EIGHTY-SIX years ago, the young George H.W. Bush was dressed in a black-and-orange uniform sweater, popped into a chauffeur-driven car and sent to Greenwich Country Day School in Connecticut, beginning his formal apprenticeship as a gentleman. The task was taken seriously, records “Destiny and Power”, a gripping new biography of the 41st president by Jon Meacham. So intense was the focus on fair play that school report cards included the category, “Claims More Than His Fair Share of Time and Attention in Class”.
Jump to the present day, and most Republican candidates for the White House would score poorly on such a school report. The party’s 2016 presidential nominating contest is a brag-a-thon, dominated by such Washington-bashing outsiders as the businessman Donald Trump, who delights in telling crowds that he is “really smart” and “really rich”; and the retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who says that his surging poll ratings reflect the “power of God”. Small wonder that Mr Meacham concedes that modern Americans may find the elder president Bush—a buttoned-up patrician, proud of his public service—distinctly...Continue reading
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