Obama's Wars?

Bob Woodward, who knows Washington politics as well as anyone, came out Monday, Sept. 27, with his 15th book on various presidential administrations over the years.

This one is called Obama's Wars and will definitely be a factor of some kind in the coming Nov. 2 Mid-Term congressional elections.

Woodward is a senior managing editor at The Washington Post. He is also a millionaire now from his book royalties over the years and his six-figure salary at The Post.

The book has created a loud buzz in political, journalistic and Washington society circles for its candor in quoting President Barack Obama and other high administration officials.

For example, Vice President Joe Biden is quoted in the book as calling Richard Holbrooke, the President's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, 'the most egotistical bastard I've ever met.'

Is the book worth the waves of buzz it has created?  We think so. It offers another behind-the-scenes look at how the President copes with day-to-day crises.

The New York Times finds the book shows "some of the critical players in President Obama's national security team doubt his strategy in Afghanistan will succeed and have spent much of the last 20 months quarreling with one another over policy."

However, Erstwhile political pundits such as Salon.com complain, catty-like, "Bob Woodward (is) the famous flatterer of Washington's career elite and writer-down of whatever they tell him."

Duh?  Yeah, that's the purpose in a book of this genre, Stupid.

Vanity Fair magazine also is no Woodward fan.  "Bob Woodward, whose behind-the-scenes White House books usually cause a major stir, may have missed the mark" with his Obama Wars book, the magazine contends.

National Public Radio, however, found the book worthwhile. "It (the book) also reports that the U.S. has intelligence showing that manic-depression has been diagnosed in Afghan President Hamid Karzai and that he was on medication," NPR states.

In his 30 years as a reporter/editor/managing editor, Woodward has yet to write a retraction on anything he has authored.  His critics obviously don't mention that tidbit.

Is all the media hype and fuss over Obama Wars worth it? Well, it certainly is making Woodward's newest tome an immediate best-seller and one that will stay at the top of the Best-Seller List for some time to come.

What do you think?

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