Destiny & power – The personal diaries of George Herbert Walker Bush

In the book, written by Jon Meacham, Bush Senior labels former Vice President Dick Cheney as an “iron ass” for his reaction to the 9/11 attacks, and attributes this attitude to Cheney’s wife Lynne, notes CNN.

“Modern presidents have a long and admirable desire to leave behind a record of their times so that future generations might learn lessons, both good and bad.”
He adds:
”Until now, we have been able to learn a fair amount about the presidency of George H.W. but almost nothing about the dynamics of what followed: the first father-son presidency since the early 1800s”.

The biography, Destiny And Power: The American Odyssey Of George Herbert Walker Bush, will be published next week and is likely to refocus debate on the legacy of one of America’s most influential political dynasties.

“The documents there, the treasure trove of history that’s in College Station informed this book in essential ways”, said Meacham.

When asked about the elder Bush’s critical comments about him in a recent interview with Fox News, Cheney said, “I’m enjoying the book”.

‘He was surprised by it. I think it’s safe to say. Also pushing back against the elder Bush’s views was Rumsfield, who seemed to take a potshot at the 91-year-old’s age.

Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld are being respectively called “iron-ass” and “arrogant fellow” in a new biography of former United States president George Bush, who says they did not serve his son well as president when he made a decision to invade Iraq in 2003. He also praised Cheney in particular as VP, adding, “We have to get beyond, I think, this feeling that somehow 1991 is the same as 2001”.

Why, then, did he just lower the hammer on Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld?

“I think he served the president badly”.

“In July, George W. Bush made headlines when he said he wouldn’t comment on the issue, saying he ‘shouldn’t be taking a speck out of someone else’s eye when I have a log in my own.’ He later explained that he just wasn’t going to answer the question because he was out of politics.”

President Bush with Cheney (center) and Rumsfeld (right).

In a statement, Bush Jnr defended his former colleagues: “Dick Cheney did a superb job as vice-president, and I was fortunate to have him by my side throughout my presidency”.

Bush declined. “That’s what I said”.

So is everything about George H.W. Bush’s presidency outdated?

Although Jeb Bush himself has said that “knowing what we know now” he would have pursued a different policy in Iraq, he said Thursday his father was not second-guessing. I was making these decisions.’ This is a quote: ‘This was my philosophy’. “Different eras. Different times”.

Partly based on Bush 41’s diaries, “Destiny and Power” also includes Bush’s revelation that he contemplated not running for president again in 1992 and juicy nuggets about White House rivalries (“Nancy does not like Barbara”).