Heres how Bob Woodwards new book, Plan of Attack (Simon & Schuster), introduces the reader to the President of the United States on page two—according to Woodwards usual practice, as if he were a character in a novel, as if we knew nothing about him:

Large and physical with a deep stare from small brown eyes, Bush, 55, has a quick, joshing manner which at times borders on the impulsive. Focused, direct, practical but not naturally articulate, he had been elected to his first political office as governor of Texas only nine years earlier, a novice thrust into the presidency.

In fact this last statement is a mistake on both counts. Bush had been elected governor seven years earlier, not nine, and he was, though not as experienced in government as most presidents, hardly a novice, having worked as a political adviser to his father during the first Bush administration.

But let that pass. W ...

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