For Love of Politics

 

For Love of Politics – Sally Bedell Smith

The presidency of Bill Clinton was unique in that, in many people’s judgement, the presidency was actually a co-presidency that was shared with wife Hillary. This never went over well with many people, regardless of whether or not they voted for the man. The main thesis of this book, though, is that Bill and Hillary were always a team, and they always accomplished quite a bit together. Although author Sally Bedell Smith acknowledges that they were successful in most of their endeavors, she doesn’t leave the reader with a strong affection for either of these individuals.  I wouldn’t call this book “mudslinging” by any means, but individuals who picked up this book with positive sentiments about Bill and/or Hillary are likely to be put off a bit.

This book mainly focuses on the eight years that the couple occupied 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. There’s a bit of background, but the focus here is how the two worked together during the Bill Clinton presidency.  This book does focus somewhat on the worldwide events that occurred from 1992 – 2000 that demand a president’s attention, but I never felt that this was really an in-depth look and the many issues that presidents deal with, yet rather how Bill and Hillary worked together through these events.  We read, for example, that during the first year or so of Bill’s presidency, Hillary comes across as a co-president as opposed to the First Lady, and most aren’t happy with this. The country simply wasn’t used to a FLOTUS propagating something serious such as universal healthcare. Realizing this, the couple wisely learn that it’s best if Hillary fades a bit into the background and does much of her work behind the scenes. This doesn’t really seem to bother them. As long as they can get their poll numbers back up, who really cares?

Hillary mostly comes across as a not-too-nice person, and most within the White House prefer to deal with her by not dealing with her. Many times, though, she seemed more of the “brains” between herself and her husband. “Brains” though, aren’t necessarily the main ingredient needed for a successful presidency. Personality, charisma, and charm tend to be what keep the populace polling high, and this is where Bill shines his best as opposed to Hillary. He seems to know how to woo and captivate an audience and we see this time and time again. How else could the man poll so high during the latter years of his second term when much of his Whitewater testimony revealed that he was basically a womanizing sleazebag?

And yes, there are plenty of Bill’s extramarital affairs covered in this book. Sometimes the reader wishes they owned a mainframe computer to keep track of all the names of the women the man was involved with during his political career. Of course, Monica Lewinski gets much of this book devoted to her escapades with the 42^nd president. We read about their trysts ad-nauseum.  So much so, that it can be quite the distraction while reading, yet one remembers the exact same thing to be true about the Clinton presidency itself. Nothing else going on in the world ever seemed to matter, nor was interesting as the stained blue dress. It seemed like that was all the public ever heard about while watching the news.  In fact, whenever there was some sort of worldly crisis, critics and skeptics couldn’t help but wonder if the event was ever as newsworthy as the White House made it out to be, or if the Clintons were simply trying to divert attention away from the tabloid goings on.

Strangely, all of Bill’s infidelities never seemed to bother Hillary as much as it should have. You almost got the impression that she simply accepted these frivolities as part of her husband’s character, and she seemed resigned to not caring what her husband did as long as he didn’t get caught. She always seemed more concerned about how his behavior affected her future political career as opposed to any damage that might occur to herself or her family.

Once the Lewinsky affair and impeachment is mostly behind them, the two then focus on propelling Hillary’s next political move - a run for Senator of the state of New York. Sadly, this drains focus (and a lot of money) away from Al Gore who is now trying to become the next president. Sadly, Gore knows he has to distance himself from Clinton in order to become the next president, but Bill and Hillary don’t make things easy when they seem to devote so much time to her campaign as opposed to his.  You almost get the feeling that Bill and Hillary know that if they make the right moves, they will be back in the White House, which is what the two of them covet more than anything.  Plus, if Gore does get elected, it will be harder for Hillary to run a successful campaign in 2004, so Al Gore seems to get the “expendable” treatment. Since the Gore-Bush election was so close, you have to wonder if Al Gore could have prevailed had Bill and Hillary not been so self-centered. So, yeah, according to the author, Al Gore definitely was dealt the short straw, and one has to wonder how different things would have been had Bill learned to keep his pants zipped up.

The author seems to spend a lot of time talking about frivolous things; such as the many different outfits and hairstyles Hillary wears and has during the eight years. Maybe, some people care about such things. It’s also probably more of a “woman” thing. We also read an awful lot about Bill’s troubled golf game. It seems that, next to marital infidelities, golf is his secondary hobby. He isn’t very good at this hobby, though, and we’re constantly reading about how he fudges his golf score and scowls at anyone who suggests that this practice might be unfair. These little sidebars seem a tad unnecessary, but I guess they do help the reader understand the two main players a bit better.

So this was not a happy book. One gets the impression that history won’t look as favorably on Bill Clinton’s presidency as one might expect based on his poll numbers. This book was a rather sad tale of husband and wife who would do just about anything, including many things immoral and unethical, to get the coveted prize of the U.S. presidency.

NOTE: This book was written in 2007, long before Hillary ran against Donald Trump in 2016. In many ways, one could argue that Hillary lost that election partly because she simply wasn’t very likable, and one can’t help wonder that if she and her husband behaved a tad bit differently twenty years earlier, if history would have gone in a different direction. It definitely takes a unique person to lose an election against a narcissistic idiot like Donald Trump.

Revolution: The History of England from the Battle of the Boyne to the Battle of Waterloo

 

Revolution: The History of England from the Battle of the Boyne to the Battle of Waterloo by Peter Ackroyd

The fourth installment of Peter Ackroyd’s meticulous account of the history of England. This book takes place from about 1689 to around 1815; or as the subtitle states: From the Battle of the Boyne to the Battle of Waterloo.  As magnificent as Ackroyd’s writing is, this book was a bit of a letdown compared to the first three volumes. The main reason is that there isn’t nearly enough history here, and the book focuses too much on the culture during the time period.  I guess this is o.k. if that is what the reader is wanting, and Ackroyd has included these diversions in his other volumes.  The ratio here, though, seemed high at about 50/50. For a lover of history such as myself, one felt a bit underwhelmed.

My speculation is that once Ackroyd decided on how many volumes he would need (there would eventually be six), he then had to figure where to make his breaks in each book. How do you divide six historical accounts and have them fairly similar in length?  Not surprisingly, the later the time period, the less overall time is covered.  My guess is because, as we progress through the years, we have much more historical recordings of what actually occurred. You would have thought there would have been tons of historical stuff during the timeframe where the events of this book takes place, but that didn’t really seem to be the case here.

Yes, the main historical figures and events are covered here, but I would have liked more. For example, the American Revolution seems almost a sidebar, and I had always considered it one of the most significant episodes of history. There simply isn’t a ton of page space devoted to it in this book. I suppose this might have something to do with the fact that I am an American, and my education of the American revolution has always been studied from the viewpoint of the rebellious colonialists. Since Ackroyd is English, maybe the sentiments he puts forward is more reflective of how Mother England perceives the conflict?  In short, the author portrays the adversaries that now resided in North America as more of an annoyance than any sort of serious threat, so the English didn’t feel they needed to spend too much time and money with keeping America under its mighty wing.  They have other problems and adversaries that demand much more attention, such as the French.

Ah. The French.  There’s an awful lot of conflict here between England and France, and at this point in history, this had pretty much always been the case. So we read much more about the battles and travails between these two nations; including Napoleon Bonaparte. Bonaparte gets an awful lot of attention devoted to him here, even though he isn’t English. Ackroyd’s feeling (as shared by most) is that Bonaparte’s influence and comings and goings were radically important to the entire continent of Europe, so much of his exploits are featured here including his famous defeat at Waterloo. This was great reading, so no complaints here. Since this event culminating in 1815, I must again address the fact that almost nothing is featured here about the second conflict with America – the War of 1812. Again, maybe England just looked at this as a minor inconvenience, and the “real” history of England demands more focus elsewhere.

Speaking of “complaints”, as I mentioned, there’s too much of the “culture” of England in this book for my taste. What gets an abnormal amount of focus here is the literature, poetry, plays, and styles of journalism. At times I felt I was reading a book about literature and not history. I confess I skimmed much of these chapters. Perhaps other readers enjoyed these huge chunks of “non” history, and Ackroyd is, in fact, a great writer.

So a bit disappointed with this one. It will be interesting to see how the next two works are presented in terms of content. I’m hoping more history and less reflections of theatre productions during the time period.

The Finish: The Killing of Osama Bin Laden

 

The Finish: The Killing of Osama Bin Laden by Mark Bowden

Mark Bowden is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers of recent history.  Many of his books have focused on many of the key world events during recent times such as the Iran Hostage Crisis and the pivotal battles of Viet Nam.  This book did not disappoint.  It’s a rather brief (300 pages or so) account of the key players in the hunt for Osama Bin Laden post 9/11, and how the United States was able to eliminate the deranged Middle Eastern lunatic.

My guess is that most people had probably never heard of Osama Bin Laden before 9/11.  I’ve found that most citizens don’t pay attention to world events (or even local events) until tragedy ensues which causes the masses to suddenly pay attention. Due to the catastrophe of the events of September 11, 2001, it was no surprise how united the United States quickly became, and cries for justice and revenge had never been quite so passionate.  All of the sudden, Osama Bin Laden was in the metaphorical crosshairs of just about every U.S. citizen.

One of the reasons I enjoyed this book so thoroughly is that the author wisely focuses on many different things and he never goes into too much detail about any aspect in particular.  He spends a reasonable amount of time talking about the events of the tragic day, a history of who Bin Laden was, the politics in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, and how the United States intelligence team works and ultimately prevailed.  I found it very refreshing that the author did not give a highly technical, play-by-play, account of the actual raid.  Many books tend to do this, and I’m not the reader that enjoys such details.  The actual “killing” of Bin Laden via said raid only takes place over about two or three pages. Such “action” is welcome in feature films, but it’s hard to replicate the tension, action, and anxiety when reading about such events on the printed page.

What I have discovered is that the majority of people who did not like this book are the same people who don’t like President Barrack Obama.  I say this because Obama is a key player in this book. The author mostly paints the former president in a glowing light, yet I never found his sentiments biased. Obama realizes that, once he takes office, the criminal mastermind still hasn’t been found, and even though Bin Laden’s news presence had waned considerably over the years, the president makes it a key point to keep the clandestine hunt a main priority.  So, yes, Obama comes off as “presidential” in this book but….well… haters are always going to hate.

This book could have easily been twice the length, but the author wisely realizes he doesn’t need too much detail and too much page space to tell a gripping tale.  He succeeds here. This is a great book for anyone remotely interested in Bin Laden, the tragedy he caused, and the eventual justice that the United States of America was able to orchestrate.