Recommended reading: For those on the thread who would like to have greater insight re: the principal players in GW Bush's administration, get a copy of RISE OF THE VULCANS, The History of Bush's War Cabinet by James Mann.
This book is required reading if you really want to understand the intellectual underpinnings of the chief players in today's White House. First published in 2004, Mann's book interweaves the story of the political and personal interrelationships of Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Powell, Armitage, and Condi Rice.
The book also presents a rather dramatic rendering of the whys and wherefores of balance of power politics during the last twenty years.
And, although you have to read between the lines since it is not one of Mann's contentions, the book also reveals the slow but sure emergence of Condi Rice as an increasingly promising and powerful leader of the Republican Party. One can almost see the behind the scenes activities at work designed to position Rice as the next President of the United States.
Mann shows, without intending to, why Hillary Clinton, if she is fated to become the Democratic nominee in 2008, is reportedly more afraid of Condi Rice than of any other potential opponent in the coming 2008 Presidential sweepstakes. |
