Abstract

Woodward Returns

The author explains what he learned about the Bush administration from Bob Woodward's new book, "Plan of Attack." Well, Bob Woodward has partially redeemed himself. His last book, "Bush at War," read like a superhero comic book mistranslated from its original Serbo-Croatian. Because Colin Powell and his aides evidently decided to tiptoe off the reservation in preparation for their long-overdue departure, the new book, "Plan of Attack," has texture.There are conflicts. Not everybody can be right about everything. And while the book does gloss over many of the Administration's most nefarious characteristics, the trust Woodward earned with his hagiographic first account put him in good stead to expand our understanding of how these people go about making their catastrophic decisions and then denying them. Here's what I learned: For foreign policy purposes, Dick Cheney is President. 2. That's too bad, because unfortunately Cheney is nuts. 3. Rumsfeld's Pentagon, led by Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, caught Cheney's nutty fever too. 4. George W. Bush cannot be bothered to listen to the views of those with whom he disagrees, even (particularly?) people who clearly know a great deal more about the topic than he does and hold Cabinet responsibility for it. 5. Which is also too bad, because Bush lives in a dream world. 6. The United States Constitution is meaningless to these people. There's plenty more in Plan of Attack, like the Saudis playing with our elections and stuff, but those are the lowlights. Read it and weep.