I Trust Bob Woodward As Far As I Can Throw Him... But Maybe That's Just Me

With Obama's War, Bob Woodward comes out with another 'insider' book on the Presidency.

Here is an interesting review that doesn't jut cream all over the spy author:

"Obama's Wars," Bob Woodward's latest epic of insiderdom, quotes National Security Adviser James Jones telling his deputy, Tom Donilon, that he had made a mistake—"he had never gone to Afghanistan or Iraq, or really left the office for a serious field trip. As a result, he said, you have no direct understanding of those places. . . . The White House, Situation Room, interagency byplay, as important as they are, are not everything." Good advice. Too bad Mr. Woodward hasn't followed it himself..."

Similar to this perspective:

"Bob Woodward's new book is crucial for understanding Afghanistan's future -- yet it has hardly an Afghan voice in it. 

In one way, this omission is natural enough in a book about Americans making policy in Washington. In another way, though, it may demonstrate a case of Maslow's hammer -- the idea that when your only tool is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail..."

Comments

[michele branch]

Woodward has really been long removed from his Watergate reporting, instead becoming a stenographer for Washington insiders. Too bad.
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?articleId=981...
http://mydd.com/2006/4/10/jay-rosen-quotmurray-wa...
http://archive.pressthink.org/2006/04/09/waas_now...

[michele branch]

Woodward has really been long removed from his Watergate reporting, instead becoming a stenographer for Washington insiders. Too bad.
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?articleId=981...
http://mydd.com/2006/4/10/jay-rosen-quotmurray-wa...
http://archive.pressthink.org/2006/04/09/waas_now...