From pp. 106-07 “My remarks were to the point. I noted that the president wanted quick action on his ‘homeland security package’ but I had never been informed of just what was in the ‘package.’ I had heard one leader at the table vow passage of ‘this thing’ by Election Day. I repeated that, as yet, ‘I don’t know what THIS THING is.’ The president responded with a non sequitur, thanking me for my statement and assuring me that it would be considered. Then he promptly rose and headed out the door. Amazing. I might as well have been reciting a recipe for Christmas fruitcake. My opinion of meetings at the White House hit a new low. I was struck by the president’s dismal performance. To say mediocre would be a gross exaggeration. He was disorganized, unprepared, and rambling. This fellow was all hat and no cattle, as they would say in Texas. It was obvious that he had no idea what was in his Department of Homeland Security proposal, nor did he seem to care. The gratuitous ‘thanks to members’ was so phony it bordered on an affront. I had sat in meetings with many presidents: John Kennedy knew his subject and appealed to reason gently; Johnson was the consummate tour de force, coy, sly, bullying if need be; Nixon was deadly serious and always well prepared; Jimmy Carter was a good listener with a facility for great detail; Ronald Reagan, a joke-teller, a charmer, who read from three-by-five cards and usually turned the substance over to staffers; Bush number 41, serious, intent, well informed; Bill Clinton, likable, jovial, and with a vast knowledge of policy on a wide array of topics which he liked to display. But this president, this Bush number 43, was in a class by himself --- ineptitude supreme. This meeting with Bush the Younger had topped anything I had seen, from Truman on, for absolute tripe!”
“My remarks were to the point. I noted that the president wanted quick action on his ‘homeland security package’ but I had never been informed of just what was in the ‘package.’ I had heard one leader at the table vow passage of ‘this thing’ by Election Day. I repeated that, as yet, ‘I don’t know what THIS THING is.’ The president responded with a non sequitur, thanking me for my statement and assuring me that it would be considered. Then he promptly rose and headed out the door. Amazing. I might as well have been reciting a recipe for Christmas fruitcake. My opinion of meetings at the White House hit a new low. I was struck by the president’s dismal performance. To say mediocre would be a gross exaggeration. He was disorganized, unprepared, and rambling. This fellow was all hat and no cattle, as they would say in Texas. It was obvious that he had no idea what was in his Department of Homeland Security proposal, nor did he seem to care. The gratuitous ‘thanks to members’ was so phony it bordered on an affront. I had sat in meetings with many presidents: John Kennedy knew his subject and appealed to reason gently; Johnson was the consummate tour de force, coy, sly, bullying if need be; Nixon was deadly serious and always well prepared; Jimmy Carter was a good listener with a facility for great detail; Ronald Reagan, a joke-teller, a charmer, who read from three-by-five cards and usually turned the substance over to staffers; Bush number 41, serious, intent, well informed; Bill Clinton, likable, jovial, and with a vast knowledge of policy on a wide array of topics which he liked to display. But this president, this Bush number 43, was in a class by himself --- ineptitude supreme. This meeting with Bush the Younger had topped anything I had seen, from Truman on, for absolute tripe!”