BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org:

This is the biography to read if you want to understand Bill Clinton. It is not pro-Clinton nor is it anti-Clinton -- it feels like journalism rather than propaganda. So many political biographies feel like advocacy that it's refreshing to read one that does not.

Joe Klein, the author, is most renowned for his anonymously-published book, "Primary Colors", about the 1992 primaries. Klein writes for "The New Republic" and several newspapers which are usually called liberal; but he is described as a neoconservative who admires George W. Bush. Hence he has a mixed opinion politically about Clinton, and that mixed opinion comes out in this book.

OnTheIssues.org feels that political biography is superior to political autobiography because autobiography is inherently biased. Readers cannot get a fully balanced picture of Bill Clinton from his autobiography, My Life, because Clinton uses his memoir to present his view of things without presenting his opponents' views. While Clinton's autobiography is valuable reading as well, like any autobiography, it leaves many things unsaid. Klein says them here.

OnTheIssues.org was approached by several media organizations during the 2008 presidential campaign to talk about presidential candidate autobiographies, because our editors have read all of them. In each case, we offered to also discuss books ABOUT the leading candidates as well as books BY the leading candidates, based on the "balancing" view above. For example, we considered the best character sketches of the leading candidates to be A Bound Man for Barack Obama; The Myth of a Maverick for John McCain; and God and Hillary for Hillary Clinton. All those offers were declined -- the media really do prefer autobiography to biography. We hope readers here try both.

-- Jesse Gordon, jesse@OnTheIssues.org, November 2008

Click on a participant to pop-up their full list of quotations from The Natural, by Joe Klein (number of quotes indicated): Al Gore (1) Bill Clinton (13) George Bush Sr. (2) Hillary Clinton (1) Joe Biden (1) Ralph Nader (1) OR click on an issue category below for a subset.

Budget & Economy    Bill Clinton: 1992: Connected with audience on recession's personal effect.    Bill Clinton: New Clintonism demonstrated in 1997 balanced budget.    George Bush Sr.: 1992 debate: Disconnected on recession's personal effect.

Crime    Bill Clinton: Approved Arkansas execution of mentally retarded black man.

Education    Bill Clinton: 1997: Established middle class entitlement: 2 years college.

Free Trade    Bill Clinton: Assumed that economic globalization was inevitable.

Government Reform    Bill Clinton: Favored tax incentives over new bureaucracies.

Homeland Security    Bill Clinton: Established AmeriCorps as national service program.

Principles & Values    Bill Clinton: OpEd: Virginia an unlikely, but American, presidential mom.    Bill Clinton: First president to admit he participated in psychotherapy.    Bill Clinton: Recruited in 1989 as chair of Democratic Leadership Council.    Bill Clinton: OpEd: too unconcerned with money to care about Whitewater.    George Bush Sr.: 1992 debate: Caught glancing at wristwatch.    Hillary Clinton: Methodist of straight-laced, moralizing, 19th-century type.    Joe Biden: Conducted Bork hearings in a scholarly manner, not emotional.    Ralph Nader: Saw anti-Bork campaign as constituency-building opportunity.

Technology    Al Gore: 1995: Led policy of free-market Internet.    Bill Clinton: 1995: Tax-free Internet policy spread from US to world.

Welfare & Poverty    Bill Clinton: Expanded the EITC from $15.9 to $21.2 billion.

Click for quotations from other sources by:
• Al Gore
• Bill Clinton
• George Bush Sr.
• Hillary Clinton
• Joe Biden
• Ralph Nader