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Playing President: My Close Ecounters with Nixon, Carter, Bush I, Reagan, and Clinton--and How They Did Not Prepare Me for George W. Bush
Robert Scheer's interviews with and profiles of US presidents have shaped journalism history. Scheer developed close journalistic relationships with Presidents Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and Bush I. His reporting on them had a tangible impact on national debate, such as the eminent 1976 Playboy interview in which Jimmy Carter, the then-presidential candidate, admitted to have lusted in his heart; and the 1980 interview with the L.A. Times , during which Bush I confessed to Scheer his dream of a "winnable nuclear war.”
In Playing President , Robert Scheer offers an unparalleled insight into the presidential mind. He analyses each administration since Nixon, and including George W. Bush, offering insights that will surprise the reader—particularly those with rigid preconceptions about the decision-making processes of our leaders. The volume will also include reprints of Scheer’s famous presidential interviews, along with previously unpublished interview transcripts and select previous writings.
Robert Scheer is the author of six books, including Thinking Tuna Fish , Talking Essays on the Pornography of Power ; With Enough Reagan, Bush and Nuclear War ; and America After The Age of Multinationals . Along with Christopher Scheer and Lakshmi Chaudhry, he is the coauthor of The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq (Seven Stories/Akashic). Scheer is currently a clinical professor of communications at the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California. He is a nationally syndicated columnist based at the Los Angeles Times , a contributing editor at the Nation , and a host of NPR-affiliate KCRW's Left, Right, and Center .
In Playing President , Robert Scheer offers an unparalleled insight into the presidential mind. He analyses each administration since Nixon, and including George W. Bush, offering insights that will surprise the reader—particularly those with rigid preconceptions about the decision-making processes of our leaders. The volume will also include reprints of Scheer’s famous presidential interviews, along with previously unpublished interview transcripts and select previous writings.
Robert Scheer is the author of six books, including Thinking Tuna Fish , Talking Essays on the Pornography of Power ; With Enough Reagan, Bush and Nuclear War ; and America After The Age of Multinationals . Along with Christopher Scheer and Lakshmi Chaudhry, he is the coauthor of The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq (Seven Stories/Akashic). Scheer is currently a clinical professor of communications at the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California. He is a nationally syndicated columnist based at the Los Angeles Times , a contributing editor at the Nation , and a host of NPR-affiliate KCRW's Left, Right, and Center .
300 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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About the author
Robert Scheer
52 books34 followersRobert Scheer is an American journalist who writes a column for Truthdig which is nationally syndicated in publications such as the San Francisco Chronicle and The Nation. He teaches communications as a professor at the University of Southern California and is Editor in Chief for the online magazine Truthdig.
Scheer was born to immigrant parents. His mother, a Russian Jew, and his father, a German, both worked in the garment industry. After graduating from City College of New York with a degree in economics, he studied as a fellow at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, and then did further economics graduate work at the Center for Chinese Studies at UC Berkeley. Scheer has also been a Poynter fellow at Yale University, and was a fellow in arms control at Stanford, the same post once held by Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.
While working at City Lights Books in San Francisco, Scheer co-authored the book, Cuba, an American tragedy (1964), with Maurice Zeitlin. Between 1964 and 1969, he served, variously, as the Vietnam correspondent, managing editor and editor-in-chief of Ramparts magazine. He reported from Cambodia, China, North Korea, Russia, Latin America and the Middle East (including the Six-Day War), as well as on national security matters in the United States. While in Cuba, where he interviewed Fidel Castro, Scheer obtained an introduction by the Cuban leader for the diary of Che Guevara — which Scheer had already obtained, with the assistance of French journalist Michele Ray, for publication in Ramparts and by Bantam Books.
During this period Scheer made a bid for elective office as one of the first anti-Vietnam War candidates. He challenged U.S. Representative Jeffrey Cohelan in the 1966 Democratic primary. Cohelan was a liberal, but like most Democratic officeholders at that time, he supported the Vietnam War. Scheer lost, but won over 45% of the vote (and carried Berkeley), a strong showing against an incumbent that demonstrated the rising strength of New Left Sixties radicalism.
In July 1970, Scheer accompanied as a journalist a Black Panther Party delegation, led by Eldridge Cleaver, to North Korea, China, and Vietnam. The delegation also contained people from the San Francisco Red Guard, the women's liberation movement, the Peace and Freedom Party, Newsreel, and the Movement for a Democratic Military. The purpose of the delegation was to "express solidarity with the struggles of the Koreans" and to "bring back to Babylon information about their communist society and their fight against U.S. imperialism," according to the Black Panthers' publication.
After several years freelancing for magazines, including New Times and Playboy, Scheer joined the Los Angeles Times in 1976 as a reporter. There he met Narda Zacchino, a reporter whom he later wed in the paper's news room. As a national correspondent for 17 years at the Times, he wrote articles and series on such diverse topics as the Soviet Union during glasnost, the Jews of Los Angeles, arms control, urban crises, national politics and the military, as well as covering several presidential elections. The Times entered Scheer's work for the Pulitzer Prize 11 times, and he was a finalist for the Pulitzer national reporting award for a series on the television industry.
After Scheer left the Times in 1993, the paper granted him a weekly op-ed column which ran every Tuesday for the next 12 years until it was canceled in 2005. The column now appears in the San Francisco Chronicle and is distributed nationally by Creators Syndicate. He is also a contributing editor for the Nation magazine.
Scheer can be heard weekly on the nationally syndicated political analysis radio program "Left, Right & Center" produced at KCRW in Santa Monica and syndicated by Public Radio International.
Scheer was born to immigrant parents. His mother, a Russian Jew, and his father, a German, both worked in the garment industry. After graduating from City College of New York with a degree in economics, he studied as a fellow at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, and then did further economics graduate work at the Center for Chinese Studies at UC Berkeley. Scheer has also been a Poynter fellow at Yale University, and was a fellow in arms control at Stanford, the same post once held by Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.
While working at City Lights Books in San Francisco, Scheer co-authored the book, Cuba, an American tragedy (1964), with Maurice Zeitlin. Between 1964 and 1969, he served, variously, as the Vietnam correspondent, managing editor and editor-in-chief of Ramparts magazine. He reported from Cambodia, China, North Korea, Russia, Latin America and the Middle East (including the Six-Day War), as well as on national security matters in the United States. While in Cuba, where he interviewed Fidel Castro, Scheer obtained an introduction by the Cuban leader for the diary of Che Guevara — which Scheer had already obtained, with the assistance of French journalist Michele Ray, for publication in Ramparts and by Bantam Books.
During this period Scheer made a bid for elective office as one of the first anti-Vietnam War candidates. He challenged U.S. Representative Jeffrey Cohelan in the 1966 Democratic primary. Cohelan was a liberal, but like most Democratic officeholders at that time, he supported the Vietnam War. Scheer lost, but won over 45% of the vote (and carried Berkeley), a strong showing against an incumbent that demonstrated the rising strength of New Left Sixties radicalism.
In July 1970, Scheer accompanied as a journalist a Black Panther Party delegation, led by Eldridge Cleaver, to North Korea, China, and Vietnam. The delegation also contained people from the San Francisco Red Guard, the women's liberation movement, the Peace and Freedom Party, Newsreel, and the Movement for a Democratic Military. The purpose of the delegation was to "express solidarity with the struggles of the Koreans" and to "bring back to Babylon information about their communist society and their fight against U.S. imperialism," according to the Black Panthers' publication.
After several years freelancing for magazines, including New Times and Playboy, Scheer joined the Los Angeles Times in 1976 as a reporter. There he met Narda Zacchino, a reporter whom he later wed in the paper's news room. As a national correspondent for 17 years at the Times, he wrote articles and series on such diverse topics as the Soviet Union during glasnost, the Jews of Los Angeles, arms control, urban crises, national politics and the military, as well as covering several presidential elections. The Times entered Scheer's work for the Pulitzer Prize 11 times, and he was a finalist for the Pulitzer national reporting award for a series on the television industry.
After Scheer left the Times in 1993, the paper granted him a weekly op-ed column which ran every Tuesday for the next 12 years until it was canceled in 2005. The column now appears in the San Francisco Chronicle and is distributed nationally by Creators Syndicate. He is also a contributing editor for the Nation magazine.
Scheer can be heard weekly on the nationally syndicated political analysis radio program "Left, Right & Center" produced at KCRW in Santa Monica and syndicated by Public Radio International.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 2, 2009
Robert Scheer has interviewed every president from Nixon through Bush with prescience and perspective, and shares his insights in this book compiled of interviews as well as commentary. The chapter most personally striking was the one in which years before Bush’s popularity ratings sank, Scheer questioned the efficacy and sense of policy paths being established. This is a fine overview of modern day presidencies.
March 15, 2021
An interesting retrospective on Presidents from Nixon thru GWB
Sheer is an unabashed idealogue. There's nothing wrong with that; nothing at all. He admits it up front. What's surprising, is that for an idealogue, he's reasonably even handed. His chapters on Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush I and Clinton were nuanced and revealing. The man hates GWB. I wonder if The fact that he actually spoke to The other Presidents enabled him to see them as humans and let him see THE as a caricature.
All the wrong on A was essentially how smart Scheer was and how stupid and ignorant W was.
Despite that, I enjoyed the book. Even as the last chapter made me unhappy. His writings reminded me of times last and I was grateful for the chance to reminisce.
Sheer is an unabashed idealogue. There's nothing wrong with that; nothing at all. He admits it up front. What's surprising, is that for an idealogue, he's reasonably even handed. His chapters on Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush I and Clinton were nuanced and revealing. The man hates GWB. I wonder if The fact that he actually spoke to The other Presidents enabled him to see them as humans and let him see THE as a caricature.
All the wrong on A was essentially how smart Scheer was and how stupid and ignorant W was.
Despite that, I enjoyed the book. Even as the last chapter made me unhappy. His writings reminded me of times last and I was grateful for the chance to reminisce.
December 24, 2022
Truly enjoyable, and a refreshingly balanced view of some previous presidents. The book also serves as an account of one man's evolution as a political journalist from a youthful gonzo-writer ala Hunter S. Thompson to a meditative opinion columnist at a major newspaper.
March 16, 2012
The author writes and is insightful, perceptive, fair, penetrating, liberal, pro immigration reform, pro racial and gender equality, pro gay rights, and anti pampering and subsidizing the banks, the oil companies and the 1%.
The book is divided into chapters covering US Presidents of the last fifty years, to the exclusion of Ford and Obama. Book was published in 2006.
Nixon, Reagan, Carter and Clinton complimented the author for thoroughness and fairness. The book includes extensive interviews and analyses.
Bush Sr tried to fire the author from a 30 year career in the LA Times and failed; the Chandlers were still around. George W., who never allowed the author an interview tried to fire the author and prevailed.
The book tries to walk away from political and historical stereotypes. Nixon is not just Watergate i.e. Nixon is brilliant. Clinton is not just Monica Lewinsky. i.e. Clinton is a good president, etc. George W was a disaster. He reduced a great power to a war that was totally misplaced. Iraq had nothing to do with 911 and nothing to do with WMD. A total waste of human and fiscal treasure. All in the name of chasing 'shadows' and taking care of his oil company friends.
Robert Scheer is no Oriana Fallaci, but I am a devotee just the same. I have heard him dozens of times in PBS 'Left, Right and Center' and in the LA Times Festival of Books....................
The book is divided into chapters covering US Presidents of the last fifty years, to the exclusion of Ford and Obama. Book was published in 2006.
Nixon, Reagan, Carter and Clinton complimented the author for thoroughness and fairness. The book includes extensive interviews and analyses.
Bush Sr tried to fire the author from a 30 year career in the LA Times and failed; the Chandlers were still around. George W., who never allowed the author an interview tried to fire the author and prevailed.
The book tries to walk away from political and historical stereotypes. Nixon is not just Watergate i.e. Nixon is brilliant. Clinton is not just Monica Lewinsky. i.e. Clinton is a good president, etc. George W was a disaster. He reduced a great power to a war that was totally misplaced. Iraq had nothing to do with 911 and nothing to do with WMD. A total waste of human and fiscal treasure. All in the name of chasing 'shadows' and taking care of his oil company friends.
Robert Scheer is no Oriana Fallaci, but I am a devotee just the same. I have heard him dozens of times in PBS 'Left, Right and Center' and in the LA Times Festival of Books....................
November 12, 2014
This is a collection of Scheer's interviews with and columns about presidents from Playboy and Los Angeles Times. Nixon & Reagan come across to me as wise and manipulative in the latter and gentler and more manipulated in the latter. More of a surprise to me as I recall a Reagan myth of goofy cowboy actor and drawing a straight line to senile befuddlement. Apparently, a shrewd operator acted betwixt. Nixon comes across more as Dubya to Kissinger's Karl Rove ... and who do we still have? Well, it is all thought-provoking these early, in-depth interviews with candidates campaigning for office. Carter squirming in his Playboy interview comes across as authentic and brave while Schneer commonly comes across as persnickety and needling. Clinton seems gracious to fawning and trying to get close to this left-wing scribe who seems coy and awed, both Bushes have the least revealing material and especially columns criticizing Bush (rightly in retrospect) for ignoring The Taliban, etc. seems to add nothing and only be here to move books.
May 5, 2017
An insightful, thought provoking collection of interviews and columns spanning the presidential terms of Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton and Bush I and II. Scheer interviewed all but Bush II - and I wonder if his assessment of 'W' would have been even more negative if he had interviewed him as well.
May 5, 2014
A compelling book that highlights the important events that occured during the administrations during Nixon, Cater, Bush I, Reagan, Clinton, and George W. Bush.
It is very straight-forward but also a series of unoffending interviews that hit the spot
It is very straight-forward but also a series of unoffending interviews that hit the spot
March 31, 2008
This book is by the journalist to whom Jimmy Carter confessed that he lusted in his heart. Basically, the book is an overview of Scheer's opinions of all the presidents from Nixon to G.W.Bush.
April 24, 2008
A compilation of interviews by Mr. Scheer (the pre-Fox News era). Good stuff. I liked it enough to subscribe to Truthdig, for which Mr. Scheer is a contributor.
April 18, 2011
Sort of skip read the book---perhaps it should have been studied more closely--by me!
June 15, 2013
One of the most boring books I have ever read!
Read
February 14, 2016Readable and enlightening. Trying his latest one, too, on Wall Street.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews