Memoirs

   

     What is up blog? It's been a second but I'm back on the grind. I'm here to tell you about my latest undertaking. My goal is to read every president's memoir. Obviously, some never got around to writing them. (RIP William Henry Harrison). However, a decent amount of presidents have written memoirs. If I take nothing else away from this project, I will at least be a beast when it comes to the presidential category of Jeopardy! 

    Yesterday I started to read Decision Points by George W. Bush. Why Decision Points? George W. Bush just makes me laugh. He is just a fascinating person. Here are my thoughts so far.

    First of all, you can tell George wrote this book. It rambles. It has more whiplash than "Yesterday, you made note of my—the lack of my talent when it came to dancing. But nevertheless, I want you to know I danced with joy. And no question Liberia has gone through very difficult times." - George W. Bush. It just jumps from one thing to another without real form. It started with him quitting drinking, and next thing you know he was buying a baseball team. However, he did that before he quit drinking. Then he rambles about Dick Cheney for seven years. Then all of a sudden John Roberts, then back to Cheney. Where is the common line here. It seems every decision he made is actually twelve, not one. What is happening? I'm so lost. 

    The second greatest thing about this book is how he tries to paint himself as an everyman's president, middle-class, self-made, from Texas. One of my favorite examples is how he shared how he grew up poor, claiming that his apartment shared a bathroom with two sex-workers. Then TWO PAGES LATER he nonchalantly drops, 'yeah, my grandfather was PRESIDENT of the American Golf association, had thirty butlers, and lived in a mansion back east'. Also, he is confused why he got into Yale, because his grades were bad, but he thinks it's because of the excellent recommendation letter that his history teacher wrote. However, the fact that he literally ran out of room on the legacy card has nothing to do with it. Come on George, you ain't fooling anybody. 

"There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, 'Fool me once, shame on...shame on you.' Fool me—you can't get fooled again." - George W. Bush

    Bud, we ain't getting fooled again. 

    Anyway, the book has been enjoyable so far. He has a decent sense of humor; however, to quote a movie review reviewing the 'hit' movie Regretting You: "It's jerkier than a teenager learning how to drive stick shift." 

    Finally, if you need a good book to read as always, I recommend Pillars of the Earth.