intended to preserve the country's financial system. Though Bush was popular in the U.S. for much of his first term, his popularity declined sharply during his second term. He was a highly controversial figure internationally, with public protests occurring even during visits to close allies, such as the UK
After leaving office, Bush returned to Texas and purchased a home in a suburban area of Dallas. He is currently a public speaker and published his memoir, Decision Points, in 2010. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
There is something very modern, almost New Agey, and endearingly insecure, about the tone and posture the son adopts in Decision Points. Even as he's bombing Baghdad back to the Stone Age, he s very much in touch with his feelings. In college, he says, he was appalled to learn how the French Revolution betrayed its ideals.
Michael Kinsley - New York Times
Of the postwar presidents who lived long enough to assemble their autobiographies, not a single one produced a book of any real merit. It's not so much that they're bad books as that they're dull ones, reducing flesh-and-blood presidents—all of them interesting men, no matter how one may feel about them politically or ideologically—to cardboard figures representing Virtue in various forms, described in prose that for the most part appears to have been put together by committee, or a computer on autopilot. Decision Points is no exception. It's competent, readable and flat. The voice in which it is written is occasionally recognizable as that of George W. Bush—informal, homespun, jokey—but more often it's the voice of a state paper, impersonal and dutiful.
Jonathan Yardley - Washington Post
The book contains delightful and telling personal observations. Hank Paulson's family was so Democratic that his mother cried when he joined the Bush cabinet. After Mr. Bush refuses to pardon Scooter Libby, convicted of obstruction of justice in the Valerie Plame affair, Vice President Dick Cheney tells him: "I can't believe you're going to leave a soldier on the battlefield." When Gen. Pete Pace is removed as Joint Chiefs chairman in a bonfire of political correctness, Mr. Bush says that Gen. Pace took off his four stars and left them at the Vietnam Memorial near the name of a Marine in his old platoon. In contrast to the ugly cartoon figure drawn by his opponents, Mr. Bush is unfailingly gracious to virtually all his opponents, including Cindy Sheehan, the antiwar activist who had lost a son in Iraq.
Daniel Henniger - Wall Street Journal
As former President George W. Bush—barely two years out of office—points out in the acknowledgement of his memoir, Decision Points, virtually every member of his extended, very political family has published a bestseller, including his parents' dogs. Where does Bush's account of his astonishingly eventful eight years rank in such company? Probably far higher than many of his detractors expected. As Bush writes..., he enjoys surprising those who underestimate him.
Tim Rutten - Los Angeles Times
After eight years in the White House, George W. Bush has written a memoir that offers up a staunch defense to the critics who questioned his domestic and foreign policies.... The book reads at a steady pace with a conversational voice. Bush offers behind-the-scenes views from the Oval Office as well as his discussions with and the input from others in his successes and failures on policy and events during his two terms in office.... [He] offers few major surprises, other than contemplation of replacing Vice President Dick Cheney as a running mate in 2004.... Unlike other presidential memoirs, Bush touches on just a few personal milestones before his years in the White House.
Gary Martin - San Antonio Express
Here is a prediction: Decision Pointswill not endure. Its prose aims for tough-minded simplicity but keeps landing on simpleminded sententiousness. Though Bush credits no collaborator, his memoirs read as if they were written by an admiring sidekick who is familiar with every story Bush ever told but never got to know the President well enough to convey his inner life. Very few of its four hundred and ninety-three pages are not self-serving.
The New Yorker
Bush, smartly dividing the book into themes rather than telling the story chronologically, offers readers a genuine (and highly readable) look at his thought processes as he made huge decisions that will affect the nation and the world for decades. Many will ridicule his thinking and bemoan those decisions, but being George Bush, he won’t really care. —Ilene Cooper
Bookist
In a page-turner structured around important decisions in his life and presidency, Bush surprises with a lucid, heartfelt look back. Despite expected defenses of past decisions, Bush is candid and unafraid to say when he thinks he was wrong. Critics on both the left and right are challenged to walk in his shoes, and may come away with a new view of the former president—or at least an appreciation of the hard and often ambiguous choices he was forced to make. Aside from the opening chapter about his decision to quit drinking, the book is not chronologically ordered. Bush mixes topics as needed to tell a larger story than a simple history of his administration. Certain themes dominate the narrative: the all-encompassing importance of 9/11 to the bulk of his presidency, and how it shaped and shadowed almost everything he did; the importance of his faith, which is echoed in every chapter and which comes through in an unassuming manner; the often unseen advisor whom the president conferred with and confided in on almost every subject—his wife, Laura Bush; and the wide array of people who helped him rise to the White House and then often hindered him once he was there. The book is worthwhile for many reasons. Even if many readers may not agree with his views on the subjects, Bush's memories of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and other major events are riveting and of historical value on their own. Additionally, Bush provides insight into the daily life of the president. The author accepts blame for a number of mistakes and misjudgments, while also standing up for decisions he felt were right. Honest, of course, but also surprisingly approachable and engaging.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Decision Points:
1. Why do you think former President Bush wrote Decision Points?
- To shape his legacy?
- To defend his presidency against critics on both left and right?
- To contribute to historical knowledge?
- To offer leadership advice on decision-making?
- To acknowledge his mistakes?
- To explain and provide insights into controversial decisions?
- Another reason?
2. Does this book matter? Given the astonishing events that occurred during the Bush presidency, events that required far reaching decisions, will this memoir survive? Do you think it will be read 50 years from now?
3. Mr. Bush says that "decades from now, I hope people will view me as a president who recognized the central challenge of our time and kept our vow to keep the country safe." Do you think his hope will be fulfilled—that people will acknowledge that he kept the U.S. safe?
4. Mr. Bush admits that he drew inspiration from 14 biographies of Abraham Lincoln. Why does he feel such an affinity with Lincoln?
5. After reading his memoir, what do you think was the toughest decision Mr. Bush had to make during his presidency?
6. After reading his memoir, what do you feel was Mr. Bush's most successful policy decision as President?
7. After reading his memoir, what do you think was Mr. Bush's most controversial decision—vis-a-vis national or international opinion—during his tenure in the White House?
8. What are some of the mistakes Mr. Bush acknowledges during his presidency. In his acknowledgment, does he accept blame or attempt to absolve himself of responsibility? What's your opinion?
9. Mr. Bush says that in terms of polarizing the nation, some Democrats never got over the 2000 election and were determined not to cooperate with me." But he also says that "no doubt I bear some of the responsibility as well." What are your views about those two statements?
10. How does Bush defend himself against charges of racism leveled at him after Hurricane Katrina? What does he say about his response to Katrina?
11. Why does Mr. Bush say that it was the Louisiana state officials—rather than Michael Brown, the head of FEMA—who hampered the federal response to Katrina? How did Louisiana interfere with Washington's efforts?
12. How does Mr. Bush defend the waterboarding, a practice that stimulates drowning during interrogation of suspected terrorists? What are your views?
13. Why does Bush remain adamant that his bailout "spared the American people from an economic disaster of historic proportions"? How does he describe the efforts of those who worked on the bailout? What are your views?
14. Talk about how Mr. Bush eventually abandoned the course of action in Iraq that was pushed by Donald Rumsfeld and Generals George Casey and John Abizaid. How did he arrive at the new solution—the "surge" with Generals David Petraeus and Ray Odierno in charge? Why does he say he waited for three years to make the changes?
15. Why didn't Mr. Bush pardon Scooter Libby after he was convicted of obstruction of justice in the Valerie Plame case? What are your views?
16. What reason does Mr.Bush give for not firing Donald Rumsfeld after Abu Ghraib? What are your views?
17. At one point, Mr. Bush says, by the end of 2005, much of my political capital was gone." What does he mean and why did he write that statement?
18. What surprised you most about the Bush Presidency, or any of the events—national and international—that occurred during those eight years
19. What have you learned from reading Mr. Bush's memoirs? For instance...
- Have you gained insight into the different forces that influence decision-making?
- Have you learned something new about the personalities of the White House staff or about Mr. Bush himself?
- Do you have a greater understanding of various (unsexy) issues such as foreign trade, immigration, or social security?
- Anything else?
20. After reading his memoirs, have your views toward Mr. Bush and his years in office been altered...or left unchanged? Do you admire Mr. Bush more...or less?
21. How would you describe the personality of Mr. Bush after reading his memoir? Would you call him affable, calm, determined, candid, defensive, deceptive, open to other views, narrow-minded, strong-willed...how does he come across
22. Talk about Mr. Bush's conversion to Christianity and the role faith played in both his personal and political life.
23. Mr. Bush's memoirs are remarkably gracious to his political opponents. He does, however, indulge in a few barbs directed at the press, academia, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. Fair...unfair? Justified... unjustified? Agree...disagree?
24. Mr. Bush says he learned from Theordore Roosevelt and Ronald Regan how important it is to "lead the public, not chase the opinion polls.... As I told my advisers, 'I didn't take this job to play small ball.'" Talk about where in his memoirs he leads the country, ignoring public opinion, and taking what he believes is the correct path for the country. But also then, how does one explain the prominence of Karl Rove as a friend and adviser?
25. How does Mr. Bush describe himself during his bout with alcoholism. To what does he attribute his ultimate decision to quit drinking? Do you admire his candor?
26. Much was made in the press about Mr. Bush's desire to "out-do" his father. How does Mr. Bush describe his relationship with his father, the former President George Herbert Walker Bush? How would you describe the relationship? Talk about the letter he wrote to his father before the Iraq War.
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)