Books that need to be written, vol. 1

The Taco Bueno Presidency: George W. Bush as CEO of America, Inc., from Inauguration to September 10, 2001.

It's easy to forget, but before the terror attacks of September 2001, the current administration was quite ... boring. I distinctly recall hating him for the results of the 2000 election, and kept waiting for some sort of positive reinforcement. But read over the agenda with me: you find remarks on faith-based initiatives. Remarks on tax cuts. Remarks on the new U.S.S. Ronald Reagan. Remarks on estate taxes. Remarks on America's pastime.

Finally an emergency broke out in April when the personnel of a U.S. spy plane were taken by the Chinese. Then there was talk that Bush ran his administration like a fast-food franchise, dressing down staffers who were five minutes late, or who failed to write briefs that were actually brief. He was criticized for taking too much time off -- Clinton didn't preside that way, they said. Jesse Jackson pressed for slavery reparations.

It was an uneventful eight months. Fitting then that the president was doing something totally uneventful when the second plane struck.

Five more book posts to go...