Scott Kidder

Imagine, for a moment, that one of George W. Bush’s oldest friends—say, his Yale classmate Roland Betts—wants to reach him. How does he go about it? Here is roughly what might happen: Betts’s name is on a short list of known presidential friends. Betts may even know the direct number of the Oval Office suite, where he might get the president’s personal secretary, or the director of Oval Office operations, on the phone. She in turn might ask the advice of the president’s personal aide, known in Clinton White House parlance as “the butt boy.” If the president is not doing anything in particular, and the two aides agree that he might like to talk to his old friend, the call might be put through. Or they might take a number and arrange a callback, perhaps from the president’s limousine on his way to a public appearance. Getting in touch is almost never a one-step process.