Decision Points
Decision Points is a memoir by former U.S. President George W. Bush.[1] It was released on November 9, 2010, and the release was accompanied by national television appearances and a national tour. The book surpassed sales of two million copies less than two months after its release,[2] breaking the record previously held by former President Bill Clinton's memoir My Life. Decision Points also opened at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.[3]
Author
United States
English
November 9, 2010
Advance and publicity campaign[edit]
Bush has stated that he began writing the book the day after he left office.[8] He was paid $7 million for the first 1.5 million copies.[9]
In tandem with book-publication appearances, Bush hosted a November 16 groundbreaking ceremony for the George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.[10] The event gathered some 2,500 guests, including hundreds of former administration officials. Former Vice President Dick Cheney said at the event, "When times have been tough or the critics have been loud, you've always said you had faith in history's judgment, and history is beginning to come around." In turn, Bush said of the recently hospitalized Cheney, "He was a great vice president of the United States, and I'm proud to call him friend."[11]
Reactions[edit]
Reaction to the book began far in advance of its earliest release, even a sneak peek at a draft, as reported by Tim Dowling of The Guardian in April 2010, six months before its publication. Quotations from the draft were published without comment, except for proposed cover pictures for the book.[12]
The New York Times' Peter Baker, who was given an advance copy of the book, assessed Bush's political standing as the book release rolled out in appearances with Oprah Winfrey, Matt Lauer, and Candy Crowley.
At the same time as Baker, on the Times opinion pages columnist Maureen Dowd focused unfavorably on repeated instances in the book of Bush feeling "blindsided" but concluded that while his "decision-making leaves something to be desired, his story-telling is good." To illustrate the last point, Dowd recounted the story in which Vladimir Putin had bragged that his black Labrador, Koni, was "[b]igger, stronger, and faster than Barney." Stephen Harper later "drolly noted [to Bush], 'You're lucky he only showed you his dog.'"[13]
Journalist Tim Rutten wrote for the Los Angeles Times recommending the book, which he found "unexpectedly engrossing" and better "than many of his detractors expected." Rutten particularly highlighted Bush's expressed concerns about faulty intelligence on Saddam Hussein's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction as well as Bush's regrets about the Hurricane Katrina. Seeing a "disarming candor" combined with an "almost alarming off-handedness about the implications of what's being said", Rutten compared Bush's attitudes to the characters in Shakespeare's Macbeth.[7]
The former Chancellor of Germany, Gerhard Schröder, stated, "The former American president is not telling the truth." He was referring to Bush's allegation that Schröder had promised to support the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Schröder responded that he had promised only that he would support action against Iraq if Iraq were found to have been involved in the September 11 attacks. "This connection, however, as it became clear during 2002, was false and constructed."[14]
The Daily Telegraph ran a negative review by journalist Mick Brown. Brown remarked that "Bush is no great literary stylist" and that the "writing seldom rises above the workmanlike" while some "language is distinctly odd." Brown stated that Bush comes across as "likeable", but Brown concluded that "conspicuously absent from this book is any acknowledgement, or even honest appraisal, of the larger failings of his presidency".[8]
Journalist Michael Barone wrote for National Review praising Bush for admitting to "serious errors up front". Barone cited Bush's statement that he should have stayed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and deployed active-duty troops quickly in order to assist Hurricane Katrina victims as well as Bush's admission that he failed to see the "house of cards" in America's financial sector.[6]