So many of the men who have sought the presidency seem impelled by a desire to compensate for something missing in themselves. George H.W. Bush was missing nothing. Born to wealth and position, he gained more by his own efforts. He fought bravely in war, and excelled at sports, scholarship, and business. He’d made a sufficient fortune by age 40—but nothing like the vast accumulations that lead contemporary self-funders to turn to politics as if a governorship or senatorship were one more thing their money could buy. Instead, he seem inspired by a much older American idea: that once a man has enough, it’s indecent to seek more; that a man who has made a success of the first half of his life owes the second half to the service of his community, his state, and his country. …

George H.W. Bush would have led a finished and triumphant life if he had decided back in 1976 that he was satisfied to retire on his startling list of offices and appointments: member of Congress, ambassador to China, CIA director, Republican National Committee chair. Instead, he threw himself into the great Himalaya climb of modern presidential politics, campaigning relentlessly, fundraising tirelessly. Yet all his work only led to him back and back and back again to face the one continuing failure of his otherwise dazzling career: his inability to gain the trust of the activist base of his chosen political party.