About this item
President Harry Truman famously called the White House the great white jail. One can scarcely imagine an environment outside the nation s penal system that is more isolating than the Executive Mansion, a habitat almost guaranteed to keep America s commander in chief far removed from everyday life. In fact, isolation is emerging as one of the most serious dilemmas facing the American presidency. In recent years, West Wing insiders have come up with a name for this syndrome. They call it the White House bubble. Life under these conditions is a basic theme of this book, along with ways out of it, including bus tours, pollsters, and an attentive first family. As presidents have become more isolated, the role of the presidential pollster has grown. Ken Walsh has been given exclusive access to the polls and confidential memos received by presidents over the years, and has interviewed presidential pollsters directly to gain their unique perspective.
About the Author
Kenneth T. Walsh is a prize-winning journalist who has covered the White House since 1986, including the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.
Walsh has won the most prestigious awards for White House coverage and is former president of the White House Correspondents' Association. He is Hurst professorial adjunct lecturer in communication at American University in Washington, D.C. and appears frequently on television and radio. He also is a popular speaker who gives talks around the country and on cruise ships. Walsh has written five books.
A native of New York City who spent nearly a decade as a reporter and editor in Denver, Walsh is married to Barclay Walsh and they live in Bethesda, Maryland. They have two children.
