Living in Chicago, it would have been nearly impossible not to know the name Conrad Black. Even if I managed to miss his involvement with the Chicago Sun-Times, his internationally famous trial brought him into the local media’s attention. I read the news stories, most of them online, following the events of his trial in a diligent, though passing, manner, as a good mediaphile should. References were often made in these stories to his prolific body of writing. I was intrigued enough to search out and read some of these materials.
Whatever one’s opinion of the man’s business decisions, it is impossible to deny that Conrad Black is an impressively talented and accomplished writer. I now make a point to read his articles whenever he publishes. I would recommend that anyone who is confused about the current financial crisis gripping the United States read Ignorance and Upheaval. It is one of the most succinct descriptions I have read of how we ended up in this current economic quagmire.
In the course of following Mr. Black’s writing I came across one of his most recent essays, A ‘rather successful’ president with some serious achievements under his belt. In the piece Mr. Black does an excellent job of laying out the merits of our current president’s time in the White House. He points out that a “cataract of sniggering and brickbats may safely be expected as serious analysis of the presidency of George W. Bush begins, but it will not last: The historical standing of departing presidents tends to rise as emotionalism subsides.”
I find this particularly true, and there is a reason for it that might not be so obvious to all of us.
George Walker Bush is the first Internet Age president.
I can hear the protests already.
