White House Ghosts -- Political Wire

White House Ghosts

Political Books reviews White House Ghosts by Robert Schlesinger, calling it a "masterfully evenhanded rendering of behind-the-scenes life in the Oval Office that may be the best political book we've read this year."

Highlights: "The work's greatest triumph... is that it conveys immediacy, making the reader feel surrounded by several grubby, unshaven wunderkinds at 3 a.m., drinking their fifth cup of coffee while grinding out the seventh draft of the State of the Union address that has to be delivered later that day."

"A major takeaway from Schlesinger's book is how deeply involved most modern presidents have been in the actual crafting and editing of their own speeches. Some chief executives were better writers than the scribes who toiled for them, others far worse. But ego and legacy concerns led them often to micromanage the process. And speechwriters took no back seat to presidents in preening and seeking recognition, often leading to internecine warfare, which often crippled production, a circumstance some presidents handled efficiently, others fecklessly."

May 20, 2008

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Taegan D. Goddard is the creator of Political Wire, a political column updated around the clock with the most interesting news, buzz and commentary.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

This is a personal site and does not necessarily reflect the views of any company, political campaign or advocacy group.

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