JQA was a much more interesting member of Congress than he was a president of the United States. This bio isn't the most in-depth examination of a preJQA was a much more interesting member of Congress than he was a president of the United States. This bio isn't the most in-depth examination of a president I've read in recent years, but for a relatively unknown president, it's a good introduction. ...more
One of my favorite do-it-yourself therapies for the everyday grind is to put on my grungy clothes, plug in my headphones, and fire up the lawn mower. One of my favorite do-it-yourself therapies for the everyday grind is to put on my grungy clothes, plug in my headphones, and fire up the lawn mower. I mow, and I listen to a book, and then when I start to run out of grass, I find other yard work. On a good Saturday, I can crank through a novel or a history and get some yard work done, and it makes for a good Saturday.
As I listened to "The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency" this last week, I couldn't help but wonder if it's a Saturday that almost no one in the book has ever experienced. The level of octane and devotion and time--the sheer amount of time--required to work in the White House in the modern presidency makes it difficult to believe that anyone there has any semblance of a life anything like most Americans (not to self: because I mow my lawn and do yard work, does that mean I'm like "most Americans? To be filed away and answered later). And the stakes? The stakes are the highest in the world, a veritable Game of Thrones, or House of Cards...minus the beheadings and murders.
Well, at least as far as anyone knows. (And yes, I know comparison to either of those tv dramas is more than a bit cliche.)
In any case, The Gatekeepers was a great read. Starting with the opening of the Nixon Administration and H.R. Haldeman and finishing with the Obama Administration's Rahm Emmanual, Bill Daley, Jack Lew, and Denis McDonough, Chris Whipple tells the story of each Administration through the lens of how that chief of staff addressed the problems each president faced. There are greats here, like the incomparable James Baker, as well as others who were either failures or just men out of their depth, like John Sununu, Donald Regan, or Bill Daley. Through their eyes you see war, domestic policy, and the internecine warfare of Washington politics.
It's a fascinating and enjoyable history, one I readily recommend....more
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