Word: strout
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THEY--TRB, that is -arrive punctually every week at their post on the inside cover of The New Republic. Alert for injustice and foolishness, Richard L. Strout of the Christian Science Monitor, the pseudonymous TRB, has wielded the "royal we" for more than 35 years now. TRB: Views and Perspectives on the Presidency provides the first anthologized look at this sometimes prescient, often witty and always rational sage of the Washington scene...
...scoops are to be found here; no lids get ripped off anything. Strout watches the men--scarcely a woman makes it into the text--who are running things and wonders about them and about what they will do next. The columns are breezy and interesting, 800 weekly words offering a glance at an issue or a man. It is a measure of Strout's talent that he can use that most pretentious of devices--first person plural--and still display a friendly and approachable, yet always impressive intellect...
...brevity of his thoughts lies the collection's most serious problem. Sometimes attacking two or more subjects in one piece, Strout has little chance to develop his thoughts from week to week. He states a set of principles, then ignores them time and again. In Carroll Kilpatrick's introduction, in Strout's concluding address to the National Press Club, and in several key essays between, a preference emerges for a parliamentary system like Canada's and for a diminished role for our overworked and usually underqualified presidents...
...presidents--he complains about the constraints on them more than their abuse of power. In May 1963, Strout writes, "Somehow we thought Mr. Kennedy would do more....Political leaders, we believe, must create a certain commotion and tension; they must show passion...
...Dick Strout, 80, at President's left. Covered Calvin Coolidge. Still reporting. Charley Bartlett across table. Introduced Jack Kennedy to Jackie Bouvier. J.F. terHorst off to left, Once Jerry Ford's press secretary, Ike's favorite, Roscoe Drummond, on duty. Des Moines, Los Angeles, Baltimore ready to ask questions. President does not eat. Already been up several hours. He sips water. Puffy eyes. Still tired from Camp David. Delicious fatigue. New spirit in room. Respect from press. Carter easier. Abe Lincoln looking benignly down from the wall, chin in hand, elbow on knee. Carter with chin...