John Dickerson

John Dickerson is a CBS senior national correspondent and Chief Political Analyst. He is also a Contributing Writer to The Atlantic and is co-host of the Slate Political Gabfest.

Presidential Time

Reading President Obama’s book A Promised Land, I keep coming across passages that I wish I could drop into The Hardest Job in the World.

Here is Obama’s passage on the mystery of his own schedule:

Obama on the presidential schedule

Here is what I wrote about the presidential schedule when I was trying to help readers understand the job from a human perspective and capture how out of your own control your life is:

Dickerson on presidential schedule

President Obama wrote this about the Secret Service:

Dickerson Secret Service

I just got a copy of the book and found this on the back cover:

Obama and Washington Monument

Which– in a book about promise– tracks with this imagined scene in my introduction of a fictional president:

THJ Washington Monument

If you’re viewing the Washington Monument from the White House the sun doesn’t actually rise behind it (you have to walk about 500 yards south; this must have been stuck in my head.). What I meant was that the sun rises…the day begins.

2 thoughts on “Presidential Time”

  1. I am patiently waiting for his memoir to arrive in my mailbox. I think it’s a testament to your skills as a writer and scholar if “The Hardest Job In The World” is drawing clear parallels to a recently released presidential memoir.

    1. Agreed, and I really enjoyed John’s book. It provided some optimism in the run up to the election that the institution is strong and can survive the hard times as well, however overburdened it is.

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