rssBob Woodward, Obama’s Wars, and the Perspective of History
Wednesday, September 22, 2010 at 12:58 pm
- 32 Comments
Bob Woodward’s new book, entitled “Obama’s Wars,” will be released next Monday. The book covers the Obama administration’s decision-making process about troop levels in Afghanistan and details the internal squabbles among administration figures and military leaders.
Most of the juicy bits seem to be about these personality clashes, and in that context, it’s worth digging up this old gem from Joan Didion’s 1996 review of Woodward’s work:
…Mr. Woodward describes his role, “to sit with many of the candidates and key players and ask about the questions of the day as the campaign unfolded.” What seems most remarkable in this new Woodward book is exactly what seemed remarkable in the previous Woodward books, each of which was presented as the insiders’ inside story and each of which went on to become a number-one bestseller: these are books in which measurable cerebral activity is virtually absent. The author himself disclaims “the perspective of history.” His preferred approach has been one in which “issues could be examined before the possible outcome or meaning was at all clear or the possible consequences were weighed.”
Woodward, of course, does care about writing about issues that in his judgment will one day have historical import. As he told Charlie Rose in 2009:
The first nine months of the Bush administration I spent working on Bush’s tax cut, thinking that would be the center of gravity. Of course, I was dead wrong, and I still have boxes of interviews and notes if you run into anyone who wants to write a book about the Bush tax cut. It’s there. I worked for months on it thinking it was important. Of course, it’s important but compared to 9/11, which still defines our times, and the problems Obama has, the Bush tax cuts is probably not going to go in the history books.
Actually, with the “the perspective of history” (and the current debate on extending those tax cuts), those boxes of notes might be interesting. Any takers?
32 Comments
Trackback posted September 22, 2010 @ 1:22 pm
Bob Woodward, Obama?s Wars, and the Perspective of History…
I found your entry interesting do I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog :)…
Pingback posted September 22, 2010 @ 1:29 pm
[...] war exit plan, and getting 'rolled'Christian Science MonitorThe Associated Press -The Washington Independent -AFPall 653 news [...]
Pingback posted September 22, 2010 @ 2:03 pm
[...] Woodward's 'Obama's Wars': Is The New Book Worth The Buzz? (POLL)Huffington PostBob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the Perspective of HistoryThe Washington IndependentNew York Daily News -The Guardian -CNN Internationalall 674 news [...]
Pingback posted September 22, 2010 @ 2:08 pm
[...] Woodward's 'Obama's Wars': Is The New Book Worth The Buzz? (POLL)Huffington PostBob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the Perspective of HistoryThe Washington IndependentNew York Daily News -The Guardian -CNN Internationalall 674 news [...]
Pingback posted September 22, 2010 @ 2:33 pm
[...] Woodward's 'Obama's Wars': Is The New Book Worth The Buzz? (POLL)Huffington PostThe Washington Independent -New York Daily News -The Guardianall 690 news [...]
Pingback posted September 22, 2010 @ 2:36 pm
[...] Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the Perspective of History The …: Bob Woodward’s new book, entitled “Obama’s Wars,” will be released next Monday. The book covers the Obama administration’s decision-making process about troop levels in Afghanistan and details the internal squabbles among administration figures and military leaders.Most of the juicy bits seem to be about these personality clashes, and in that context, it’s worth digging up … – Readmore [...]
Pingback posted September 22, 2010 @ 3:01 pm
[...] Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the Perspective of History The …: Bob Woodward’s new book, entitled “Obama’s Wars,” will be released next Monday. The book covers the Obama administration’s decision-making process about troop levels in Afghanistan and details the internal squabbles among administration figures and military leaders.Most of the juicy bits seem to be about these personality clashes, and in that context, it’s worth digging up … – Readmore [...]
Pingback posted September 22, 2010 @ 3:05 pm
[...] Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the Perspective of History The …: Bob Woodward’s new book, entitled “Obama’s Wars,” will be released next Monday. The book covers the Obama administration’s decision-making process about troop levels in Afghanistan and details the internal squabbles among administration figures and military leaders.Most of the juicy bits seem to be about these personality clashes, and in that context, it’s worth digging up … – Readmore [...]
Pingback posted September 22, 2010 @ 3:10 pm
[...] Wars': Is The New Book Worth The Buzz? (POLL)Huffington PostBaltimore Sun (blog) -The Washington Independent -New York Daily Newsall 709 news [...]
Trackback posted September 22, 2010 @ 3:40 pm
HotForDigital.com » Blog Archive » Bob Woodward book details Obama battles with advisers over exit plan for … – Washington Post…
I found your entry interesting thus I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog :)…
Pingback posted September 22, 2010 @ 4:40 pm
[...] View post: Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the Perspective of History « The … [...]
Pingback posted September 22, 2010 @ 4:45 pm
[...] Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the Perspective of History « The … [...]
Pingback posted September 22, 2010 @ 6:26 pm
[...] the article here: Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the Perspective of History « The … This entry was written by roboboboslains & filed under Obama and tagged afghanistan, [...]
Trackback posted September 22, 2010 @ 7:49 pm
Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the Perspective of History « The ……
I found your entry interesting do I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog :)…
Pingback posted September 22, 2010 @ 9:12 pm
[...] Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the Perspective of History « The … [...]
Pingback posted September 22, 2010 @ 11:58 pm
[...] Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the Perspective of History « The … [...]
Pingback posted September 23, 2010 @ 2:55 am
[...] Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the Perspective of History « The … [...]
Pingback posted September 23, 2010 @ 4:55 am
[...] Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the Perspective of History « The … [...]
Pingback posted September 23, 2010 @ 3:28 pm
[...] Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the Perspective of History « The … [...]
Pingback posted September 23, 2010 @ 4:39 pm
[...] Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the Perspective of History « The … [...]
Trackback posted September 23, 2010 @ 8:26 pm
Maddow Cheers As Greta Van Susteren Cancels Bob Woodward Interview ……
We’ve linked to you on BlogInterviewer.com . Could you put a link back to us?…
Pingback posted September 24, 2010 @ 3:45 am
[...] View full post on The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted September 24, 2010 @ 7:15 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sarah Laskow, Carl Lukas, The Legendary War, The Legendary War, The Legendary War and others. The Legendary War said: Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the Perspective of History « The …: Bob Woodward's new book, entitled “Obama's W… http://bit.ly/dmVmpS [...]
Pingback posted September 24, 2010 @ 9:01 pm
[...] seem to be about these personality clashes, and in that context, it’s worth digging up … – ReadmoreShorter Bob Woodward: Obama Is Guided By Politics In Afghanistan …: Libs should be flattered that [...]
Pingback posted September 24, 2010 @ 10:11 pm
[...] Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the Perspective of History « The … [...]
Pingback posted September 25, 2010 @ 1:45 pm
[...] Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the Perspective of History The …: Bob Woodward’s new book, entitled “Obama’s Wars,” will be released next Monday. The book covers the Obama administration’s decision-making process about troop levels in Afghanistan and details the internal squabbles among administration figures and military leaders.Most of the juicy bits seem to be about these personality clashes, and in that context, it’s worth digging up … – Readmore [...]
Comment posted November 21, 2010 @ 4:12 pm
This blog is for Bob Woodward in reference to his wonderful work !
My name is Chris Hetzelt-Pretzel, and I hope this series of
comments makes its way to you. Thank you for writing about
U.S. foreign policy and the wars, what its now been a decade ?
I want to first talk about domestic, then foreign policy. I would
like to see a book on the shelves entitled; The Relationship between
Polling and Policy – and its impact on our Representative
Democracy Evolution. Um, why would there be a vaccum of
disconnection between the Presidency and the Citizenship,
when Healthcare Reform was moving to passage ? There just
seems to be many wigged out people who see the President
as sinister – O.K. more about this, if some of those people who
big shouters *wanted all along for Barrack Obama’s Presidency
to look bad, and fail. *Yes, I like social psychology. We have
learned that racism can be very subtle, there’s wanting to block
a person from a position – older, more recent is seems to be make
sure he fails in one way or another to show by example, in the
important or leadership position, redneck, “Look first black
president and all he pushed was government hand outs,- *This is
complete nonsense ! Another thing Obama has to content with is
anger from some whites folks that resent the fact that Obama is
more articulate than them. I deeply believe that Obama got elected
because of his genuine contemplation that comes across when he
would piece together the complexity of issues ! You know what I
saw was *Respect that showed for the office. Thoughtfulness
carries far and wide. People saying he talked about hope and
change as if he a political operator, sorry. I bet he has very healthy
demension to his assets, but thrust I say is Idealistic Academic.
Well, I didn’t get to foreign policy, I got side tracked. Thank You
Bob Woodward, this is from Chris Hetzelt-Pretzel. N.H.H. APS-G
36 Clinton St. Concord, N.H. 03301
Comment posted November 25, 2010 @ 3:44 pm
Bob Woodward, this is Chris Hetzelt-Pretzel. Sometimes I feel very
naive about politics and lacking historical perspective, for instance
wars and persecutions over war religions, all over the globe. My
father would tell me about my grandfather on my mother’s side -
New York State Supreme Court Justice, Joseph Wechter. His
family came from (spelling?) – Alscence – Lorraine area of France
and Germany – depending on after what war. Wechter translates
to Vechter in German – meaning currancy changer.
Pingback posted December 12, 2010 @ 7:02 am
[...] seem to be about these personality clashes, and in that context, it’s worth digging up … – ReadmoreBuy Cialis No Prescription – Discount Online Pharmacy Bob …: By Steve Luxenberg – Washington [...]
Trackback posted March 9, 2011 @ 6:14 am
Anxiety Remedies…
[...]I like to honor other websites on the web, even if they are not related to my site, by linking to them. Below are some websites I think are worth checking out[...]…
Trackback posted April 27, 2011 @ 1:38 pm
Related Websites…
[...]some other related resources on the web that are worth viewing on this subject include[...]…
Comment posted May 26, 2011 @ 2:47 pm
Longchamp French brand founded in 1948, is a renowned family of one of the world-famous leather goods. To the top of the French tradition of excellent workmanship, the leading fashion design, lightweight folding utility concept, and the price of plain kind is known around the world. Since the invitation of the famous Italian fashion photographer Mali Ortho Lanti (Mario Sorrenti) Zhang Jing, by British supermodel Kate Moss (Kate Moss) as the endorsement of the ads, longchamp bags have a camel back to life with new vigor, and the new bags this summer, remains the same exquisite workmanship is precise, and bags the type, style and colors of autumn and winter styles are relatively more abundant, longchamp sale is a breakthrough in the past.
She is not a louis vuitton the neverfull, not the hermes the kelly and birkin, but she is a woman most of Paris, be sure to have a bag. She is longchamp le pliage, known as the French woman indispensable “national package.”
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
