Elizabeth Drew, who lives in Washington, is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books. She is the author of twelve books. »

Fear and Loathing in George W. Bush's Washington

By Elizabeth Drew
Preface by Russell Baker

Many Democrats in the Senate are fearful of George W. Bush and "his unscrupulous political strategist, Karl Rove," writes Elizabeth Drew. The House, meanwhile, is run by Republican Whip Tom DeLay, "the mean-spirited partisan from Texas" who has polarized the chamber along party lines.

How did we get to this point under a president who ran on a promise to unite rather than divide, and how has our government been affected?

Elizabeth Drew's answers to these questions begin by exposing the cynicism of the Bush presidential campaign, orchestrated by Rove. She also reveals the deep division between the neocons in the Defense Department and the realists in the State Department. The controversy between the two camps, she finds, has "brought out bitterness and knife-wielding of a sort that Washington has seldom seen." The result, she concludes, is that "the increasing unwillingness to compromise is not only blocking legislation but, it is not overdramatic to say, is subverting fundamental concepts of democracy."

Russell Baker in his preface writes: "In Washington an age of moral and philosophical sterility is deeply entrenched, and as Elizabeth Drew's reporting attests, the result is not pretty .... Since [the end of the cold war] government has seemed to be mostly about raising money to get elected, and then reelected repeatedly in order to service those who put up the money. There is no moral urgency in it, no philosophical imperative at work."

Also see:

Fixed Ideas: America Since 9.11 By Joan Didion Preface by Frank Rich Joan Didion describes how, since September 11, 2001, there has been a determined effort by the administration to promote an imperial America—a "New Unilateralism"—and how, in many parts of America, there is now a "disconnect" between the government and citizens.

Now They Tell Us By Michael Massing Preface by Orville Schell Michael Massing describes the American press coverage of the war in Iraq as "the unseen war," an ironic reference given the number of reporters in Iraq and in Doha, Qatar, the location of the Coalition Media Center with its $250,000 stage set.

Glory and Terror By Steven Weinberg Preface by Anthony Lewis Steven Weinberg, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist, writes that America today "has an unprecedented opportunity to begin to escape from the risk of nuclear annihilation." But, he warns, President Bush is not only letting this opportunity slip away, he is, in some respects, moving in the wrong direction.

America Goes Backward By Stanley Hoffmann "Wrong assumptions, immoderate and confused ends, served by a mixture of counterproductive, inadequate, mismanaged, and, at times, scandalous means": Stanley Hoffmann's verdict on the US invasion of Iraq carries an uneasy echo of his view of the US failure in Vietnam.

Welcome to Doomsday By Bill Moyers Preface by Bill McKibben Welcome to Doomsday is an investigation into the coupling of ideology and theology, in particular the intrusion of religion into political life, in America today.

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