Ten Minutes from Normal Author:Karen Hughes, Karen Hughes Robert Hughes "The rule of thumb in any White House is that nobody is indispensable except the president," said The New York Times, "but Karen Hughes has come as close to that description as any recent presidential aide." Karen Hughes has worked beside President George W. Bush since, as she says, "the motorcade was only one car and he was sometimes the one dr... more »iving it." As counselor to the president, she brought the working mom’s perspective to the White House, often asking of President Bush’s policies, "What does this mean for the average person?"
Yet the move from Texas to Washington was hard on her family, and in a controversial, headline-making decision that reverberated across America, she summoned the courage to say, "Mr. President, I love you, but I need to move my family home to Texas." There, Hughes continues to advise the president, where the kitchen wall calendar marks the State of the Union message side by side with her son’s orthodontist appointments.
Reading Ten Minutes from Normal - the title comes from the campaign trail - one is instantly absorbed in what it’s like to be a "normal" person who goes to work at the White House as a part of the president’s inner circle. Told in Karen Hughes’s disarmingly down-to-earth, warm, often funny, and frank voice, the book is a remarkable blend of an ordinary woman’s life, with all its compromises and everyday decisions, and a keenly insightful look at American politics and America’s forty-third president.
This is a book for the legions of women and men everywhere who are seeking new inspiration for how to reorder their priorities and achieve balance in their lives. Most important, in a post-9/11 world, Hughes redefines the very notion of what is "normal" as something special and precious, never to be taken for granted in America again.« less
Karen Hughes traveled with President Bush and during campaigns and decided to write a book about the experiences she had during those years. It is a delightful and fun to read book about things that happen on that trail, good, bad, funny or intense. Enjoyable reading.
An easy read. Detailed the inner workings of the Bush administration but it could be any administration. It's a busy life in the White House. Glad I read the book.
Hughes, who surprised the political world by leaving her post as counselor to President Bush in July 2002, to pursue a more normal family life in Texas, here offers a relentlessly upbeat account of life as Bushs chief communications strategist. Hughes begins by detailing her upbringing as an army brat, her career as a TV reporter in Texas and her entry into politics as a press officer for the 1984 Reagan presidential campaign. The heart of the story is her relationship with Bush ("my boss"), whom she has served since his 1994 campaign for governor of Texas. Hughes praises Bushs "laser-like" mind, humble spirit and moral courage; she also praises almost everyone else in the administration, including political strategist Karl Rove, with whom she was reported to have frequently sparred. And not surprisingly for a famously disciplined, on-message spokesperson, she directs her most pointed barbs at those who leak information to the press. While Hughes doesnt offer a balanced take on Bush and company, then, she does offer something equally tantalizinga deep insiders take on what it is like to work at the side of the most powerful man in the world. She also provides Bush fans with a well-crafted, robust paean to the president. And both these reasons are why this book has found a place on major national bestseller lists.
