Rating: 
Summary: Recycled press coverage from the campaign
Review: I enjoy reading the bio's of our nation's leaders. Every author has a bias and the good ones cleanse their work of their slant. It appears to me that Mr. Bruni or his editor didn't.Starting with the title word, 'Ambling', Bruni frames his subject as not having direction or lacking purpose. One does not amble into the Presidency, a governorship, the board room, or onto the national scene. You must have some strength, convictions, and motivation that drives you to these goals. A candidate can't aspire simply for a title, the office, or the limelight. Bruni's work is devoid of any discussion on this or other subject matter that defines President Bush. After the third chapter, I stopped reading it word for word. I tired of the constant drum beat of negatives, recycled Bushisms, and inuendo of no talent. But don't take my word, here are some examples: Chapter 1: [describing Bush in church] "As preachers preached and singers sang and a city prayed, Bush turned around from time to time to shoot us little smiles. He scrunched up his forehead, as if to ask us silently what we were up to back there. He wiggled his eyebrows, a wacky and wordless hello." Chapter 2: [Bush's spontaneity] "But Bush wasn't just flawed when it came to delivering previously written, endlessly repeated remarks; he was-in public although not in private-sometimes miserable at spontaneity". Chapter 3: [Personal notes on Bush] "That night on the plane from Iowa to New Hampshire, I asked him whether , to make his journey more bearable, he kept anything special with him or make any adjustment so his hotel rooms. It was then that he told us about his 'feather pillow'. . . . He liked what felt cozy and safe: . . . He wanted comfortable couches. He wanted a comfortable bed. He wanted a really good, comfortable shower. . . He preferred the old to the new, the tried to the untested. He ate the same foods over and over, stocking his plane with peanut butter because that was his favorite sandwich ingredient. And so it goes. Mr. Bruni covered President Bush during the campaign for the NY Times. It appears that he has recompiled his articles into book form, and regurgitated them for those who didn't get enough the first time. If you like to hear odd bits on every negative aspect Mr. Bruni can muster about President Bush, this book is for you. If you prefer more serious biographies, stick with Woodward, Ambrose, Noonan, Klein, or Morris.
Rating: 
Summary: Superb, unbiased commentary about Bush's campaign/character
Review: I found this book on a ledge at a recycling center late at night (it's true), so I grabbed it even though I was more than a little skeptical about the objectivity and fairness of a story about George W. Bush, written by a NY Times reporter and having the word "Ambling" in its title. Still, I must admit that this turned out to be the most pleasant of surprises. Author Frank Bruni has put together a rather unbiased, objective and downright enjoyable book about our President's politics and personality. It's a great read. Mr. Bruni covers the time frame from August 1999, during Governor Bush's campaign, through the weeks following the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Aside from his excellent work in conveying the essence of Mr. Bush--both gentleman and politician--Mr. Bruni also provides superb, interesting perspectives on campaign journalism and life on the election trail. The author injects NO bias into his commentary as he masterfully portrays all the facets of George W. Bush's persona: candid, sincere, goofy, engaging, down-home, patriotic, and oftentimes pretty ordinary. Whatever your political leanings, they probably won't by swayed one way or the other by Mr. Bruni; he gives us a character sketch which is fair, insightful and truly enjoyable to read. At times I was amazed; other times I just laughed aloud. I also thought the backdrop of a presidential campaign added a colorful aspect to the author's "reporting." It reads like part diary, part script, and part ad-lib. All three come together to result in a book that I'd recommend to just about anyone. I see why Mr. Bruni was up for a Pulitzer Prize.
Rating: 
Summary: 'One of the most interesting presidents in decades'
Review: One of the most persistent (and debatable) clichés of the last nine months has been that September 11 'changed everything.' Whether it's really true that 'everything' has changed, it seems pretty clear, based on Frank Bruni's reporting, that George W. Bush, at least, has been transformed. That makes 'Ambling Into History' a particularly interesting -- as well as entertaining -- read. Bruni's portrait of Bush is a fascinating one. And while it's not, perhaps, the deepest psychological analysis ever, it is clearly the work of a skilled observer and reporter. Bush comes across as a natural entertainer (not to say 'clown'), who wants to keep things lighthearted and amiable. Beneath it all, Bruni shows that Bush possesses a quick mind, a real awareness of his own limitations, and, related to the latter, a healthy sense of self-mockery. What I found particularly interesting was Bruni's illustration of the various tensions at work within Bush himself. He wanted to be president, but he didn't have the all-encompassing, monomaniacal ambition of, say, an Al Gore or Bill Clinton. He knew he had to be on the campaign trail, but was positively homesick for his ranch in Crawford, Texas. He wanted to be thought of (and thought of himself) as a son of the West Texas oil patch, but seemed offended when people forgot that his education (Andover-Yale-Harvard MBA) was at least as good, and arguably better, than Gore's. Like so many sons of successful fathers, he had wrestled with his father's legacy his whole life. Now he had a chance not only to seize the same prize his father had, but to do so had to defeat one of the very men who had humiliated his father in 1992. As much as this book is a study of George W. Bush, it's also memoir of the campaign trail. And its revelations about life on the bus are fascinating too. Particularly useful was Bruni's discussion of how much of the press coverage -- particularly of 'spats' and 'feuds' between candidates -- was driven by little more than bored reporters longing for something, anything, to write about. Or his discussion of Bush allegedly being 'on the defensive' at one point late in the campaign: Gore was attacking Bush about something, and because Bush was willing to take reporters' questions, he responded to the attacks (Gore was never 'on the defensive' because he never spoke to reporters, and so never gave unscripted responses to anything Bush said). Bruni writes, 'the assertion that Bush was flailing was so rampant in newspapers and newscasts that it had transmogrified into the *fact* that Bush was flailing. It was the given, the starting point, from which every story now proceeded. It was true because almost every journalist, following a kind of groupthink endemic to campaign coverage, had decided that it was true and was reporting that it was true; because this was all Americans were reading, hearing, and likely to believe; and because the Bush campaign would therefore have to accept and react to it as true, making it all the truer. I wasn't sure if this logic was pretzel or circular, but I knew it was pathetic' (p. 165, emphasis in original). This was repeated in the 'debate over the debates,' in which journalists reported that Bush was being 'hounded and hurt by questions' about his participation in proposed presidential debates. But the only 'hounding' was being done by those very same reporters, and the only evidence that Bush was 'hurt' by this 'hounding' came from ... the fact the reporters themselves were writing about it! 'We were, in essence, covering ourselves,' Bruni writes. The latter stages of Bruni's book, particularly the epilogue, deal with Bush's surprising transformation in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Whereas during his first nine months in office he seemed anxious to deflate the imperial presidency (for example, he did away with the practice of playing 'Hail to the Chief' every time he entered a room, 'an homage that was like oxygen to President Clinton [p. 227]'), by November, he 'was amassing a degree of executive power that, in the eyes of some scholars, rivaled President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's during World War II' (p. 264-5). This transformation, in Bruni's mind, is 'turning Bush into one of the most interesting presidents in decades. He had indeed exceeded expectations, at least as an unusually riveting character in a newly compelling drama' (p. 265). This book didn't match up to the hyperbolic reviews, either pro or con. It did raise questions for me about some of the workings of President Bush's mind -- or at least how those workings express themselves in his words -- but it also revealed a human and fundamentally likeable guy: a guy whose most likeable characteristic of all was that he was never entirely convinced he even wanted to BE president.
Rating:
Summary: twin tales
Review: One of Mr. Bruni's other important criticisms, and it's very much a self-criticism, is that the members of the press generally fail to understand the role of religious faith in George W. Bush's life : Bush's spirituality was perhaps crucial to his ability to handle himself so well in public--and by all accounts, in private--after the attacks. Reporters in general tended not to look for or consider this kind of influence, because so few of them put all that much stock in religion, which they associated with extreme political views based on moral disapproval and condemnation. I confess to membership in this group. And perhaps because of this prejudice, which is probably the right thing to call it, administration officials seldom dwelled on Bush's faith when they described the way he was coping at difficult junctures. This is a pretty shocking admission. It's almost impossible to imagine that the NY Times or any other major media outlet would put someone with racial prejudices on a story about race, or a person with little understanding of Russian culture on the Russia beat, yet they see no problem in having reporters with religious prejudices, or no understanding of religion at any rate, cover a subject where religion is a key component of the story. Mustn't this effect how the story is reported? It's great that Mr. Bruni recognizes the centrality of religious belief in Mr. Bush's life now, but how different might his reportage during the campaign have been if he'd realized it in 1999? Mr. Bruni's admissions of press weaknesses are admirable, but because of this honesty his dual stories do sometimes seem at odds with one another. It is hard in places to tell whether he's describing a genuine flaw in George W. Bush's character or whether the vagaries of the press coverage are at work. Likewise, in explaining the ups and downs of the race and the early days of his presidency (into late 2001) one wonders which were the genuine downs and which were merely created by the press itself. The overarching question becomes : having acknowledged the degree to which the press creates its own stories and that he, and others, fundamentally misunderstood Mr. Bush until September 11th, 2001, how trustworthy should we consider a reporter's account of the 2000 campaign? I think the answer is, necessarily, that one has to read the campaign coverage through the filter of the press critique. Mr. Bruni in some ways teaches us to distrust his own account of the campaign. But both stories are quite fascinating and the book is wonderfully readable. Better books may come, but for now I think it's the best we have on George W. Bush and one of the better, at least in recent years, on the press. GRADE : A-
Rating:
Summary: That's One more Blue changing to Violet
Review: My emotions spanned the dichotomy between anger and joy as I read how this journalist travelled with the Governor on his journey to becoming President. If you are as loyal to the President as I am, there will be times where the desire to cast this book out the window will contrast with other times that you'll find yourself laughing aloud. The author bravely balances criticism and praise, and conservatives alike will rejoice as Bruni clearly indicates his approval for the faith that Bush possesses and unwaivering resolution to bring dignity to the White House. The author also recollects humorous anecdotes and Bushisms that could be looked at as criticism by some, or rather endearing traits by those of us who are fond of Bush's character. Another liberal, as the author clearly identifies himself, has let a bit of red into his thinking!
Rating:
Summary: Ambling is an insightful, engaging read
Review: Contrasted with the egomaniacal meanderings of Joe Klein in "The Natural", Frank Bruni's treatise on President Bush is what true journalism is all about. He approaches his subject correctly -- as a subject, not a friend. Throughout the book, which is basically what you might hear if you had a bar tab and several hours of Bruni's time, the author makes clear the line between himself and Bush. He describes the events as a journalist interacting, following, and writing about a candidate for the President of the United States. It is less about any personal interaction between Frank and George -- although there is some in there, simply as a matter of course -- but much more about a New York Times reporter, a would-be President, and the inane process of running for the highest office in the land. And this is where the book shines. It gives informative details about pack journalism, how journalists can influence the coverage and voters views on particular candidates, and the messy details about how the sausage is really made. And it also gives insight into the 43rd President, warts and all. Bruni's approach to writing this -- casual, laid-back -- makes it pleasant to read as well. To be sure, the book has its flaws. Bruni sometimes strays into psychobabble, as he freely admits. Not that there is anything wrong with that -- but Bruni is a journalist, not a psychologist. I could give dimestore analysis of Bush, but no one, hopefully, would pay to read it. Also no excuse for better sourcing; instead Bruni slacks off, and just types something at the end of the book, with nary a page reference included. And there is no index, which attests more to the fact that this is a campaign journal rather than a scholarly work. I like indexes in my non-fiction though. Still, for what it is, it gives a good, nuanced look at how GW made it to the White House, and how Bruni -- and the rest of the journalists -- covered the 2000 campaign.
Rating:
Summary: Great insight into the world of Bush
Review: With his book "Ambling Into History", author Frank Bruni has provided a great read for both fans and critics of President Bush. Bruni was the New York Times beat reporter assigned to cover the 2000 Bush presidential campaign, making him a member of a select group of people with extraordinary access to George W. Bush during those months. He takes an honest look at Bush, giving insight to the small eccentricities and personality traits often hidden from the public. He establishes up front that he genuinely likes Bush, but this doesn't prevent him from recording with hilarity many of Bush's famous misspoken phrases and public gaffaws. The writing is excellent, as is Bruni's tone. These incidents do not read like a reporter pointing the finger at Bush's shortcomings -- it seems more like a close acquaintance laughing along with the President at something funny from his past. Bruni goes out of his way to examine the role the media played in crafting public perception of Bush as a goof, relaying a number of situations where Bush clearly was more clever than the common U.S. citizen likely perceives him to be. Bruni doesnt dwell on any single event (including September 11) or facet of Bush, opting instead to choose bits an pieces of the campaign that illustrate exactly what makes GWB (and the Bush family) tick. An interesting bonus is an interview at Kennebunkport with former President Bush and Barbara, resulting in some eye-opening conversation about the family's perception of GWB and the bitterness that still lingers over the 1992 election. Bruni's humor and craft of the English language leaves little to be desired -- his many hours of access to Bush allow him to write an accurrate portrait of the man, and his writing style flows beautifully throughout the book. Ambling Into History is truly an enjoyable read, and a great insight into our current president.
Rating:
Summary: A balanced, perceptive look at Bush
Review: My first thought was, "This book needs a better title." "Ambling Into History," to a right of center guy, seemed a little too critical, a little too accepting of Democratic spin. But Bruni, in the end, turned out to be right. There is little doubt Bush did rather amble into the Presidency - he certainly didn't pursue it with the single minded lifelong determination of Bill Clinton. And Bruni is a good enough reporter to simultaneously realize this, and still remember that this is not necessarily a bad trait. In the end, this even-handedness is what makes "Ambling into History" such a good read. It forces both conservatives and liberals to reexamine the old spin on George W. Bush, and develop a more honest critique of the man. Bruni manages to criticize Bush's lack of seriousness in serious moments, and his inability to speak cogently on his feet, while at the same time praising his empathy, his clear intellectual vision, and his surprisingly quick wit. It seems to me that it has become somewhat of a bromide to praise "Ambling Into History" as a triumph of intelligence and honesty over hack political journalism. Since this is true, I don't mind being repetitive. Bruni's book is a breath of fresh aid in what is normally the rather squalid genre of books about sitting Presidents.
Rating:
Summary: Good but Could've Been Better
Review: Bruni's book was very interesting and entertaining, especially the amusing tidbits about Bush on the campaign trail. I did find information that I'd never uncovered before, like Bush's SAT scores (in the 1200s) and family relationship. However, at certain points Bruni seemed a little condescending and incredulous about things that only an urban (read: elitist) reporter could be condescending and incredulous about. For example, Bush does not know Sex and the City. I know very few people who know of the show and even fewer who watch it, especially since many do not get HBO on cable. (alert, reporters!!) There were a few points where the author got in backhanded slaps at Bush. It was entertaining, but can yield negative spin about things that don't really matter at all. He also seemed pulled in too many directions, like a general critique of the media. All in all, I thought the few tidbits about Gore and his wife were more interesting than the ones about Bush and co.
Rating:
Summary: A great insight to GWB - Loved it!
Review: This was a fun enlightening book. I love this president and in many places in this book, I laughed right outloud. I thought Frank Bruni was also very candid in how the media "makes news" or controls what becomes news sometimes instead of just reporting it. Honesty, how refreshing. Great book!
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