A Comic Novel About the George W. Bush No One Knows

One thing I have "figured out" is that Trump models himself on W. -- how you ask? Trump could see (as I did) that the central tenet of W was having a loyal inner circle. Loyalty was demanded and there was no if, and's, or buts about it. By having a loyal inner circle, he was protected and could get away with things. For just one example, it meant he could crank up the money-raising machine like nothing ever seen before, without having to be too concerned about accusations of influence peddling. He was protected. So Trump sees this secret and thinks "I can do that, it's easy." Well, he can't, he is an abject failure at creating a loyal inner circle, and his administration is peppered with people who were loyal to the Bushes and may still be for all he knows. And of course the Bushes pretty much hate Trump. W learned about developing a loyal circle as a Frat president in the 60s. He is good at it. Trump has never had ANY ability to command loyalty, he only has limited success with using fear to manipulate people. That's a very different thing.

I read Mallon's novel "Watergate" -- and was 22 years old when Nixon and Co. went down in flames in '74, so was keenly aware of all the circumstances -- and I was ultimately disappointed by it. No doubt Mallon can write well. But to what end? Mallon's a great gossip, so you get a lot of barbs and wry analyses of the various player's personalities, but much of "Watergate" seemed an effort to sort of water down (forgive the pun) the reality of the entire sordid scandal that did so much damage to this country. It was really bizarre, almost as if Mallon couldn't really grasp how deeply troubling that entire period, and Nixon's horrific administration, was. And he also, too unhistorically in my opinion, threw in a side story about Pat Nixon having a secret lover; I guess in a wayward attempt to humanize Plastic Pat, but it just made zero sense to include that. Reading Anderson's review makes me think that "Landfall" will be more of the same: a sort of glossing-over of the myriad terrible effects of the Bush administration, with gossip and idle chatter used as obfuscation and misdirection. Nicely written but ultimately inane. And humor just isn't appropriate when dealing with such a criminal regime -- unless it's the dark humor and penetrating cynicism of a master pessimist like Gore Vidal, which Mallon decidedly is not. So what we have is an attempt to give the central figure of the entire fiasco a metaphorical facelift and an undeserved rehabilitation. I'll pass.

I'm surprised that neither Mr. Anderson nor those who have commented on his review have sought to mention my favorite fictional biography of a president, Robert Coover's "The Public Burning." It's both hilariously funny and invested with a poisonous vitriol toward Richard Nixon. It was published only two years after the impeachment and seems to be pretty much forgotten now, but I love Coover and consider "The Public Burning" to be his masterpiece.

So far, thanks to his isolationist views Trump is no where near the evil that Bush-Cheney were in starting the current middle eastern conflagration. By contracting out the Afghan war to hired war lords they let Ben Ladin get away and the Taliban to survive.

This seems part of a larger well-coordinated effort to rehab (literally) George W. (remember his ghastly paintings, giving candy to Michelle) ahead of- I assume- a 2020 primary run by Jeb or George P. Bush. And the deep-state media practically beatified George H.W, when he passed. The two Georges did everything Trump is accused of: profiteering off of office, nepotism, cronyism, foreign influence,, H.W. just got away with his by pardoning his co-conspirators. At least Trump hasn't started a war he plans to profit off like W.-Cheney. Do we really need anorher George III? Never forget W. suffers from a disabling mental condition-like Reagan-which should have called for 25th Amendment action. One more similarity-- W. fondling women Olympic athletes: https://gawker.com/5035885/bush-looking-drunk-at-the-olympics

A writer described as an 'establishment Republican,' whose credentials include that he wrote Dan Quayle's memoirs -- and the reviewer is SURPRISED that so little is said about the real catastrophe of the 'shrub''s presidency??? Nothing about the Bushes - 1 or 2 - make me smile. I met Barbara Bush and she was a snooty snob. Let's not try to humanize any of the bushes - and meanwhile we have yet another mess to clean up - the Putin puppet using the Constitution to wipe his golf clubs.

The assumption of this superb review, that the dreadfulness of the Bush 43 Administration pales in comparison to that of the current one is, to my mind, wrong. Certainly, the Trump Administration is chaotic, driven by a man with the emotional maturity of a 13-year-old, preoccupied by useless projects like the border wall and provoking Elizabeth Warren on her genetic makeup, but it is not the juggernaut of destruction that was Bush W’s White House. It has not yet started a pointless war, killing hundreds of thousands of people; it has not promoted the use of torture and extralegal detentions; it has not (yet) caused a catastrophic financial meltdown which has to be rescued by a frantic emergency medical team at the Fed. On the contrary, it has diminished the chances of proxy wars with Russia and North Korea (while admittedly ratcheting up those for war with Iran). Trump has divided America, but in that he is merely riding a wave that began in the 80s with the emergence of Rush Limbaugh, Bush 40’ Willie Horton campaign and Reagan’s welfare mother imagery, crested with Newt’s Contract for America; was exploited by Karl Rove and Dick Cheney in the Bush W years, and came to full fruition with the election of Obama and the passing of the Affordable Care Act. Trump is fully aware of how to take advantage of a social trend that was in full flower as he began his campaign.

An unfunded and misbegotten war, unfunded tax cut and unfunded Medicare Part D without the ability to negotiate drug prices were just a few of the geopolitical and economic disasters bestowed upon us by Vice and W. Not to mention Katrina. I'll look for my laughs elsewhere.

I enjoyed "Watergate" so much I temporarily suspended political judgment! For following the story, It helps to have lived through that period and to have some memory of who was who and what they said/did -- but Mallon provides a quick guide to the cast of characters, nearly all of whom were real people, the main exception being Pat Nixon's lover (!!!!). I don't like Gore Vidal's writing, and have never been able to finish one of his books; it has nothing to do with his politics and everything to do with his tone.

The author's talents are wasted. A pair of humorous books on Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis covering the Civil War would fit our times. Of course, just as Mallon ignored the people of Afghanistan and Iraq, he could ignore the African-American slaves. American history is an ongoing atrocity to the majority of Native Peoples, African-Americans, Latinos and the poor. Starting with Nixon and his Southern Strategy, the leadership of the Republican Party has flamed the fears of the base to grab and hold onto power. They created Trump.

Boy, do I miss Gore Vidal. (Yes. And Stendhal too.)

I wonder if frogs in heating water feel nostalgia for not-so-long ago. "You know, an hour ago I thought the water couldn't get any hotter. But compared to now, it doesn't seem so bad!" Lest anyone forget: Reagan was an awful president. But then the GWB disaster came along, and Reagan didn't seem quite so awful anymore. Now we have Trump, and GWB suddenly doesn't seem quite so awful anymore. Ribbit.

A stolen Presidency,9/11,the collapse of the economy, the Iraq war and the lies that led to it and to the unnecessary deaths of American Soldiers etc. Bush was not, is not some amiable doofus. His Presidency has led to the greatest crises of identity and of confidence in America by Americans in more than a Century. Every aspect of American life, every belief in who we are was smashed during the Bush Presidency.

No. Just no.

How sweet the saccharine.

Being put by his father and his father's cronies into the spotlight throughout his entire life in a variety of roles where he couldn't live up to expectations, knowing it, knowing that everyone else saw it too, and being suitably humiliated inwardly, is probably what gave George W. Bush the mean streak that he was finally free to exercise, ever so slyly, in the White House.

And so goes the reinvention of George W., a man who managed to tank the US economy in just a few short years, and get us into wars the nation's young people and its happy generals are still waging, dragging us deeper into debt. As history will show, Bush was a president whose only claim to fame will be that he was not as bad as Donald J. But only barely. Seems like Mallon's great talents could be put to better use than resurrecting that sorry presidency. But then, so it goes.

Bush was a disaster. But, I can see the entire "crew" as being funny but I think we need more distance. In a world of "causation", without W there would have been no Obama and without Obama there would be been no Trump.

Mallon laments as a Republican "Jonestown" the 2016 political campaign. He should show some empathy for the Iraqi people and the American people, who have suffered a thousand equivalent tragedies brought about by W (worst) and his short-sighted, incompetent chickenhawks.

W was an unmitigated disaster and history will record that, even if comic novels about his years in office do not. The wars are a disaster but W's greatest fault was almost bringing the Western financial system to its knees. Still the reviewer's overall assessment about this book is that it is funny and offers some character insight that, while not all encompassing, is revealing. I think he makes his point well.

Is anyone who lived through those dark days of self inflicted disaster really interested in a rehash that paints the villains in a more favorable light? Also you forgot to mention the financial crisis encouraged by the republican abdication of regulatory responsibility.

This sounds like "The Producers" -- an attempt to turn someone who brought suffering and death to an entire region of the world into a reasonably benign figure. I'm willing to grant that W had his sort of goofy parts; I'm unwilling to forgive his deliberate, overwhelming carelessness and cruelty.

Comedy and satire have their place. But not when it comes to the W presidency. Not funny at all.

Dubya got the USA into the big mess the Middle East with the Iraq war. We have not been able to extracate ourselves and it is getting onto 16 years. A novel about the Dubya White House should have this as its centerpiece. And it should be a tragedy.

Sorry, but the tragic moments and decisions overwhelmed any comedy of W. In another place and time, he and a few others would be convicted war criminals.

I had to stop at the description of GW Bush as "a bad-but-not-that-bad Republican president." Seriously? The man started a war in the WRONG COUNTRY that led to the death and crippling of thousands of American veterans. Hundreds of thousands (some argue) of Iraqis have died as a result. This author is "quaint" in his belief of a "kinder, gentler" past for Republicans. GW Bush's actions led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of adults (and children), while Trump's actions have traumatized children and families. I would guess they are about even in their horribleness. Let's not whitewash the past.