Bill Clinton: Mastering the Presidency

Bill Clinton

Mastering the Presidency

Overall, I thought this was a good book. The only problems I had with it was Nigel Hamilton's belief in every single reported dalliance of Clinton's -- including the Trooper-gate episode -- and his portrayal of Hillary Clinton as a raving bitch.

The sub-title of this book says it all: Mastering the Presidency. It's the story of Bill Clinton's disastrous first year in office and how he finally pulled it out in time for the '96 election.

Hamilton covers all the ups and downs of Clinton's first term in office: The budget showdown, Gingrich's foibles, etc. And he reminded me of how seriously Clinton took terrorism:

"We ought to have the technology available to our law enforcement officials to keep up with these terrorists that move around in a hurry, and they're very sophisticated and very hard to catch. And we can do that without violating the civil liberties of the American people, without undermining the constitutional rights of criminal defendants..."

Yeah, that's what should have happened. Instead, we got Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib.

But, like I said, overall, I liked this book. It was a timely reminder of what a President should be.