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Library Journal Review

Political buffs, especially those who are anti-Bush, will enjoy this readable account of the incumbent president. The authors, who are White House correspondents for Time magazine, portray a conservative president who reacts rather than leads because he fears making mistakes. The book's title aptly captures the authors' thesis. Though they present an excellent summary of the Bush presidency and its missed oportunities for leadership, deeper insight is found in James David Barber's comparative analysis of 20th-century presidents, Presidential Character (Prentice-Hall, 1992. 4th ed.). For more anti-Bush sentiments, see Ted Rall's Waking Up in America and Tom Tomorrow's Greetings from ``This Modern World , '' p. 100; for other campaign-related books, see ``On the Campaign Book Trail,'' LJ 3/15/92, p. 110-112.--Ed.-- William D. Pederson, Louisiana State Univ., Shreveport (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

In an indictment of the Bush presidency, two White House correspondents for Time portray a do-nothing president who has set no real national priorities. Bush's self-defined custodial role, they charge, has been to perform a holding action for his core constituency, America's ruling class. Duffy and Goodgame accuse Bush of an unprincipled approach to civil rights and fault his irresolution on education, the environment and the war on drugs. While applauding his stubborn resolve in the Persian Gulf crisis, they blast his frenetic ``Rolodex diplomacy'' and his tolerance for human rights abuses and autocracy, as shown by his secret conciliatory missions to Beijing after the Tiananmen Square massacre. Bush's agenda of upholding the status quo no longer appeals to voters who fear America's long decline, Duffy and Goodgame assert; in this bombshell of a book they explain why the policies that got Bush elected may be his undoing. They predict that a second Bush term would be ``more of the same, only less.'' First serial to Time; author tour. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

CHOICE Review

The Time journalists who jointly produced this volume have chosen what they believe to be a most apt title for their work. They have watched George Bush from close range during his time in the White House and they see little that he has accomplished while president. The authors argue (and present mountains of "evidence" to support their contention) that the Bush presidency is devoid of direction, of purpose, of conviction. They starkly contrast Bush's unwavering sense of direction, purpose, and resolve in the Persian Gulf with his incessant wavering on domestic issues. As a matter of fact, this book speaks directly to the question asked by many Americans during the presidential campaign of 1992 what does George Bush want to accomplish during a second term in office? Dispassionately, these two journalists paint a portrait of a man who is more interested in being president than in using the presidency to accomplish certain goals. Thoroughly documented. Recommended for general and undergraduate audiences. W. K. Hall; Bradley University

Booklist Review

A pair of access journalists report what their backgrounders and anonymous sources have led them to believe about Bush. Assigned to the White House beat by Time, Duffy and Goodgame glibly stitch together the verbal emissions from the presidential podium on such issues as ex-aide Sununu, China and Europe's annus mirabilis of 1989, the Persian Gulf War, and the failed coup and subsequent disintegration of the USSR. On the personality side, they tell tales testifying to Bush's well-known attributes as an unfailingly polite, sports-mad, frenetic, safety-first steward of state. Asserting a critical posture toward blue blood George and all his works, they nevertheless respect him and his political acumen, and even his hyperpersonalized diplomacy. Quite incisive on registering Bush's no-frills conduct of the Oval Office and the causes of his plummeting poll ratings, their synthesis nevertheless is a gray option, except to devotees of journalistic scuttlebutt. Unless a campaign-year tract displays broad appeal and impish originality (as did Cramer's What It Takes [BKL My 1 92], a bio of a sextet of 1988 candidates), calibrate acquisition to major media markets, the usual haunt for readers of yesterday's news. ~--Gilbert Taylor