What A President Should Know (Book Review)

What A President Should Know: An Insider's View on How to Succeed in the Oval Office

This book is a collection Lawrence Lindsey's "notes to the president" on how to govern. He even starts the book with elaborate story about the lengths he went to so the President would get it just before inauguration so that it would not be subject to public inspection. But if he didn't want it to be subject to public inspection one must wonder why he published it and is selling it to the public.

In fact while the story of slipping it to the president is obvious fiction, the book as a whole was quite interesting and enlightening. Having served as a finance advisor to all of the last three Republican presidents his conservative bias is obvious, but he is what I would call a good conservative (and no that doesn't mean he's dead). Rather I mean he seems to be a straight shooter, gives honest explanations and explains the ambiguities and and trade offs of the office. He doesn't have any of that annoying (unfounded) certainty that so annoys.

As an example. He took some heat from the last administration for estimating that the cost of the Iraq war would be between 100 and 200 billion dollars. Admittedly the high end is still a factor of 3 less than current estimates, but it was much closer to reality than anything else coming out of the Whitehouse in 2003. He also compares it to the costs of Vietnam and WWII as a fraction of GDP. (He does make the case that the war was the right thing, and personally I found it to be one of the more compelling ones if only for the reason that he acknowledges the possibility that it might not have been. By addressing problems and uncertainties he makes his argument, in my mind at least, more credible.) He also makes some very honest statements about the failings of the Bush administration.

He does in fact make a number of good points about focusing on one or two major items. Controlling your controllers and your staff, and the realities of getting things done in Washington. But perhaps the most interesting in my view was a recommendation that the president approach his term in office from the assumption that he would not seek reelection.

If you're cynical (and I am) you might believe this was just because McCain might not live for 8 more years and he never really liked Obama anyway. But the book is written on the assumption of not knowing who the president would be and some of his talk about how a recession may begin early in the term he seems to have written most of it well before even the democratic primary was decided. So the recommendation may have just been honest.

His points were that second terms have not been wonderful. (Nixon Resigned, Clinton was impeached, Bush was weighed down by the war, Reagan was embroiled in the Iran Contra scandal and probably beginning to suffer from Altzheimers, I may have added that last note myself.) Being in only one term allows you great controll over your successor (T. Roosevelt chose Taft.) He does not recommend telling anyone else that is the plan, and in this way he seems to feel that you have the free hand that second term presidents have while having the (apparent) accountability of a first term president that keeps you from being a lame duck. Then as your 3rd year in office rolls around you can either choose to give it another go or go picking out the person to take it to the next level.

On the other hand I was annoyed at Obama for running so young not because I didn't like him but because so few former presidents return to public office/service and I hate to lose his talent before he is 60. So to lose him at barely 50 would really annoy me.

At any rate, it was a pretty good read and I would recommend it if your are interested in public policy whether it reinforces your world view or offers alternatives it is certain insightful.