Rebel in Chief - a book review

"Rebel in Chief, inside the bold and controversial presidency of George W. Bush", by Fred Barnes should be read by every American and probably every person in the world who can read. This masterpiece of hagiography (biography of a saint) portrays everything Bush has done as brilliant, bold, and possibly the only course that presidents after him can follow if we are to remain the mighty nation we are today.

Seriously, this book may be the answer to all of America's problems for the next 2 years and 5 months. Bush is our president so we may as well learn to enjoy the experience. This book will tell you just why it is so important to follow our "bold and controversial" leader.

Contrary to popular opinion (but true according to Mr. Barnes), the war in Iraq is going great, peace in the middle east has never been closer, and foreigners (the masses, not the leaders) don't complain when the US exerts its influence unilaterally. Bush has simply ignored on all the wrong "common wisdom" that abounds in Washington and by doing so has moved the nation, and the world, towards an "ownership society" where we will all enjoy the fruits of ownership, responsibility, and democracy. What could possibly be any better?

To be fair, Barnes does tell us that W has set a new record for a president being absent from Washington, but the president does that to show his disdain and disagreement with the establishment, not because he isn't doing his job. Barnes explains that President Bush cannot apologize even if he has made some mistakes because that would show weakness. Barnes also quotes President Bush as saying on the campaign trail, "You can fool some of the people all of the time and I'm going to concentrate on those people." You can't get more real than that.

On the positive side (and I have to assume there are some truths in the book) I was impressed at what a voracious reader President Bush is and how much he has studied economics and foreign policy so that he can come up with bold, new solutions to age old problems. And his speeches are masterful as long as they're carefully pre-planned. Barnes doesn't discuss his talents at extemporaneous speech.

I truly do recommend this book for everyone. If you love Bush, you'll find out even more reasons to continue doing so. If you don't happen to like him, you'll have a good laugh from cover to cover.