Hold On, Mr. President

Rating:
Summary: No real depth on Donaldson, some on the presidents
Review: For years, Sam Donaldson was the television network correspondent that most people considered the most obnoxious. And yet, he served a vital public function. By aggressively yelling hard questions to presidents Carter and Reagan, he occasionally forced them to answer and provide some information regarding what their policies were. Since I am a news and political junkie, I often saw him in action and there were times that I praised him for his aggressiveness and other times I thought he should just shut up.
This is his story in his own words and while he admits to some mistakes, there are no apologies for what he does. He cycles through his life, giving us some glimpses of his childhood, but nothing of great depth. The one true insight into his personal beliefs is when he reveals that he voted for Barry Goldwater in 1964. Furthermore, he still insists that Goldwater would have made an excellent president. Given the reputation that Goldwater has as an extremist that is quite a statement. Otherwise, Donaldson is emphatic that his past votes in presidential elections is a private affair. He mentions his vote for Goldwater only because he inadvertently mentioned it in another context so it is already part of the public record.
Given the secretive nature of the Bush White House and Donaldson's "retirement" from being ABC's White House correspondent, one can only speculate as to the level of friction there would have been if Donaldson were still covering the White House. I enjoyed this insight into Donaldson's career and some of the events in his professional life. There are some that are very funny, I never realized that Jimmy Carter had such a sense of humor, as he gets off a couple of real zingers at Donaldson's expense. There are also some insights into Ronald Reagan. Donaldson portrays him as a man who appears somewhat mentally disjointed at times, most likely the very early stages of Alzheimer's disease, but also as someone who was genuinely kind to others. It is clear that despite the adversarial professional relationship between them, he liked Reagan very much.

Rating:
Summary: Sam Being Sam
Review: "Hold On, Mr. President!" is a product of its time, the late 1980s, with Sam Donaldson offering a view from the press trenches on two presidents, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

The index to this book includes the following note, perhaps in jest: "There are three names mentioned too often in this book to index: Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and Sam Donaldson." And not necessarily in that order.

I had high hopes for this book. Donaldson was a character of television news when I was growing up, the late 70s and early 80s. Whereas other television newsmen offered various lighter shades of pale, Donaldson was a colorful bulldog, always ready to put the Leader of the Free World on the spot, whether the issue at hand was hostages in Iran or his wife's taste in china. Once Donaldson cornered Reagan when the president was a guest at an ABC function, grilling him about the latest embarrassing kafuffle at the White House. Network higher ups talked of firing him, but Reagan just chuckled: "Oh, that's alright, that's just the way Sam is."

That's from the first chapter, the best in the book. Donaldson analyzes his role and how he felt he served the causes of democracy and good television. He tells some funny stories, and makes some good points: "So when I cover the president, I try to remember two things: First, if you don't ask, you don't find out; and second, the questions don't do the damage. Only the answers do."

Donaldson was a good question-asker, too; not needlessly prosecutorial or opinionated like Helen Thomas, not pinheaded and trite like Chris Wallace or countless bottle-blondes. Donaldson had substance.

And ego, too. Boy, does that come across here. It could be a drinking game for a non-social drunk. Find two sentences in a row without the words "I," "me," or "Donaldson" in it, or else take a slug. Add the words "we" or "our" and you'd have an easier time climbing K2.

Another problem with this book is it's clearly not the work of a print journalist. There's little depth, even when the subject is the news business itself. That Harry Reasoner was a surly drinker who didn't put forward his best effort is great dish, but Donaldson doesn't do much more than throw that particular skunk out there and let the reader wonder. Jimmy Carter could be brusque, but he cared. Reagan is an amiable dunce, with some moments of clarity, but trapped by his own primitive ideology.

I found Donaldson's description of Reagan most interesting, not because I agree with it (I don't) but because it demonstrates the media mindset Reagan had to work through and around in securing the goals of his presidency, clearly the most successful one since FDR's. Donaldson takes Reagan to task for missing out on arms control agreements with the Soviets, noting that one such treaty would have left the U.S. with a decided advantage. But reading later Reagan bios like "Role Of A Lifetime" and "Dutch" demonstrates Reagan had vision where Donaldson and the rest wore bifocals. He didn't want to pass limits on nuclear weapons, he wanted to eliminate them, and the world's most dominant tyranny in the process. Donaldson shakes his head at Reagan's use of the term "evil empire," but 20 years later it is the majority view Reagan spoke the truth.

A shame this book fails to analyze the larger role of the media, including the ups and downs of covering stories that may be hot one day, ice-cold the next. Also, I've yet to read a good book on Frank Reynolds, ABC's sterling anchorman from the late '70s until his death in 1983. A better take of the Reagan White House's relationship with the press, in many ways more critical of Reagan but at least more probing, is Hendrik Smith's "The Power Game." Donaldson has some ideas about the future of the media, but they seem inseparable from Donaldson's career goals. He hardly deigns to notice, when discussing the future direction of presidential press coverage, the role of cable television, instead wondering aloud whether he might anchor the news himself. In fact, Donaldson may have been the cable revolution's Marie Antoinette, his style playing well for a 30-second soundbite in an evening news program but really fey and grating in the 24-hour news cycles of our post 9/11 world.

Big fizz, little belch. Well, it is about television after all.

Rating:
Summary: Funny, but drags
Review: Hold On, Mr. President is a chronicle of Sam Donaldson's years as a reporter until 1987. There is some coverage in the beginning of the book about how Donaldson got his start, which makes for interesting and sometimes amusing reading. The book focuses heavily on his time covering former presidents Carter and Reagen. Much of the information given about his time with Carter is hysterical. While a few funny quips are given over the Reagen administration, much focus is given to the apparent bumbling of Reagen's staff and Reagen's unwillingness to take control of things himself, resulting in many embarassing blunders by his adminstration. The latter part of the book sums up Donaldson's thoughts about network news, his plans for the future, and covers briefly his personal life (including two divorces).

Unfortunately, this book really bogs down after the first few chapters. The middle part of the book, until nearly the end, is a painfully detailed summary of many of Donaldson's experience covering the Washington Beat. Perhaps it was more immediate for the telling, and therefore more interesting, when the book was written in 1987. In the year 2002, it was simply too detailed to be anything but boring.

Still, this is a well written book, giving an insider's look at Washington, the presidency, and network news workings. Of considerable interest is Donaldson's descriptions of the early days of ABC.

Rating:
Summary: Funny, but drags
Review: Hold On, Mr. President is a chronicle of Sam Donaldson's years as a reporter until 1987. There is some coverage in the beginning of the book about how Donaldson got his start, which makes for interesting and sometimes amusing reading. The book focuses heavily on his time covering former presidents Carter and Reagen. Much of the information given about his time with Carter is hysterical. While a few funny quips are given over the Reagen administration, much focus is given to the apparent bumbling of Reagen's staff and Reagen's unwillingness to take control of things himself, resulting in many embarassing blunders by his adminstration. The latter part of the book sums up Donaldson's thoughts about network news, his plans for the future, and covers briefly his personal life (including two divorces).

Unfortunately, this book really bogs down after the first few chapters. The middle part of the book, until nearly the end, is a painfully detailed summary of many of Donaldson's experience covering the Washington Beat. Perhaps it was more immediate for the telling, and therefore more interesting, when the book was written in 1987. In the year 2002, it was simply too detailed to be anything but boring.

Still, this is a well written book, giving an insider's look at Washington, the presidency, and network news workings. Of considerable interest is Donaldson's descriptions of the early days of ABC.