Word: cohenable
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...While Cohen claims in an interview with Amazon.com to have written the book to “raise awareness of the kinds of threats that we face in the future,” he succeeds only in raising awareness of how politics, once a method of discourse, has mutated into a language all its own—one that many Americans are unable to speak...
...result is an amplification of the process at the expense of the issues. Despite his pretensions at substance, Cohen falls prey to this trap, and while this may thrill those who find the electoral process more thrilling than their 21st birthday, the book is unbearable for the less politically inclined—or at least those more interested in the substance than the process...
...we’re given plenty on inefficient Cabinet power struggles, the need for a sensible, moderate foreign policy that emphasizes diplomacy over rash action, and even a bit about current anti-American sentiment and the causes of terrorism—but, like far too many of his contemporaries, Cohen becomes bogged down by the process. If bureaucratic meetings warrant pages while Iran and North Korea are diffused in a single paragraph, then there is a serious problem with Cohen’s political priorities...
...It’s quite remarkable that, even with this much overblown political melodrama, more suspense can be found in a cookbook. Each time the story threatens to become exciting, Cohen is sure to insert a healthy dose of boring...
...Geopolitical thrillers tend to begin with short prelude chapters that end in a suspenseful and intriguing death. Cohen follows suit, but ends the chapter by describing the aftermath of a young couple’s assassination in this way: “So the National Park Service concluded that a deranged shooter had picked a target at random…People who used the path were urged to be cautious.” Only a government bureaucrat would consider this gripping...