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| 2007 Primaries: | Clinton's book | Edwards' book | Giuliani's book | Huckabee's book | Obama's book | Richardson's book | 2007 Debates |
Condi vs. Hillary The Next Great Presidential Race, by Dick Morris  (Click for Amazon book review) BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org: Dick Morris is one of the foremost political analysts in America today. He was considered instrumental in Pres. Bill Clinton's winning strategy of "triangulation" -- deciding how much was possible on his issues with the opposition party, then "triangulating" to that middle position and pushing it toward implementation. But Morris had a falling-out with the Clintons, and now he is one of Hillary's leading critics. This book reflects that. Morris' idea that Condoleezza Rice would run for president was far-fetched when he proposed it, via this book, in 2005. Morris knew that -- the purpose of the book was to lay out the case for drafting her, since she has not expressed a strong interest in running. The penultimate chapter is entitled "Drafting Condi," and lays out a plan for a grassroots Internet-based movement to build a volunteer organization. That organization would persuade Rice to run AFTER the primaries, like Dwight Eisenhower was persuaded, one month before the Republican convention in 1952. Morris' "Draft Condi" idea was far-fetched but plausible in 2005. By 2007, the idea had become impossible. There will not be a draft movement now, because Condi does not have the popular support that she had in 2005. The Iraq War has gone substantially downhill since 2005, both militarily and in terms of popular support -- so instead of Condi's big claim to fame, as Morris predicted, it became her primary reason NOT to run. In any case, Morris' dream race was a wonderful dream. Morris assumes that Hillary will get the Democratic nomination -- and analyzes several of her opponents' foibles accordingly (he did not predict that Barack Obama would enter the race). He makes the case that Hillary is unbeatable -- except by Condi. As with other books by Hillary's critics, this book acknowledges her strengths and points out her weaknesses -- we detail some of them in our excerpts. And also like other critical books, many of the criticisms seem to actually be in Hillary's favor, when viewed from the perspective of Hillary's potential supporters. We detail some of those too. For example, in the chapter entitled "Hillary's Senate Record," Morris lists dozens of bills that Hillary supported -- then says that even though they're each "good ideas," together they comprise a "wish list" spending spree. Then Morris criticizes Hillary for sponsoring only "symbolic" bills. Well, which is it? Either she's a big-spender for supporting too many bills, or a do-nothing senator for supporting only symbolic bills -- but she can't be both! Overall, this book is one of the better criticisms of Hillary in the 2008 race. Unfortunately for Dick Morris, the title makes it a low-seller. It SHOULD be as popular as some of the other well-thought-out and well-researched anti-Hillary books! P.S. In the interest of full disclosure, OnTheIssues.org worked with Dick Morris' political website during the 2004 presidential race. -- Jesse Gordon, jesse@OnTheIssues.org, Feb. 2007
The Next Great Presidential Race, by Dick Morris.
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