His male staff must only wear blue or grey suits and women should avoid bright colours. His aides must not drink, swear, smoke or eat food late at night. His staff's attendance at Bible study is 'not quite uncompulsory'. He’s obsessed with turning off lights to save electricity he has a poor memory for facts. He's confused, impatient, moody, evangelical, short-tempered, uncurious, forgetful, glib... And President of the United States
George Bush is bad-tempered, ignorant and desperate for approval from his mother, according to an extraordinary new book. His former speechwriter David Frum, a Canadian right-winger who coined the infamous phrase "axis of evil", paints a disturbing picture of a president and his White House. And in curious parallels with his arch enemy Saddam Hussein, the world's most powerful man comes across as confused, tightly wound, prone to mood swings and obsessed with petty detail."He is often uncurious and as a result ill-informed," says Frum, whose description of Iraq, Iran and North Korea set the administration agenda after September 11.
And he discloses: "Bush had a poor memory for facts and figures."
The book - The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush - is the first insider account of the Bush regime and reveals how the White House is run on strict, almost military lines, a so-called "culture of evangelism".
When Frum joined the president's staff he discovered "this was a White House where attendance at Bible study was, if not compulsory, not quite uncompulsory".
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