Customer Reviews

White House Mess

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

Believe it or not, I managed to make it through this much of my life having never read a word by Christopher Buckley. This book was loaned to me by a friend, and I was a little skeptical about reading a political satire after coming off the past several months of "political cartoon overload."

The belly laughing had begun by paragraph 5 of the prologue, and I was unable to put this book down. I read the entire book in two sittings, and I have to say that I haven't laughed so hard or so well in a long, long time.

I was genuinely concerned that the book would be just another politics-driven piece of thinly disguised propoganda for one "side" or the other, but it was, instead, a refreshing and silly poke at government in general. In fact, I would go so far as to say that this book is a good poke at <i>people</i> in general.

I loved every page of <u>The White House Mess,</u> and I recommend it whole-heartedly to anyone looking for a good chuckle.

This book will be funny to anyone, but readers unfortunate enough to have read any memoirs of the "from the corridors of power" genre will be convulsed. Buckley writes from the perspective of a high-ranking aide to Reagan's fictional successor, President Tucker, jotting down a diary as self-important as his real-life counterparts (one subplot turns around the writer's attempt to keep his parking spot, which seems to be of equal importance as the rest of the nation's business put together).

Buckley is not just amusing, but often insightful. While the events of the book are absurd, the characters are often all too realistic. A must-read for Buckley fans, and highly recommended for anyone else.

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.

Perhaps the most hysterical book I have ever read. Buckley presents an uproarious picture of the most maladroit administration in ages -- I imagine a Democratic one so as to appease his conservative relation, William F. Anyone looking for a quick read and a memorable laugh, especially someone who is aware of politics, ought to read this book.

This book is still funny, although it is greatly overshadowed by Buckley's later books, Little Green Men and Thank You for Smoking, which are two of the most outlandishly hilarious novels ever written. As a memoir of an ill-fated, disaster-prone, fictional administration, it has its moments, and if you have read the two more recent books, I can still recommend this one, although it won't give you the belly laughs that Thank You for Smoking and Little Green Men did. If you've already read those two and are looking for something else by the same author, this one is still worthwhile.

Like the tobacco industry and the conspiracy obsessed alien abduction movement, Christopher Buckley has always picked targets that deserve ridicule for their pompous self-absorption and their lack of contact with reality. Those self-serving political memoirs that politicians write after leaving office or their jobs were a natural target for Buckley's poisoned pen. The White House Mess is a letter perfect parody of the fictional Thomas N. Tucker administration from the perspective of his Assistant, Herbert Wadlough.

Anyone who reads memoirs will recognize the usual things- the vivid remembrances of petty turf battles, self-serving recollections of conversations where they believe their input was the decisive factor, etc. Buckley tosses in a hilarious series of crisis for the Tucker Administration to wallow over, and equally inept administration officials to mock. The scary thing is that the Tucker Administration bears a striking resemblance to the first year of the Clinton Administration. Oddly prescient for a book written in 1986.

Fans of Christopher Buckley will not be disappointed.

The book's hook is that it's a parody of White House politics, where the status of the characters' relationships among one another is given more importance than the issues that are being governed over. Written before an Arkansas governor won the real presidency, it's narrated by a sidekick of the [obviously fictional] Democratic Idaho governor that went on to inherit the White house for a term. Buckley does a wonderful job of telling the story with sublety - the narrator is too dignified to admit his own wrongdoings while burying his peers, who have also all written their own memoirs doing the same thing. True to the title, the President's term is embroiled with controversy, ranging from a missing hamster to a poor decision to gas an uprising in the Bahamas. There's a sex scandal involving interns, a first brother that causes some grief, and strain in the bedroom of the first lady. Can you believe it was written before Reagan left office?
Recommended for anyone that can laugh at Presidential politics, political critics, or the pretensions of executive staff members.

"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.

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.