The scruffy charms of an insecure president

[rodeodance]

The scruffy charms of an insecure president

Biographer Robert Draper explains that Bush has a surprising intellect but is incapable of curiosity and owning up to mistakes.

By Rob Patterson

Sept. 11, 2007 | Revelations from "Dead Certain," Robert Draper's new biography of President George W. Bush, have received marquee play since the book's publication on Sept. 4. The disclosures have ranged from the petty -- Bush, a stickler for punctuality, once locked a late Colin Powell out of a meeting -- to the momentous. Among the more uncomfortable for the White House: Bush's claim that Paul Bremer, head of Iraq's Coalition Provisional Authority, made the disastrous decision to disband the Iraqi army without Bush's knowledge, an assertion rapidly rebutted by Bremer.

What Draper, a writer for GQ, really does with great skill in "Dead Certain," however, is debunk caricatures of George Bush, both positive and negative. Draper, who first spoke to Bush for GQ in 1998, did six additional interviews with Bush for the book and had access to the president's inner circle. In place of the dimwitted boogeyman of the left and the resolute hero of the right, Draper introduces a three-dimensional man full of contradictions. His George Bush is charming, petulant, open and insecure, smart but allergic to inconvenient facts.

On Friday, Salon spoke with Draper about "Dead Certain," his many encounters with George Bush, whether he likes the president personally, and how some former White House staffers have responded to the book's ambiguous, often unflattering portrait.

Newsweek headlined its article about your book "A Biographer Off Message" and called you "Bush's wayward biographer." How do you feel about that characterization, or the sense that you somehow got access to the Bush White House and then burned your sources, including the president?

[gratuitous]

1. Yeah, Bush has a great intellect

Good thing he never lets it go to his head.