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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780140249286
Edition: First Edition. 1st thus
ISBN: 0140249281
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 256
Publication Date: May 01, 1995
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
An uproarious comedy about a presidential administration totally off the rails. This fictional political memoir by the Personal Assistant to President Tucker, Herbert Wadlough, offers a unique, utterly self-serving inside view of the ill-fated Tucker administration, 1989-1993. "A brilliant satire . . . A witty, very funny, intricate spoof."--Bob Woodward.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
The President Elect, (I always felt that the recent period of Barack Obama's stint as the President Elect brought to mind the phrase used by W.S. Gilbert of the Daughter-in-Law Elect), is Thomas Tucker. The narrator, Herbert Wadlough, is Tucker's assistant. The book would, indeed, make a splendid operetta. The author's genetic endowment is evident. What is a myrmidon? (The Merriam and Webster definition is a subordinate who executes orders without protest or pity.)
The narrator first saw Jessie Heath, now Mrs. Thomas Tucker, at the cinema in Boise. Thomas Tucker was Governor of Idaho at the time. The Vice President, Douglas Reigeluth, known as Bingo, had his eye fixed on the top job.
A program is developed for the President to mingle with ordinary Americans. The press is cynical. Unfortunately every candidate for the program has to be screened and something gets by the screeners.
With a fall-out shelter rigged to carry the Oval Office, (referred as the Oval in Buckley's book), well below the earth's surface and official secrecy so important that one travels from Washington D.C. to Cuba by way of Bangor, Maine, the book is a hoot.
The head advance man is so obnoxious that the Tucker organization carries a form letter attempting to excuse his gyrations. A High Seas Summit with Fidel Castro is arranged. It is necessry to cancel the advance man's plans to spray the top officials of Cuba with germicide to protect the President from acquiring Dengue Fever.
After three years Wadlough has lost influence and his access to the President is terminated. He begins to serve the First Lady until he is recalled to favor.
The jockeying for position by persons surrounding the executive office holder is described with much color and verve. It is very funny and probably contains a good deal of truth.
Rating:  -
Having read "No Way to Treat A First Lady" I had to read another Christopher Buckley and while "The White House Mess" is not quite the same entertainment, I was not disappointed.
Buckley is happy to poke fun at politicians and White House staffers. The pompouse self imporant members of staff are ridiculed constantly be it due to their addictions, predilictions or luxury yachts. Meanwhile POTUS himself is portrayed as a man of Clintonesque nature and warmth but not so hot in the speech writing department.
It's all too believable; from the Secret Services Hunt for the First hamster to the covert missions to Havana the reader will identify with more than one administration. It will have you laughing out loud on more than one occasion and is worth the read.
Rating: -
Here is another great and funny book from Mr. Buckley.
Are these real life situations or just possibilities ?
Just like his father, Christopher finds the right tone and the right sense of humor to make fun of our politicians.
Mr. Buckley please keep writing and amuse us. We need it in today's political environment.
Great book , and as always very well written.
Rating:  -
"Thank You For Smoking" is still Christopher Buckley's best effort to date. But if you want to know where to go *next*, I suggest this lesser-known volume rather than "Little Green Men" or "Wry Martinis." "Mess" has a psychic feel to it - written during the days of the Reagan Administration, it could just about pass as a roman-a-clef by a Clinton cabinet member.
Rating: -
The White House Mess is both a hilarious political satire and an amazingly accurate portrait of the first Clinton Administration. Sure, the names have been changed but anyone who followed politics over the course of the '90s will recognize the characters. Thomas N. Tucker is a so-called "Moderate Democrat" who, after a few terms as Governor of a small Republican state (Idaho, in this case), is elected President over Republican George H.W. Bush. Tucker comes to Washington with a fiercely independent wife and a staff that is an uneasy mix of cynical insiders and idealistically niave (read: stupid) campaign aides with little actual practical experience. Over the course of the next four years, Tucker finds himself embroiled in a sex scandal, has to deal with his idiot brother, fails to establish any firm policy beyond what the polls say he should do, and -- as his Presidency comes to a close -- manages to embroil American soldiers in a futile military campaign. There it is, the Clinton Administration in a nutshell. Of course, what's truly amazing isn't that Buckley managed to write a memoir of the Clinton Presidency but that Buckley did so in 1987 -- five years before anyone outside of Arkansas even knew who Bill Clinton was and certainly before anyone expected this guy to be President. (Of course, what's really funny is that when the book first came out, many critics sniped that Buckley's satire was too outrageous and had no basis in reality.)
Unfairly or not, Clinton hangs over Buckley's satire and, what originally might have seemed as a simple farce, is now tinged with a certain bittersweet feel. You still laugh but its no longer a what-will-he-say-next laugh as much as its a laugh of I-Can't-Believe-This-Actually-Happened. By that same regard, when the book first came out, one of the funniest parts dealt with the difficulty of getting a senile Ronald Reagan to leave the Oval Office following Tucker's inaguration. As funny and well-written as this scene is, its no longer quite as funny with the knowledge that Reagan is -- in real life -- suffering from the late stages of Alzheimer's.
However, these are all minor quibbles and they shouldn't take away from what is one of the funniest, unsung political satires of the previous century. Buckley disguises his book as the political memoir of former Tucker aide Herbert Wadlough. Wadlough, a stuffy, pompous, but well-meaning Englishman, comes across as something of a poor man's Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. and Buckley perfectly captures the man's moralistic yet clueless voice. As well, anyone who has read any of the recent memoirs by various Reagan and Clinton administration veterans will be amused as Wadlough continually tries to overhype his importance and present himself as something other than a rather minor cog in the government. Admitedly, its probably easier to enjoy this book if you're a conservative -- most of Buckley's barbs are reserved for the less-than-worldly liberals who surround Tucker. However, Buckley is hardly a partisan when it comes to throwing his punches. The Republican Party takes it share number of shots. Buckley is truly a bipartisan ridiculer but writes with such good-natured wit and skill that its hard to imagine any sensible person (no matter what their political alignment taking offense). This is a truly hilarious book and a must read for anyone with an interest in politics or a need for a good laugh.
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