The sphinx in the White House; George Bush.('The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush')('Made in Texas: George W. Bush and the Southern Takeover of American Politics')(Book Review)

Economist (US), The, January, 2003

Two books on the president that reflect also on their authors

SELDOM has a political leader prompted more uninformed comment than George Bush. To say this is not to repeat the familiar gripe of American conservatives that Europeans depict him as a nitwit, though they do (this week, a play opened in London called "The Madness of George Dubya" in which the leader of the western world wanders around in his pyjamas clutching a teddy bear). Most Americans still know relatively little about their president. They tend to side with him, or be against him, by instinct.

This ignorance seems to suit Mr Bush. He keeps press and television at arm's length and runs the least leaky White House in recent memory. Hence the importance of David Frum's book. Mr Frum, a...

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