January 14, 2005

FIRST WRITE HISTORY, THEN READ ABOUT IT:

What the president reads (John F. Dickerson, January 10, 2005, TIME)

George Bush's critics think of his reading list as a spindly thing -- the Bible, the box scores and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, his favorite choice to read to school kids.

So there will be chuckles of disbelief when his detractors hear that one of his latest passions is Natan Sharansky's The Case for Democracy and that when it comes to approval from the intelligentsia, the President is more needy than he lets on. Written by an Israeli Cabinet minister and former Soviet dissident, the book argues that true security in the Middle East and the world can come only with ballot boxes. The President has pressed it on his top advisers and is even proselytizing outside his inner circle.

"I want you to read a book," Bush told a TIME reporter, interrupting his own version of Sharansky's thesis. "It will give you a sense for what I'm talking about."

Bush liked the work so much that he invited Sharansky into the Oval Office in early November for an hourlong discussion of the book and how it applies to the war on terrorism.

Sharansky is not the first author in the presidential book club. Bush has also been host to, among others, Yale historian John Lewis Gaddis and Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis. These sessions undermine Bush's own anti-intellectual posture. He boasts about not reading newspapers or being worried much about the judgments of historians, most of whom, he says, "wouldn't have voted for me."

But in his readings and talks with authors, he is seeking theoretical scaffolding for his actions from the pointy-headed intellectuals he often appears to disdain, rather than combing through their pages looking for ideas that would challenge his world view.


Mr. Bush and his Administration actually wrote the scaffolding--The National Security Strategy of the United States of America--Mr. Gaddis was one of the first to comprehend its signifigance. Meanwhile, Mr. Bush has pursued an explicitly Sharanskyite strategy towards Palestine and Mr. Sharansky's new book could hardly be more laudatory. What President hasn't enjoyed meeting with the folks who sing his praises?

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 14, 2005 9:06 AM
Comments

Thus speeks the reporter: "But in his readings and talks with authors, he is seeking theoretical scaffolding for his actions from the pointy-headed intellectuals he often appears to disdain, rather than combing through their pages looking for ideas that would challenge his world view." Astonishing confidence in ascribing something they have no experience with themselves to someone they do not know. Must be something learned in J-school.

Posted by: LUCIFEROUS at January 14, 2005 12:42 PM

Yeah, I wonder how much time Mr. Dickerson spends looking for ideas that challenge his world view?

Posted by: David Cohen at January 14, 2005 12:46 PM

It is said that LBJ had 'The Rich Nations and the Poor Nations' on his nightstand for years and talked as if he had just read it.

And Mike Mansfield, as Senate majority leader, was criticized for being off in the corner with a book, instead of legislating.

By the time a guy gets to be president, he ought to have his formative reading behind him, doncha think?

Posted by: Harry Eagar at January 14, 2005 4:48 PM

Yes, he should be writing history, like Bush, not reading it, like Clinton.

Posted by: oj at January 14, 2005 4:59 PM

Bush is somehow anti-intellectual b/c he doesn't read . . . journalists?

How many Time magazine editors/writers have read Gaddis, Lewis, and Sharansky?

Judging by the drek they turn out on the WoT and the Middle East, none -- or at least if any have read these chaps, they didn't understand them!

Posted by: Jim in Chicago at January 14, 2005 6:55 PM

As for "formative reading":

Once 9/11 hit almost everyone of us had to hit the books again to try and understand what was going on.

It's to Bush's great credit that he didn't fall back on "formative reading" but looked for something new.

Posted by: Jim in Chicago at January 14, 2005 6:58 PM

By the time a guy gets to be your age, Harry, he should have somebody besides LBJ for a hero, dontcha think?

Posted by: joe shropshire at January 14, 2005 7:38 PM

However did the myth get started that this president does not read books? I read a National Review interview conducted with him prior to his presidency; he mentioned that one of his favorite books was Paul Johnson's Modern Times.

I've read that book. It's 800 pages.

How many of the journalists who decry his intelligence normally read 800-page long books?

Posted by: Matt Murphy at January 15, 2005 12:30 AM
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