Woodward's State of Denial

Picture: Lucas with Naomi and Leah and friends at the Children's Discovery Museum near Palm Springs last week.

Finished Bob Woodward's State of Denial: Bush at War, Part 111. Found it enlightening as I was able to see much more of the little things that go on, the daily meetings, the infighting, the delays, the different personalities, all of which make up the daily life of our leaders and runners of our government. I found that those twin attributes that have been hallmarks of this administration, incompetence and arrogance, are displayed over and over again although the incompetence is much more prevalent that the arrogance. The biggest bad guy in this telling is Rumsfeld though Rice comes in a close second. Bush himself is aloof and incurious. Chaney is pretty much a non entity, something which I find rather amazing since I see him as a dark force ever present; maybe Woodward is hinting at that with keeping him in the background. In the latter part of the book, the wrap up, the author admits that he has pretty much been cut off by the principles (Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Hadley) since sometime in 2003 - book takes us up to the summer of 2006. Worth reading if you are at all interested in what's happening at the top of our government as it tries to win a war that is believed to be critical for the safety of the United States in the years to come. Note: it is about the war and little else - just about zip on politics and domestic stuff.