Word: gellman
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...their roles: the President as the "decider" and Cheney as the éminence grise who counseled him. In reality, by wiring the bureaucracy and being the last person Bush spoke with on many key decisions, Cheney became a "sounding board for advice he originated himself," as biographer Barton Gellman...
...believed among those who have closely studied the Bush 43 White House that sometime in his first term President George W. Bush ceded too much authority to his No. 2 and only learned in the second term to take it back. That is an enduring subplot in Angler, Barton Gellman's excellent book about Cheney, and it is widely believed by some of Bush's oldest, and most devoted, political allies...
...GIST: Expanding on the Pulitzer Prize-winning series published last year in the Washington Post (co-written with Jo Becker), Gellman explores Dick Cheney's reign as the most powerful vice-president in American history. Angler - the VP's Secret Service nickname - reveals Cheney's heavy hand in formulating everything from financial policy (Cheney favored of more tax cuts for the wealthy and cuts in the capital gains tax) to energy policy (he forced a reversal on President Bush's 2000 campaign promise to reduce carbon emissions). The bulk of the book's drama, though, is found in Cheney...
...rather because he thought a victory there would be the best way to demonstrate American military power. "The United States would take [Saddam] down because it could. The war would not preempt immediate danger, a more traditional ground for war, but prevent a danger that might emerge later," writes Gellman. One of Cheney's advisors referred to this as the "demonstration effect...
...walk away from Angler feeling any differently about Vice President Cheney. His secretive, power-hungry reputation has been earned with good reason - this is, after all a man who, when tapped to lead the Vice Presidential search committee, effectively chose himself before interviewing anyone else. And while Gellman's book feels more like a collection of set-pieces than a cohesive whole, this look at this second most powerful office in the land couldn't be timelier given the current debate about vice presidential qualifications...