Fending off a chorus of interventionists early in his administration, Obama ordered up a secret report cataloguing past American foreign policy misadventures that left a legacy of blowback, botched coups, and anarchy. Landler reminds us that governing is deadly serious, that the craft of politics, like the art diplomacy, requires sober calculation beyond impulsive ranting. Alter Egos Alter Egos, by New York Times White House correspondent Mark Landler , offers a reassuring counterpoint to the naked populism of Donald Trump. And an alternative to the rigidly ideological approach to the Middle East embraced so reflexively by Stephen Harper’s Canada in recent years. At a time when the course of American politics seems ever more coarse, with reality television channelling our political discourse, Landler offers us an alternate reality — a glimpse into the real situation room, quite unlike the faux Situation Room hosted daily by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

Source: thestar August 20, 2016 09:00 UTC