President George W. Bush describes the critical decisions of his presidency and personal life. Decision Points is the extraordinary memoir of America’s 43rd president. Shattering the conventions of political autobiography, George W. Bush offers a strikingly candid journey through the defining decisions of his life. In gripping, never-before-heard detail, President Bush brings readers inside the … brings readers inside the Texas Governor’s Mansion on the night of the hotly contested 2000 election; aboard Air Force One on 9/11, in the hours after America’s most devastating attack since Pearl Harbor; at the head of the table in the Situation Room in the moments before launching the war in Iraq; and behind the Oval Office desk for his historic and controversial decisions on the financial crisis, Hurricane Katrina, Afghanistan, Iran, and other issues that have shaped the first decade of the 21st century.
President Bush writes honestly and directly about his flaws and mistakes, as well as his accomplishments reforming education, treating HIV/AIDS in Africa, and safeguarding the country amid chilling warnings of additional terrorist attacks. He also offers intimate new details on his decision to quit drinking, discovery of faith, and relationship with his family.
A groundbreaking new brand of memoir, Decision Points will captivate supporters, surprise critics, and change perspectives on one of the most consequential eras in American history – and the man at the center of events.
more
Something that jumped out at me almost immediately was George W’s humility and self-awareness. He didn’t hesitate to candidly acknowledge his flaws and shortcomings. He just put them out there honestly in a way I’ve seen few people willing to do.
There’s a lot to be said about laying aside the political agendas and leanings we each have and examine the humanity of the person elected to lead the United States. It’s easy to want — dare I say expect — this individual to handle things precisely as we wish, and if they do not, to consider them a failure, a moron, a fool, an epic disaster. It is easier still to forget that taking the oath of office does not suddenly grant them superpowers of omniscience and infallibility. I think one of my favorite quotes in the book came from the introduction: “…I have done my best to write about the decisions I got right, those I got wrong, and what I would do differently if given the chance.” It’s a quick assumption to think that the President of the United States would never admit he (or one day she) made a decision they regret, one that didn’t turn out the way they’d hoped, one that they wouldn’t make a second time. It takes guts to strip away ego and say “wow, I really messed that up.” No President will be perfect, whether we voted for them or the other candidate, but I can respect when one will own the decisions he made and then examine and expose them with a critical and honest eye. I appreciated the opportunity for insight that this book provided.
The chapter on stem cells was probably one of the most enlightening to me — or maybe it was more reaffirming? — that the way the media manipulates and misrepresents a situation to promote their own agenda is not anything new, and that politicians can be spiteful to the point of hypocrisy: “The message was that if they couldn’t fund stem cell research that destroyed embryos, they would prefer to fund none at all.” One of the reasons I gained respect for George W while reading this book came from the book’s very premise. He approached these decisions carefully, thoughtfully, and with consideration from as many angles as he could find. The media led the public to believe he was a bumbling dolt at best, but the man’s own words actually come across as intelligent, informed, curious, and rather genuine.
I will admit that I came into this book with certain predispositions about George W. Bush and his administration. Whether I feel differently about any of those things will, like the predispositions themselves, remain a mystery, as I do not care to discuss politics as a rule — they are too personal and emotionally charged, which often only leads to ugliness and dissension — but I can say that I am glad I read what he had to say. I was surprised by how much I learned, the number of times I laughed out loud (I am absolutely serious about this!), and how many times I found myself wiping a tear off my face (reading his thoughts on 9/11 was especially difficult).
Overall, I found this book to be a fascinating look into the decisions faced by a President. Whether I agreed with any of them or not was truly not the point. I never felt like he was trying to win my approval or cajole me into liking his choices. It was an honest exposure of how he approached major decisions and an explanation for how he reached his ultimate action in each of the fourteen chapters, highlighting a particular topic. If you can set aside your politics on the subject matter and simply read for the sake of understanding how the mind of another human being works, this is a most excellent Presidential memoir.