Disgraced Journalist Publishes Book on His Experience

From today's Fort Wayne News-Sentinel:


Ex-Bush aide's book shows power of faith, redemption
Goeglein covers plagiarism scandal and 9/11 in volume to be released this week

By Kevin Leininger
of The News-Sentinel

Tim Goeglein has written a book.

To those who somehow found perverse pleasure in the revelation three years ago that he had plagiarized portions of at least 27 columns published in The News-Sentinel – resulting in his abrupt resignation as a White House aide – those six words are sure to resurrect old snickers and sarcasm.

The 48-year-old Fort Wayne native knows that better than anyone, but is willing to endure it because he believes “Man in the Middle: an Inside Account of Faith and Politics in the George W. Bush Era” (B&H Publishing Group) contains important and timely truths about one man's redemption and an entire nation's soul.

The book's release this coming Thursday – just four days after the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks – is coincidental but perhaps also providential. The events of that day are prominent in the book, just as Goeglein, now a vice president with Focus on the Family, was prominent in shaping the administration's response in a way that foreshadowed the unexpected grace he would experience during his darkest hour seven years later.

As deputy director of the White House Office of Public Liaison, Goeglein was indeed Bush's “man in the middle” – “the reliable, loyal conduit for the president's agenda to the outside groups,” he writes – especially the Republican's conservative, religious base. Goeglein's contacts proved invaluable after 9/11, when he helped plan the prayer service at Washington's National Cathedral.

The resulting interfaith service, which featured not only Bush and Christian clerics but also Muslims, Hindus and members of other faiths, demonstrated national unity but also reaffirmed the intrinsically American notion that liberty is guaranteed not by government, but by God, he said.

In his first newspaper interview about the book, Goeglein said one of his goals was to share insights into how a president he clearly admired was guided by faith when dealing with profound issues such as stem-cell research, the appointment of two Supreme Court justices, and the terrorist attacks that claimed thousands of lives and continue to shape our domestic and foreign policies.

But Goeglein doesn't get around to 9/11 until the eighth chapter. He begins the 227-page book (after a brief prologue and a foreword by Bush political guru Karl Rove) by writing about his childhood and parents Stan and Shirley, who still live in Fort Wayne, and how he betrayed those he loved most by claiming other people's work as his own.

That lie began to unravel in 2008 when he opened an email from a reporter who wanted to know if the plagiarism rumor was true. “I knew instantly this would be the most impossible day of my life ... My only prayer was, ‘God help me,' ” he wrote. "Every one of the values I was raised by ... I had violated completely ... I resigned that afternoon, writing a personal letter of apology to the president ... (and) departed the White House, shattered and fearful.”

That fear only grew when he was unexpectedly called into the Oval Office a few days later – and was astonished to experience, perhaps as never before, the power of faith and forgiveness.

“I had embarrassed the most powerful man in the world, but he showed me remarkable mercy,” Goeglein told me. “He forgave me, and I was speechless.” As he wrote in the book, Bush's faith had helped him overcome his own demons, including alcohol, which caused the president to tell Goeglein: “I have known mercy and grace in my own life, and I am offering it to you now.”

A few days later, an apology session with News-Sentinel Editor Kerry Hubartt, turned into “yet another remarkable session of grace ... I asked for his forgiveness, which he offered unconditionally,” Goeglein wrote.

We all sin, even those who reveled in Goeglein's transgressions. But few of us have had to pay for them so openly, and fewer still have issued such a public confession.

But a power much higher than the president offers forgiveness all the time. As Goeglein writes, the knowledge that God does not give believers what they truly deserve ought to induce a deep sense of humility and gratitude.

And so he was saddened and alarmed by reports that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will exclude clergy from some high-profile memorial events this weekend – perhaps some of the same religious leaders he and Bush were so eager to include after 9/11, and represent the kind of grace and forgiveness that can comfort, strengthen and transform individuals and nations alike.

“Decline is a choice, but I believe America's best days are still ahead,” Goeglein said. “This is a religious republic, and you can't understand America if you don't understand that.”

The book – "I did write it," Goeglein said – aims to make certain you do.
This column is the commentary of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of The News-Sentinel. Email Kevin Leininger at kleininger@news-sentinel.com, or call him at 461-8355.