Customer Reviews

A Heckuva Job: More of the Bush Administration in Rhyme

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The president's a perfect foil
For author Calvin Trillin.
The nation's in a big turmoil
Thanks to our dimwit villain.

But to the rescue comes "C. T."
Who sheds some light on "Dub-ya".
Each page evokes a firm "teehee"
And will the right way rub ya.

His commentary lights upon
Those Bushies lacking shtick.
There's Mushroom Cloud and Orange John
And Five Deferments Dick.

Yet our commander is the one
That Trillin writes the most of.
It could be said that when he's done
The president's made toast of.

I highly recommend this work
For wit that's nicely offered.
And in '09 that White House jerk
Is goin' home to Crawford.

In A HECKUVA JOB Calvin Trillin continues his rhymed assessments of the current Bush administration that he began in OBLIVIOUSLY ON HE SAILS. His title is obvious to anyone who owned a radio or television set during the Katrina debacle. For the two Americans who missed Bush's comment, he informed FEMA Chief Michael Brown that he was doing a "heckuva job" as some New Orleans citizens were stranded on housetops as they held signs begging for help while others lay floating in the waters caused by Katrina. All the usual suspects are back; actually most of them never went away although the country did lose Paul Wolfowitz to the World Bank and John Ashcroft and a couple of others resigned as Mr. Bush began the second four years of his reign. Mr. Trillin takes aim at Mushroom Cloud Rice and Five Deferments Dick-- or if you prefer-- Nanny Dick-- as well as a host of other Bush accomplices.

Here are some of Mr Trillin's gems: About Cheney's statements of Iraq's role in 9/11; "If you say it enough, then it's true." About Bush's current abysmal approval rating: "But those pols don't have Jesus on their side." Condoleezza Rice is described as "cold as ice," but "precise with her advice." George Bush may be remembered by historians as "the Great Conflater." And Trillin on Colin Powell: "It's sad to see, as we remember when/Some thought he was the president-elect to be,/How easily is done a Colinectomy." The most devastating "poem" by far has to be "A Short History Of Someone Who Failed To Get Into The Champagne Unit of The Texas Air National Guard In 1958."

Historians may not recall
My name, now chiseled on that wall.
Still, they might say I played a role
By going on that last patrol
And not returning to my base:
I might have died in Bush's place

There are a lot of other rhymes here of course, but that one stops me in my tracks. Many of them explode upon impact. Sadly Trillin has found out that he could not bring down a presidency "with iambic pentameter." At least not yet.

A Heckuva Job Writing A Heckuva A Book! If you want a political satire that will make you laugh, this is the one. Using rhyme to state the obvious that the powers that be haven't a clue what is really going on, just note Katrina and other disasters if you want a clue. The President had to finally go down to New Orleans to make a public show.

The rhythm of the rhyme is hysterically funny, using many of the Bush Admin's people as caricatures. This is a witty (yet powerful prose) style book that will help you laugh at the dire situation this administration has placed our country. It's better to laugh than cry, but taking action in both is best and that's what this author begins to do by cutting in and placing truth in the rhymes.

In historian circles Mr. George W. Bush has presented a situation which will be long debated in the annals of American Presidential history. This topic is in fact: Is or was President George W. Bush the WORST President the United States of America has ever had?

Prior to President G. W. Bush it has long been felt that while there are several contenders, President Warren G. Harding seems to win the prize for the WORST President in American history. In just 6 long years, President George W. Bush has put historians in a quandary. After all, Harding's failures and messes such as "Tea Pot Dome" and others seem to pale in comparison to the incredibly poor decisions and amazing cronyism displayed by President George W. Bush.

Calvin Trillin puts all this into rhyming verse in this book. In 11 short poetic chapters, Mr. Trillin introduces humor into an otherwise abhorrent situation. Titles of his chapters such as these are particularly humorous:

The War In Nine Stanzas
Don't Change Scaremongers In The Middle Of The Stream
In The Court Of George II, Cowboy Monarch
A Plague In Both Their Houses
Two Crooners Deny Having Misled The Country Into War

And several others, Trillin makes humor, but not light, of President Bush and his administration. Such rhyming couplets as the following run all through the book and offer great respite from the actual news of these events:

"He believes, from what we can construe,
If you say it enough, then it's true."

These brilliant little poetic commentaries are truly a wondrous relief, if only for a few hours, from the reality of this Presidency. The book is recommended for all people who vote. Those who fail to vote perhaps do not matter. For in a Democracy, it is only those who vote that have a real voice. For great political satire in poetry, this book is very highly recommended.

Oddly enough," Obliviously On He Sails," Calvin Trillin's 2004 best seller, failed to drive our American President George W. Bush from the White House. So, somehow, did Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911." What are we to make of this? Well, Trillin says, "We weren't to know whether you could bring down a presidency with iambic pentameter until somebody tried it."

But Trillin doesn't give up so easily once he's got his teeth into somebody. He imagines Condoleeza (Mushroom Cloud) Rice, explaining her silver bullet theory to the 911 Commission:

Because no silver bullet could have stopped
This horrifying deed from being done,
We cannot blame those dozing on the job
For never even loading up the gun...

Or, "On the revelation that Dick Cheney requires the television to be preset to Fox News in any Hotel Room he is about to Occupy"

The Networks give Bush knocks or mocks.
They paint him stubborn as an ox
And clever as a box of rocks.
So set the channel, please, to Fox.

Some commentators on the box
Like making us the laughingstocks.
Upon foul PBS a pox!
Just set the channel, please, to Fox.

That CNN will broadcast crocks
on Arabs managing our docks
And deaths in wars and other shocks.
Now set the channel, please, to Fox.

For me the news that really rocks
Confirms beliefs held by our flocks.
My mind remains quite closed, with locks.
So set the channel, please, to Fox."

Life being what it is, I doubt that even this further book of iambic pentameters will force W from the White House; but meanwhile, Trillin sure has fun in the trying. So may you, in the reading.

Trillin cuts through the crap and nails this admin for the what it is! Never "preachy" just lots of facts and things the press were to worried to print for fear of Bush & Company.The press gave Bushy a pass, but not Trillin!

Calvin Trillin has a talent for satirical political humor that is unique. His ability to frame the painfully obvious in a way that surprises and amuses you is wonderful. In addition to being continually interested and amused, delightfully you find yourself laughing out loud unexpectedly at points throughout. This is one of a series (or maybe a better word is a set because they do not build on each other) of books about the current political environment. They are so worth the read. You can read one or all. Either way, you will enjoy. Check out these other two similar items by Mr. Trillin. Deciding the Next Decider: The 2008 Presidential Race in RhymeObliviously On He Sails: The Bush Administration in RhymeYou will note that not everything is about Bush. However the Bush stuff is hysterical.

This is hilarious - the writer is able to laugh at every side of the issues and people.

CALVIN TRILLIN DOES SUPER WORD PICKS TO SATIRICALLY HANDLE THE PRESENTM POLITICAL SCENE(S).

This is a book to read aloud at a party with lots of wine and cheese or gin and tonic. Either way it's a guaranteed laughathon!