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| Poppy Bush & The Bobster, Washington D.C., August 6, 1986. |
George Bush is "flyin' around" with the advantages of the vice presidency while Bob Dole is doing the yeoman's work of the 1986 campaign. It's George Herbert Walker's grandson versus a boy of the Dust Bowl. Bush was a knower (faces, names) and Dole was a doer (holding his bad arm up like that). We have not yet been shown the intervening events that filled out their characters, but here we're getting the base colors.
What did you think? What struck you? I'll share more thoughts in the comments.
One more thought: of the six men in this book, Cramer begins with the two whose lives were the most challenging to capture. Bush, at the time of the book's writing, was vice president and then president. And as Cramer describes, Dole's handwriting is scant and illegible, and I doubt he's spent much time at a keyboard, writing things down. There were a lot of layers to cut through to get these stories right.
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Love the Dole Haiku p.68—also one on p.34.Hope of hopes that there will be more! …lotta people, typing…flyin' around. #wit2012 #DoleHaiku
— MC RMoney (@MCRmoney) June 21, 2012
Bush 41 brought jokes to his weekly lunches with Reagan. I love that. #wit2012
— Mary Beth Cleavelin (@MBizzleTAMUK) June 19, 2012
"Bob always had a plan.It was funny how that kind of will sprang up in a place where plans were so fragile." #WIT2012
— Peter LaMarca (@PeterLaMarca) June 23, 2012
Share more quotes and scenes in the comments.
There are little tells about their characters. Dole's constant "Agh" sentence prefix, and his sing-songing, really shows his energy to burn in a subtle way, even while Cramer flat out tells you about his hyperactive routines as an adult and boy.
ReplyDeleteThat riff on VP Bush as "The One" (starting around pg. 23) reminded me that Maureen Dowd published an unfavorable review, "The Right Fluff," when the book came out.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the anecdote about Bush's mama hitting a home run, rounding the bases and walking off to deliver her first child, Pres.
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying having the chance to read What It Takes again. 1988 was the first election that I worked in the business at the CBS News Election & Survey Unit so I got to see many of these events from behind the scenes and it will be fun to relive those events. It is also fun to see how some of the minor characters in 1988 were not so minor in the future (like George W Bush complaining about his seats at the playoff game). Other obeservations from the first three chapters - how did Bob Dole end up deciding to pick "that bowdried windbag (p. 65)" Jack Kemp as his running-mate in 1996? Also did anyone see similarities between the first chapter of What It Takes and the first chapter of Underworld by Don DeLillo? Both initial chapters introduce a wealth of characters using a single baseball game as the backdrop - although nothing in What It Takes is quite as colorful as Jackie Gleason puking on Frank Sinatra's shoes.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same thing about the Reagan-Kemp vs. Dole anecdote, which I had completely forgotten about. I guess Kemp ended up as running mate the same way that the 'voodoo economics' guy wended his way to the ticket. I thought that section really said a lot about what's more important, the Work or the Vision. If you didn't know how it ends, you would think Dole was bound to get his due, but politics is much crueler. Hence, What It Takes.
DeleteNever read DeLillo, but understand he was shaped by that Tom Wolfe style, too.
This book is so fascinating. Read it when it was first published and am enjoying it again after 20+ years. Some things have different meanings this time - like don't we wish there were Republicans like Bush and Dole around now? I don't think I appreciated them at the time.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if reading it today versus then makes a big difference? I mean, the popular take on Bush 41 today is that he was this wimpy, consensus-builder, out of touch but supremely competent. I definitely get the sense of accommodation in the first few chapters -- throwing the first pitch with the vest instead of complaining because it was the Price of Being Poppy.
DeleteI imagine reading about Joe Biden in '92 and now in '12 will be interesting.
It would seem that in 2012 writing about the Republican candidates and non-candidates, the title of the book would be Not Having What It Takes - a long list of potential presidential candidates looking in the mirror and deciding they didn't have what it takes to put themselves through this process - Jeb Bush, Mitch Daniels, Haley Barbour, John Thune, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, George Pataki, Sarah Palin, Donald Trump - and a similarly long list of candidates who did run who also didn't have what it takes - Tim Pawlenty, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Thaddeus McCotter, Michele Bachman, Jon Huntsman.
DeleteThis is my first time reading the book, and as someone in my 20s, I don't have many preconceived notions as it relates to these characters, as I wasn't following politics when they were around. With that as the background, here are some of my initial thoughts after the first 80 pages:
ReplyDelete-Given when this was written, seeing how George W. Bush was portrayed was one of the most interesting parts of the first 80 pages to me.
-I am fascinated by the mindset of a "vice-president" including the motivations to take the job and the feelings of the person while they are in the job. After reading The Power Broker by Robert Caro earlier this year, I was especially looking forward to his LBJ biographies as the stories of LBJ going from the "master of the senate" to the powerless position of VP seems very interesting. While I postponed the LBJ books in favor of this What It Takes summer reading effort, seeing a little bit of George H. W. Bush's mindset while sitting in the VP chair is great. The focus on his desire to "hold no policy positions", support the president regardless, and try as hard as he can to be friends with the president, and to do so for years, all so one could possibly run for president some day, makes me very curious about the personality type of a man who could do that. I look forward to exploring this more.
-I am not sure how I feel about Dole yet. My knowledge of Bob Dole before this book can be encapsulated in his Saturday Night Live caricature, so at least I figured out the mystery of the arm, but I definitely found myself less interested in his story line so far. I am keeping an open mind though, so we will see what happens.
-I am getting used to Cramer's style, but I have found it a little difficult to get used to so far. Something about the way he switches his style and tone as he switches between characters, and the way he moves from actual quotes to his idea of the character's inner thoughts seems off to me in a non-fiction world. But, I did enjoy the first 80 pages, so I am looking forward to continuing.
-I love the social aspect of the summer reading club. Great idea.
Yeah, the "Roman candle" line still pops up in a lot of profiles of GW Bush.
DeleteI suggest going back and re-reading the Author's Note to better understand how Cramer wrote the book. The aim is for complete accuracy, which is how Tom Wolfe treated his 'New Journalism' nonfiction.
Good call reading the Author's note. Very helpful in getting me comfortable with the style.
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