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The Clinton Wars
An invaluable history of an extraordinary presidency, and the chronicle of a generation’s political odyssey.
When in 1997 Bill Clinton appointed Sidney Blumenthal as a senior advisor, the former writer was catapulted into the front lines of the Clinton wars. From his first day in the White House until long after his appearance as the only presidential aide ever to testify in an impeachment trial, Blumenthal acted in or witnessed nearly all the battles of the Clinton years. His major new book—part history, part memoir—is the first inside account we have of the presidency of William Jefferson Clinton.
The Clinton Wars begins in 1987, when Blumenthal first met Bill and Hillary Clinton. His chronicle of Clinton’s first presidential campaign and first term draws on his experiences as confidant to both the President and the First Lady, and is enriched with previously unpublished revelations about both. This remarkable personal interpretation goes far in explaining the polarizing nature of Clinton’s presence on the national scene.
The narrative of Clinton’s second term is even more dramatic. Blumenthal takes special note of the battle that was waged within the media between the President’s detractors and defenders, which he expands into a vivid picture of Washington society torn apart by warring factions. But he does not neglect the wars fought on other fronts—in Kosovo, against Congress, and for economic prosperity. His remarkable book ends with the inside story of the fight to elect Al Gore in 2000 and extend the legacy of the Clinton-Gore Administration.
Every page of this unrivaled, authoritative book, with its intimate insights into Clinton’s personality and politics, attests to Blumenthal’s literary skill, profound understanding of politics, and unique perspective on crucial events of our recent past. The Clinton Wars is a lasting contribution to American history.
When in 1997 Bill Clinton appointed Sidney Blumenthal as a senior advisor, the former writer was catapulted into the front lines of the Clinton wars. From his first day in the White House until long after his appearance as the only presidential aide ever to testify in an impeachment trial, Blumenthal acted in or witnessed nearly all the battles of the Clinton years. His major new book—part history, part memoir—is the first inside account we have of the presidency of William Jefferson Clinton.
The Clinton Wars begins in 1987, when Blumenthal first met Bill and Hillary Clinton. His chronicle of Clinton’s first presidential campaign and first term draws on his experiences as confidant to both the President and the First Lady, and is enriched with previously unpublished revelations about both. This remarkable personal interpretation goes far in explaining the polarizing nature of Clinton’s presence on the national scene.
The narrative of Clinton’s second term is even more dramatic. Blumenthal takes special note of the battle that was waged within the media between the President’s detractors and defenders, which he expands into a vivid picture of Washington society torn apart by warring factions. But he does not neglect the wars fought on other fronts—in Kosovo, against Congress, and for economic prosperity. His remarkable book ends with the inside story of the fight to elect Al Gore in 2000 and extend the legacy of the Clinton-Gore Administration.
Every page of this unrivaled, authoritative book, with its intimate insights into Clinton’s personality and politics, attests to Blumenthal’s literary skill, profound understanding of politics, and unique perspective on crucial events of our recent past. The Clinton Wars is a lasting contribution to American history.
822 pages, Hardcover
First published May 20, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 17, 2012
Blumenthal -- like most political operatives with a book deal -- has churned out an indifferently written and profoundly humourless blend of hagiography, self-justification and character assassination.
This is a highly detailed, disjointed, and boring look at the inner workings of the Clinton White House, focusing on its many political battles. The title fooled me into thinking that this was about foreign or defense policy, which is much more intriguing than domestic policy.
What's wrong with this book is what was wrong with the Clinton presidency: a main point of interest just revolves around scandal, the tone is unrelentingly "us vs. them", and there are huge parts that contain lots of verbiage but say nothing.
The memoir part of the book basically derives from Blumenthal's involvement in the whole Monica business, and he goes through every detail in mind-numbing detail. He's probably the only one to actually take Henry Hyde's rhetoric during the impeachment trial seriously, dissecting each phrase and explaining its implications. Thus, even his "you are there" parts of the book aren't anything very exciting or informative. When the only "inside action" you have to dish about in your book is just rehashing of some basically undramatic scandal, you are in trouble.
Then there's the relentlessly partisan tone: nothing Clinton, Hillary, or Gore does is ever wrong in any sense, ever. Blumenthal does figuratively what Monica did literally. Every incident is presented as either redounding to Clinton's benefit or as demonstrating how unreasonable/unethical/unprofessional the Republicans/press are. For example, Clinton gets asked about Whitewater while visiting South America. Here is a chance for Blumenthal to lecture the press - how dare they miss the "great doings" of the President's trip. Of course, someone less beholden to Clinton might have pointed out that if you consistently avoid ever answering questions about something at home, it's natural to get asked when you are away. If there was nothing to hide, Blumenthal should have just told the President to answer already. Another example is during the 2000 campaign, when George H.W. Bush briefly threatens to "say what I think of him [Clinton]", in response to some criticism of him. Blumenthal protrays this as being laughed at as the rantings of a bitter old man. Interesting, since some (left and right) saw it as a warning that Clinton should stop trying to get away with the "poor innocent" role. While there may be a difference of opinion as to interpretation, Bluthenthal eshews it, to his and his boss's loss.
The rest of the book is a pretty bad attempt at a history of the administration, with heavy emphasis on every "theme" ever espoused by the Clintons. We get a pages-long account of Clinton and Blair and his "third way", there's a history of the Commission on Race (with its minor dramas all recounted as if it made any difference - anyone remember what the Commission said? No, because it was just more watered-down pablum); a birthday party for Hillary is detailed in several pages, including a paragraph long quotation from some book she admires that is supposed to sum up her views; the careful choosing of words and theme for a State of the Union address is discussed (like anyone remembers what gets said). If this is what Blumenthal views as a significant accomplishment, he needs help.
The general trend here is that Blumenthal had little of real substance to talk about (except the scandal stuff) and pads the book with these tales, as if they were significant events. Blumenthal describes life in the West Wing, which sounds like everyone just had meetings to have more meetings, to produce memos describing esoteric concepts like "the crisis of the 21st century" or the "fear over the new economy". Blumenthal doesn't have any stuff to add about, oh, say, legislative doings (the tobacco bill? NATO expansion?), since he clearly had nothing to do with them. He sat in his office and typed memos of "What I think we should do" at government expense.
This busywork is what was so wrong with Clinton. So you urged Congress to pass the v-chip? Great; what about health care, the judiciary, national security? Oh, there's lots of memos and reports to point to, just not much real stuff. That is a summary of Blumenthal's book.
This is a highly detailed, disjointed, and boring look at the inner workings of the Clinton White House, focusing on its many political battles. The title fooled me into thinking that this was about foreign or defense policy, which is much more intriguing than domestic policy.
What's wrong with this book is what was wrong with the Clinton presidency: a main point of interest just revolves around scandal, the tone is unrelentingly "us vs. them", and there are huge parts that contain lots of verbiage but say nothing.
The memoir part of the book basically derives from Blumenthal's involvement in the whole Monica business, and he goes through every detail in mind-numbing detail. He's probably the only one to actually take Henry Hyde's rhetoric during the impeachment trial seriously, dissecting each phrase and explaining its implications. Thus, even his "you are there" parts of the book aren't anything very exciting or informative. When the only "inside action" you have to dish about in your book is just rehashing of some basically undramatic scandal, you are in trouble.
Then there's the relentlessly partisan tone: nothing Clinton, Hillary, or Gore does is ever wrong in any sense, ever. Blumenthal does figuratively what Monica did literally. Every incident is presented as either redounding to Clinton's benefit or as demonstrating how unreasonable/unethical/unprofessional the Republicans/press are. For example, Clinton gets asked about Whitewater while visiting South America. Here is a chance for Blumenthal to lecture the press - how dare they miss the "great doings" of the President's trip. Of course, someone less beholden to Clinton might have pointed out that if you consistently avoid ever answering questions about something at home, it's natural to get asked when you are away. If there was nothing to hide, Blumenthal should have just told the President to answer already. Another example is during the 2000 campaign, when George H.W. Bush briefly threatens to "say what I think of him [Clinton]", in response to some criticism of him. Blumenthal protrays this as being laughed at as the rantings of a bitter old man. Interesting, since some (left and right) saw it as a warning that Clinton should stop trying to get away with the "poor innocent" role. While there may be a difference of opinion as to interpretation, Bluthenthal eshews it, to his and his boss's loss.
The rest of the book is a pretty bad attempt at a history of the administration, with heavy emphasis on every "theme" ever espoused by the Clintons. We get a pages-long account of Clinton and Blair and his "third way", there's a history of the Commission on Race (with its minor dramas all recounted as if it made any difference - anyone remember what the Commission said? No, because it was just more watered-down pablum); a birthday party for Hillary is detailed in several pages, including a paragraph long quotation from some book she admires that is supposed to sum up her views; the careful choosing of words and theme for a State of the Union address is discussed (like anyone remembers what gets said). If this is what Blumenthal views as a significant accomplishment, he needs help.
The general trend here is that Blumenthal had little of real substance to talk about (except the scandal stuff) and pads the book with these tales, as if they were significant events. Blumenthal describes life in the West Wing, which sounds like everyone just had meetings to have more meetings, to produce memos describing esoteric concepts like "the crisis of the 21st century" or the "fear over the new economy". Blumenthal doesn't have any stuff to add about, oh, say, legislative doings (the tobacco bill? NATO expansion?), since he clearly had nothing to do with them. He sat in his office and typed memos of "What I think we should do" at government expense.
This busywork is what was so wrong with Clinton. So you urged Congress to pass the v-chip? Great; what about health care, the judiciary, national security? Oh, there's lots of memos and reports to point to, just not much real stuff. That is a summary of Blumenthal's book.
June 24, 2019
This book is exhaustively researched and great fodder for politicos. Blumenthal takes a step back from any situation or policy to explain the decades of politics leading up to it and often providing a lengthy quote of a speech or relevant document. Yes, this is a biased account of the Clinton presidency and Blumenthal goes out of his way to talk about himself and his life. His role in the Clinton White House is fascinating, though, and–being a journalist–Blumenthal is an engaging writer with ease. I was transported back to the Clinton years through this book, and the summer of 2015 was defined more by the 1990s than by the present. The book may be bloated, clocking in at 800 pages, but it provides a nearly-definitive account of the Clinton years, particularly during the second half of the second term during which Blumenthal was senior staff. The 2000 election is also a bonus bookend as one of the final chapters of the book. Most interesting of all, however, was seeing names of Washington folk pop up who twenty years later have elevated to higher positions. The likes of Elena Kagan and John Podesta show up, both characters who have seen renewed relevance in the age of Obama.
September 20, 2012
You have to go into this one knowing that it is going to be completely biased towards the Democrats. Blumenthal is a pretty self-absorbed writer, and this book is as much about him as it is Clinton, though to be fair, he was part of the administration so I guess...
What put it at 3 instead of 4 stars for me was Blumenthal's selective citations and complete lack of a bibliography. For a former journalist criticizing a lot of people for not crediting their sources, an awful lot of material goes uncited.
But yeah, if you keep all that in mind, this is actually a pretty interesting read. I would recommend it to add some color to someone already decently read in the Clinton administration. Probably not a good starting place though.
What put it at 3 instead of 4 stars for me was Blumenthal's selective citations and complete lack of a bibliography. For a former journalist criticizing a lot of people for not crediting their sources, an awful lot of material goes uncited.
But yeah, if you keep all that in mind, this is actually a pretty interesting read. I would recommend it to add some color to someone already decently read in the Clinton administration. Probably not a good starting place though.
August 6, 2012
I liked this book, but there's way, way too much of it. Blumenthal's take on the "right wing conspiracy" remains on point today in an era of a different Democratic president facing the same kind of opposition. I appreciate his effort to critique mainstream press reports on Whitewater, but he settles too many scores and they grow tiresome.
August 27, 2022
The Clinton Wars is a fat, interesting book for political junkies focused on the issues at play during the Clinton presidency. It also offers an excellent account of the human (or subhuman) dimension of national politics during the same time period. Blumenthal is an excellent writer and he was there, a confidant of both Bill and Hillary. As someone sympathetic to them, his account is sympathetic and offers insights other chronicles overlook.
On the Whitewater and pre-presidential sex front, Blumenthal explores the ways in which rightwing Republican funding bought and fueled the scandal. The hero of the rightwing at the time was a man named Richard Mellon Scaife. Look him up sometime. He's not portrayed per se, only the sinister ways in which his money was used. Blumenthal takes apart Whitewater as a legal matter, in which the Clintons had no involvement beyond investing, and he runs through the inflated contributions of the talkative state troopers, Paula Jones, and the big blond who claimed a 12-year relationship with Bill and may only have experienced a one-night stand.
The devious Christian moralist Ken Starr is skewered, even more so his associates in pursuing Whitewater. It's interesting to consider how nasty that pious little pie-face was then...and to think about his subsequent tenure at Baylor.
The best line in the book is a comment on the worst of all politicians: failed professors. Newt Gingrich and Dick Army are prime examples.
Bill's successful tactic of small bites at the legislative apple after the disastrous huge chomp he took at healthcare early in his first term is something Joe Biden should have considered before approving his Build Back Better plan, a collection of mega-bills impossible to get passed. Dick Morris, the political consultant, gets some credit but not too much for this.
At points Blumenthal gets too wrapped-up in recounting his war with Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report, but his description of Drudge as a sheister, even in the shady world of gossip, is wonderful. In fact, Blumenthal does a wonderful job of not holding back when he assaults villains without damaging his own credibility. I love honest assessments of Washington creeps.
Clinton's affair with Lewinsky told me one thing I didn't know: she was, and probably still is, a tough young woman, no pushover. She wanted Bill in a very definite way; she resisted Starr in a very definite way.
Republican assaults on Clinton reveal genetic kinship with Trump's assaults on Biden. That is to say Republican fury at governmental programs funded by taxpayers, sometimes even rich taxpayers who couldn't evade their obligations, preceded Trump and of course was and remains more systematic than Trump. Throughout his presidency, Clinton was denounced as an illegitimate president, and of course this came to a head in his impeachment and trial when the Republican assailants, egged on that mad little dervish Starr, were crushed. Great Republican figures of the day like Henry Hyde found themselves practically begging Republican senators to give them a better opportunity to make their feeble case. To their credit, the Republican senate caucus wanted to flush the whole thing down the toilet. They did not want to call Lewinsky, Starr, etc., as witnesses. Meanwhile, Clinton's popularity rose.
So I gobbled this book up. I was in Washington in the 80s and 90s and had lots of disagreeable encounters with the Republican rightwing. But I've always held Clinton's failings against him, and I still do, only less so, thanks to Blumenthal.
On the Whitewater and pre-presidential sex front, Blumenthal explores the ways in which rightwing Republican funding bought and fueled the scandal. The hero of the rightwing at the time was a man named Richard Mellon Scaife. Look him up sometime. He's not portrayed per se, only the sinister ways in which his money was used. Blumenthal takes apart Whitewater as a legal matter, in which the Clintons had no involvement beyond investing, and he runs through the inflated contributions of the talkative state troopers, Paula Jones, and the big blond who claimed a 12-year relationship with Bill and may only have experienced a one-night stand.
The devious Christian moralist Ken Starr is skewered, even more so his associates in pursuing Whitewater. It's interesting to consider how nasty that pious little pie-face was then...and to think about his subsequent tenure at Baylor.
The best line in the book is a comment on the worst of all politicians: failed professors. Newt Gingrich and Dick Army are prime examples.
Bill's successful tactic of small bites at the legislative apple after the disastrous huge chomp he took at healthcare early in his first term is something Joe Biden should have considered before approving his Build Back Better plan, a collection of mega-bills impossible to get passed. Dick Morris, the political consultant, gets some credit but not too much for this.
At points Blumenthal gets too wrapped-up in recounting his war with Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report, but his description of Drudge as a sheister, even in the shady world of gossip, is wonderful. In fact, Blumenthal does a wonderful job of not holding back when he assaults villains without damaging his own credibility. I love honest assessments of Washington creeps.
Clinton's affair with Lewinsky told me one thing I didn't know: she was, and probably still is, a tough young woman, no pushover. She wanted Bill in a very definite way; she resisted Starr in a very definite way.
Republican assaults on Clinton reveal genetic kinship with Trump's assaults on Biden. That is to say Republican fury at governmental programs funded by taxpayers, sometimes even rich taxpayers who couldn't evade their obligations, preceded Trump and of course was and remains more systematic than Trump. Throughout his presidency, Clinton was denounced as an illegitimate president, and of course this came to a head in his impeachment and trial when the Republican assailants, egged on that mad little dervish Starr, were crushed. Great Republican figures of the day like Henry Hyde found themselves practically begging Republican senators to give them a better opportunity to make their feeble case. To their credit, the Republican senate caucus wanted to flush the whole thing down the toilet. They did not want to call Lewinsky, Starr, etc., as witnesses. Meanwhile, Clinton's popularity rose.
So I gobbled this book up. I was in Washington in the 80s and 90s and had lots of disagreeable encounters with the Republican rightwing. But I've always held Clinton's failings against him, and I still do, only less so, thanks to Blumenthal.
June 19, 2008
Good stuff, good stuff. Yea refreshing to find a prominent white liberal male use a progressive truth telling frame work to toss buckets of ice cold truth on the heads of Gooo Goo white and Black liberals. When I do it they write me off as an angry Black man instead of recognizing the truth and their own bold hypocrisy and unwillingness to be courageous. How deep is it to read a true account about how Liberals allow republicans to lie, cheat, steal, kill, etc, etc while doing nothing about it like with Iran Contra, the Iraq War, etc, Meanwhile Clinton getting a slopy blow job becomes means to take over the government and spend billions of tax payer dollars on Ken Star's porno book.
All the while the needs of citizens at the bottom continue to go unmeet.
This book is especially compelling as Goo Goo liberals continue to protect their own privilege by nominating Barak Obama over Hillary Clinton and of course silencing Dennis Kucinich a long term congressman excluded from the national debates by the liberal press!
This book further demonstrates why republicans/the right wing generally always win. They simply fight to win “By any means necessary” as Malcolm X said. This book details how while liberals were whistling along whilst patting themselves on the back for tinkering around the edges of change for eight years, the right wing organized, mobilized and got enthusiastically engaged to make sure Bill and Hillary Clinton never had a real shot at reforming this country. Not only did this vast right wing conspiracy use their own net works, they easily co-opted liberal media while Goo Goo liberals stood by passively.
The author says “ sins of American liberalism are many. One of the problems with American liberalism is that it tends to be high-minded and abstract to the point of opacity, it lacks back bone and is willing to always go half the way toward conservatism, and every time is shocked at the unwillingness of the right to make any more in the opposite direction" The American right, has no such scruples: The American right is out for blood, velociraptors in bow ties."
This book reminds us how republicans were able to blame Hillary Clinton for among other things murdering Vince Foster. It also explains how the same republicans convinced half of America to believe it by pulling every dirty trick including planting stories in “the objective and fair minded NPR and the New York Times
See why I’m tired of Liberals?
The book at the end fails to critically engage the cowardness of Al Gore who lost the election by among other things distancing himself from Bill Clinton while Choosen the right wing nut job and Corporate Clone Joe Lieberman as his VIP. Instead of goes of on a tangent against a man of true courage Ralp Nader
All the while the needs of citizens at the bottom continue to go unmeet.
This book is especially compelling as Goo Goo liberals continue to protect their own privilege by nominating Barak Obama over Hillary Clinton and of course silencing Dennis Kucinich a long term congressman excluded from the national debates by the liberal press!
This book further demonstrates why republicans/the right wing generally always win. They simply fight to win “By any means necessary” as Malcolm X said. This book details how while liberals were whistling along whilst patting themselves on the back for tinkering around the edges of change for eight years, the right wing organized, mobilized and got enthusiastically engaged to make sure Bill and Hillary Clinton never had a real shot at reforming this country. Not only did this vast right wing conspiracy use their own net works, they easily co-opted liberal media while Goo Goo liberals stood by passively.
The author says “ sins of American liberalism are many. One of the problems with American liberalism is that it tends to be high-minded and abstract to the point of opacity, it lacks back bone and is willing to always go half the way toward conservatism, and every time is shocked at the unwillingness of the right to make any more in the opposite direction" The American right, has no such scruples: The American right is out for blood, velociraptors in bow ties."
This book reminds us how republicans were able to blame Hillary Clinton for among other things murdering Vince Foster. It also explains how the same republicans convinced half of America to believe it by pulling every dirty trick including planting stories in “the objective and fair minded NPR and the New York Times
See why I’m tired of Liberals?
The book at the end fails to critically engage the cowardness of Al Gore who lost the election by among other things distancing himself from Bill Clinton while Choosen the right wing nut job and Corporate Clone Joe Lieberman as his VIP. Instead of goes of on a tangent against a man of true courage Ralp Nader
January 31, 2012
Reading this book has convinced me that Bill Clinton was one of the greatest presidents in the history of the United States.
I dare anyone to read it and draw a different conclusion.
Blumenthal does a great job of matching the accusations made by the Republican smear machine with what was actually proved (nothing) in the extensive (8 year long $70 million) government investigations of the Clintons. He also reminds us of the accomplishments (peace, lowest unemployment in decades, budget surpluses, small government, end of welfare, etc.) of the Clinton administration and the direction our country could have gone.
Yes, Clinton did have sexy relations with Monica Lewinsky. No, penetration was never alleged or admitted to by either of the parties.
Yes, Clinton was impeached in the Republican majority House of Representatives. Yes, he was acquitted in the Democratic controlled Senate.
Find out why Gingrich resigned the Speaker's office. The Republican establishment, Tom (went to jail) Delay felt he couldn't be depended on to follow the party line and he was continually being outmaneuvered by Clinton. They put up Rep. Tom Livingston of Louisiana to replace him. A month later, as Clinton's impeachment hearings were getting underway, Larry Flynt outed the new Republican speaker as an adulterer. Livingston resigned in disgrace. Tom Delay defended him arguing that adultery wasn't the same as perjury (Clinton denying he had sex with Lewinsky when in fact he had gotten a blow job.) The Republicans impeached the president for making that distinction. (Chapters 12 and 13)
Get the inside story of the events leading up to George W. Bush being appointed president by the Republican controlled Supreme Court (Chapter 16.)
Find out who Floyd Brown and David Bossie are and how their fabrications captured the imagination of the American press corps. (Chapter 2) You'll learn that pundits and opinion columns are to be read solely for entertainment and maybe to get a clue as to what bull the men behind the politicians are trying to feed the public.
What I came away with most of all is that most reporters and pundits are both lazy and ambitious, making them vulnerable to repeating outright lies of "unidentified sources."
I will never again believe anything I read in the media unless the reporter names his source and some corroborating evidence. That includes "news" in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
Anytime you see a headline, think about what the politics are behind it, because there always are politics behind it.
Our government is bought and paid for, but it doesn't have to be.
Sometimes the bad guys win for a while. That doesn't mean the good guys should give up and join them.
Read this book and see why.
I dare anyone to read it and draw a different conclusion.
Blumenthal does a great job of matching the accusations made by the Republican smear machine with what was actually proved (nothing) in the extensive (8 year long $70 million) government investigations of the Clintons. He also reminds us of the accomplishments (peace, lowest unemployment in decades, budget surpluses, small government, end of welfare, etc.) of the Clinton administration and the direction our country could have gone.
Yes, Clinton did have sexy relations with Monica Lewinsky. No, penetration was never alleged or admitted to by either of the parties.
Yes, Clinton was impeached in the Republican majority House of Representatives. Yes, he was acquitted in the Democratic controlled Senate.
Find out why Gingrich resigned the Speaker's office. The Republican establishment, Tom (went to jail) Delay felt he couldn't be depended on to follow the party line and he was continually being outmaneuvered by Clinton. They put up Rep. Tom Livingston of Louisiana to replace him. A month later, as Clinton's impeachment hearings were getting underway, Larry Flynt outed the new Republican speaker as an adulterer. Livingston resigned in disgrace. Tom Delay defended him arguing that adultery wasn't the same as perjury (Clinton denying he had sex with Lewinsky when in fact he had gotten a blow job.) The Republicans impeached the president for making that distinction. (Chapters 12 and 13)
Get the inside story of the events leading up to George W. Bush being appointed president by the Republican controlled Supreme Court (Chapter 16.)
Find out who Floyd Brown and David Bossie are and how their fabrications captured the imagination of the American press corps. (Chapter 2) You'll learn that pundits and opinion columns are to be read solely for entertainment and maybe to get a clue as to what bull the men behind the politicians are trying to feed the public.
What I came away with most of all is that most reporters and pundits are both lazy and ambitious, making them vulnerable to repeating outright lies of "unidentified sources."
I will never again believe anything I read in the media unless the reporter names his source and some corroborating evidence. That includes "news" in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
Anytime you see a headline, think about what the politics are behind it, because there always are politics behind it.
Our government is bought and paid for, but it doesn't have to be.
Sometimes the bad guys win for a while. That doesn't mean the good guys should give up and join them.
Read this book and see why.
June 18, 2017
Makes a compelling case for the role of the progressive president, and provides a gripping insight into the only impeachment of a president in living memory. Yes, it is fairly one-sided. But it works, and makes you realise the treatment of Mrs Clinton in 2016 was nothing new.
October 26, 2008
Very good historical account of the Clinton presidency told by an insider. Quite good
January 21, 2019
Bought a copy at a recent library sale; almost bought it fifteen years ago at Strand Book Store. Now--"Why did I buy another Clinton book?!" Well we still live with the history in these very well written pages, by a journalist and staffer. The names: Lindsay Graham (here a young Congressman) and Newt Gingrich (ascendant and fallen), George Conway (Kelly Ann's husband) and Ann Coulter (need I say more). Blumenthal's descriptions of Graham and Newt (leaving the house chamber with his soon to be ex wife) are still informative and instructive, and they would be funny, if they were not so much a part of our current shout-out, shut down mess.
October 23, 2015
Written by an insider in the Clinton administration, it reaffirmed many things to me, that Whitewater was a fraud; Kenneth Starr was politically motivated to remove Clinton from office; that the investigation of Clinton was utterly unnecessary, politically vindictive, and a waste of this country's valuable resources. And in their rush to be the next Woodward and Bernstein, the press became willing dupes of Starr's illegal leaks. Republicans could not show Clinton respect and presumed that he was guilty of everything thrown out there. Clinton had to be driven from office by hook or by crook. Republicans still condemn Clinton for "lying under oath," but the fact that he was entrapped to do so by a hostile, politically motivated ideologue using police-state tactics seems unimportant to them. Clinton's personal behavior in office was immoral but still personal; Starr's official behavior was frightening and even titillating to many. And I'm still astounded that so many still can't see that.
June 3, 2016
What an appreciative work of Clinton's presidency and issues. I knew there was a lot of Republican spin in all the scandals that were circulating about the Clinton's and his presidency. I have realized that the 5th estate isn't the responsible, truth-telling group I had once aspired to join. The prevarications created to swing opinion away from real issues, and intent upon sullying and smearing Clinton's efforts to make a positive and needed change, astound and embarrass me.
It confirms my belief that Republican's have no legitimate agenda and are using money as power to push their insistence on protecting big business and their ill-gotten wealth to the exclusion of any semblance of decency, truth or ethics.
It confirms my belief that Republican's have no legitimate agenda and are using money as power to push their insistence on protecting big business and their ill-gotten wealth to the exclusion of any semblance of decency, truth or ethics.
June 22, 2016
There's a picture of a much younger version of myself at the Kentucky Governor's Mansion much like the one of Sidney Blumenthal and President Clinton on the cover of The Clinton Wars. I mention this only to illustrate how easy it becomes for political aides to overstate their importance, and that might be Blumenthal's only fault here. This book is highly valuable for its insider perspective of the Clinton White House in the time of impeachment, although Blumenthal does seem a bit absorbed with his own position and self-importance. It's still an essential read, though, if for nothing else than the insider's access to day-to-day detail and the often intricate and complicated process of decision making. An essential read.
April 2, 2010
The Clinton presidency was under attack since long before it ever even began. First from the outside perspective of a journalist, then the inside perspective of an administration official, Sidney Blumenthal tells the tale of the Clinton Wars, why they were fought and who won the battles along the way. Also sheds light on Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign in 2000, and the "stolen succession" election of 2000, with a thoroughly-supported takedown of the media-accepted version of events in the 2000 presidential election in Florida which leaves no doubt that the Supreme Court's unprecedented intervention put the wrong man in the White House.
January 1, 2012
A memoir and history by Sidney Blumenthal. He was hired by Bill Clinton in 1997 to be a White House adviser. He spent the next 4 years in the midst of all the late 1990's happenings. Whitewater, Monica Lewinsky, the '2000 election, etc. He chronicles his relationship with Bill and Hillary and the right wing attempts to destroy him. This book makes one look back at the 1990's as golden years, when we had real leadership in the White House.
November 3, 2022
It's been a hard lesson to learn, but just don't read presidential biographies from people within the administration. They're almost never good. Blumenthal uses choice facts to try to insert himself where he doesn't belong, provides few, if any, useful insights on Clinton's time in office, and goes out of his way to try to settle his own political scores. Skip this one.
April 8, 2007
Fascinating.
January 5, 2009
An insiders look at the most talented politician of our time. A good writer too, who was a journalist before serving in the administration.
July 30, 2011
Good inside look.
August 15, 2011
Behind the scenes look at the Clinton White House.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews