The President's Therapist: And the Intervention to Treat Alcoholism of George W. Bush - Hardcover

Wareham, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1566499542 ISBN 13: 9781566499545

Publisher: Welcome Rain Publishers, 2008

Synopsis

PRESIDENT'S THERAPIST DISCLOSES SECRET OVAL OFFICE SESSIONS
Political thriller details George W. Bush relapse and treatment for alcoholism

Truth may be stranger than fiction, but the lines are blurred in THE PRESIDENT'S THERAPIST, a riveting, about-to-be released political thriller in which readers share an insider's portal into President George W. Bush's closet alcohol addiction, leadership travails, marital woes, and more, through the first-person account of the president's psychotherapist.

THE PRESIDENT'S THERAPIST by eminent leadership consultant John Wareham, delivers an eerily accurate portrayal of the 42nd president, as lead character psychotherapist Dr. Mark Alter attempts to help the failing president address his clandestine addiction to alcohol and reverse the course of the disastrous Iraq War. Along the way, Dr. Alter also engages in cathartic marriage counseling sessions with First Lady Laura Bush, and heated arguments with Vice President Dick Cheney and political strategist Karl Rove.

The novel's uncanny realism stems from Wareham's lifetime of experience as confidential counselor to corporate leaders, and his meticulous research into the psyche of George W. Bush. Through Dr. Alter, Wareham presents balanced, authentic insights into perhaps the most tragic president in modern times, and shows precisely how his presidency might have been rescued. THE PRESIDENT'S THERAPIST is a brilliantly original psychological journey, whose cliffhanger ending will satisfy mystery lovers, literary sophisticates, and political junkies from both sides of the aisle.

"The President's Therapist by John Wareham, a "what if" novel wrapped in layers of reality, offers an unnerving "case study" of alcoholism in the White House. We enter a series of psychological and forensic intelligence forays engendered by the US Secret Service along with a certain Dr. Mark Alter, leadership psychologist and wizard at "coaching" damaged CEOs into restoring their acumen and performance. In this case, however, the patient is none other than President George W. Bush. Wareham's 231-page book is a winner." -Jess Maghan / Christian Science Monitor.

About this title

From the Author:

It was telling for me, as author of The President's Therapist (and the secret intervention to treat the alcoholism of George W. Bush), that W's own memoir, Decision Points, opens with his avowal that not a drop of liquor passed his lips since 1986. Quite apart from the series of intemperate decisions that resulted in the needless loss of tens of thousands of lives--and the blackened eye that supposedly resulted from "falling off the couch while choking on a pretzel"--evidence to the contrary seems amply apparent in the shocking deterioration of his fluency over the course of his troubled presidency--see archive.org/details/BrainTenYrs) - until, finally, the slurring of words became a constant within his rambling, rambunctious public utterances. That said, Decision Points is an engaging, deftly written work that spins the GWB presidency with warmth, generosity and wit. A brilliant editor has struck a perfect tone, lacing the book with W's own words to showcase the folksy charm that can confect the W persona. I was intrigued, however, that W seems to remain in total in denial of the emotional damage inflicted by the neglect of his philandering father, and the cruelty--both verbal and physical--of his callous, sarcastic mother. He refuses, for his readers anyway, to connect the dots concerning his troubled upbringing, and insists that his personal journey--and obsession with toppling Saddam Hussein--was unrelated to unconscious Oedipal urges. The W presidency will nonetheless ultimately be judged by the patently perverse decision to commence a war with Iraq, the absence of WMD's, the wanton loss of American blood and treasure, and the legal sophistry and non-sequiturs that W inveighed to personally authorize torture. This is the part of the book that no ghost writer, however deft, can sanitize, excuse, or wipe away.  All in all, Decision Points is an exercise in psychological "undoing." W's editors offer up his good heart, good deeds, and good intentions, in the hope that the reader will fail to notice the whopping denials and delusions advanced to escape culpability for the heinous, cowardly acts that will forever stain the W presidency. It may work for some, but as poet Nathan Alter noted of W's second inaugural address:
 
Your words hang briefly in the air like chaff
but your lies will rise as your epitaph. 

About the Author:

JOHN WAREHAM is an eminent leadership consultant, lecturer, and writer. He has authored several bestsellers, including Secrets of a Corporate Headhunter, Anatomy of Great Executive, and the lifechanger, How to Break Out of Prison. His novel, Chancey On Top, was ranked in The New York Observer as among the best novels ever.

He has published widely, including articles and Op Ed pieces for the New York Times and the Financial Review.

In addition to his corporate work, he is founder and president of The Eagles Foundation, a not-for-profit dedicated to developing leaders from within the prison population. He makes his home in New York.

About this edition

• Publisher: Welcome Rain Publishers
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1566499542
• ISBN 13: 9781566499545
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 236