Nicolas

Sawicky Critique of Second Chance The president of the United States of America has always been an important

position domestically. Although starting off with considerably less power then it holds today due to the fact that Americans feared a monarchy. The position soon grew as America grew. As pointed out by Zbigniew Brezinski, the position took on a whole new meaning after the fall of the Soviet Union. The world then looked to the President as the leader of the worlds only super power. As is commonly said, with great power comes great responsibility and the three presidencies that are covered in Second Chance show that in full detail. The book does a great job setting the stage for Americas reign as a super power, highlighting world events, showcasing presidential successes and failures, bringing unknown facts to light, and giving direction to the future of America. America was not the first country to become a world super power and will

most likely not be the last. The book opens up with a very broad history on global powers. You cannot help but notice some similarities between the old English empire and America today. The famous quote The sun never sets on the British Empire in some ways is true for the United States today (2). Although our nation does not own colonies across the world like the British once did, we do have military bases all over the world. Of course there is a lot more to being a super power than having troops all

across the world. Brezinski quickly summarizes the three goals of America in the

 role of a super power. These goals are push for a global system, prevent conflicts,

and act as a global conscience (6). The reader can then look back and the last two 15 years of America foreign policy and see if our nation has really lived up to those high ideals. This comparison to what we should do and what we actually do is a great lesson on politics in general. The book then takes a turn towards the actual presidencies that will be

covered. Brezinski then lays out some questions that the reader should keep in mind while reading about each president. Most notably being the question: did they leave the world in better or worse shape, and was the American position in the world stronger or weaker? (6). When given that question, many people would say our most recent former president, George W. Bush left the world is worse condition and America is now weaker based on the news. Thankfully Brezinski is a political insider and helps even the people with no experience in foreign policy, help to understand the events under the surface. It is important to note that you should not judge someone as being good or bad purely based on what others say, but should instead come to your own conclusion and what you find might be something other people never even thought of. Brezinski also makes an important conclusion on page 8. He makes it clear

that although this book is about presidential leadership on the world stage, it is ultimately about Americas performance as a global power (8). This is due to the fact that the actions by one man are viewed by the world as the all-encompassing will of our nation. When President Bush II tells the world that the war on terror will be a

 crusade, the millions of Muslims across the world believe that America in at war with Islam. It is for this reason, that when people vote for president of the united states, they have to realize they are voting for more than just a person who will lower taxes so you can afford Apples latest iPhone, but are choosing a person that represents you on the world stage and ultimately controls your destiny. When it comes to discussing multiple world events, it is nice to include a

timeline and a quick summary for people that may not be familiar with what is being discussed. Brezinski is accommodating and makes use of this timeline format on multiple occasions. The first time is when the book highlights the ten major developments in the world during the period of 1990-2006 (12). This layout helps prepare the reader for the events that will be covered throughout the book. I used this section to get myself up to speed with some of the lesser-known events so that I would have sufficient background knowledge for an alternate source. The timeline format is used again for each presidential section to help the reader gain a visual of world events and their order (48). This crash-course in history helps since the overall structure of the paper follows themes instead of going in chronological order. Brezinski seems to also have a sense of humor when it comes to history. After

handing the reader some boring information regarding each presidents cabinet members, he starts off the second chapter with a quick satirical story. The story goes:
Once upon a time on Planet Earth there was an Evil Empire seeking global domination. But when confronted by Ronald Reagan, the prince form the Republic of Freedom, the empire recoiled and before long, on December 26th, 1991, its blood-stained red flag was lowered from the towering


ramparts of the Kremlin castle. The Evil Empire had abjectly surrendered, and the Republic of Freedom lived happily ever after. (16)

Obviously that is not what happened, but it is unfortunately close to what many Americans believe to be true. I know from personal experience that people that are traditionally on the Republican side of the political spectrum tend to look at Reagan like the reincarnation of Captain America. By giving the reader that highly romanticized version of history, Brezinski wakes up the reader. After getting their attention, their mind is then reader to absorb the facts surrounding the collapse of the Soviet Union, the event that caused Americas to be the de facto super power in the first place. It is also important to understand the other players in the game you world

politics. The author does a great job spending some time on places like Europe, who for the most part are just our allies during the era of being a lone super power, but still play an important role in how we came to be in the position we are now in. For the first time Europe was becoming more like a united set of countries instead of a group of war loving nations (23). This marked off a whole continent as an area that could be considered peaceful and in-bed with the United States with an organization called NATO. Once the book finishes setting the stage for the three presidents that lead the

worlds sole super power, Brezinski opens with a bang. He provides the reader with two quotes. One quote from Gorbachev and one from president George H.W. Bush. What the author hopes you pull from these two quotes is the phrase a new world

 order (45). This is a great way to introduce a theme in Bush Is presidency. It also is a great way for the reader to get a look into how the former president thinks. Not just any writer can put together a book like Second Chance and expect it

to be well received. When is comes to things like politics and foreign policy, the best person to write about it is someone with practical experience. Without gloating, Brezinski will occasionally add a quick sentence about his personal experience with something he is discussing. Once example of this is during the discussion on Bush Is leadership and decision-making style. He is one that likes to be involved and usually keeps people like himself close. This is not always true though, and on one occasion Bush I even sought out help from Brezinski to help him get all the facts before making a decision (48). This not only gave another look into how Bush I operated, but gave some legitimacy to what Brezinski has been talking about. When reading about years of American foreign policy procedures, you are

bound to see some similarities with what we do today. One example that is currently a hot topic is giving billions of dollars of aid to countries so that they will be our friends (73). What astonishes me is that we as a nation have still not learned form our previous mistakes and continue to make them. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. After attempting to digest all that information, it was nice to have Brezinski

summarize it all in a few short sentences. In the case of Bush I, his biggest mistake was not something he did, but the things he failed to do (82). He did not go that

 extra mile, which is simple enough that most people can understand and it is even hard to fault him for that. Just like with the previous chapter, the chapter on Clinton opens up with

some quotes. These quotes focus on another keyword, globalization (83). That repeated phrase again gets the reader to enter the head of a new president and prepare to look at some events that he had to handle while being commander and chief. The transition from Bush I to Clinton is also eased with a helpful contrasting (86). This does drag on for a little too long and leaves the reader wanting to jump back into actual events and learn how Clinton handled them. Brezinski continues with the use of bullet points when he lays out three

points about global security. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, these three doors were opened (93). These points are further simplified with the use of illustrations like the map of Europe on page 107. Now the reader can better understand the formation of NATO and the EU overtime in a visual fashion. When the reader gets to the chapter on President George W. Bush, the quotes

you read are still fresh in your mind. As with the other opening quotes, you get a look into what kind of person Bush II is. Unfortunately one of the first things you gather from his quotes is that the man is a complete idiot. Of course these quotes and their meaning are still fresh in Americans minds and hindsight is 20/20. If things turned out differently, these quotes would be remembered for all time as the rallying cries of all Americans against the evil Islamic terrorists.

7 The viewpoint of the Bush II administration only gets worse. The quote from

one of his senior aides was eye-opening to say the least. He dismissed the reality- based community and instead insisted that as the lone super-power we make our own reality (137). This quote was meant as an attack on the academics of the world who look to past history and saw some disturbing things with the administration. The quote shows the readers that not only was Bush IIs administration wrong in many cases, they were also insane. One of the few cases where I wished that Brezinski had elaborated was when

he was discussing two of Bushs aides who seem to have an allegiance to Israel in his comments (139). I did some of my own research and discovered that both of them were Jewish and had a strong connection with Israel. These are the same men that then pushed for the invasion of Iraq as what I might conclude as payback for their missile attacks on Israel decades ago. I think many readers would have been intrigued to learn about this connection and could then come to their own conclusion after being given all the evidence. I for one am outraged that our own government could be influenced to invade another country so easily. As you can see, no presidency is alike. The outcome of a presidency is

decided on factors like the countries that are involved and the people in charge. With the global environment constantly changing, it is a presidents job to keep up with the changes so that they can ensure safety and prosperity to all of its citizens.