My Life

This one has taken a really long time to complete… because it was really long!  President Bill Clinton’s book, My Life.  An overview of Clinton’s birth through his early childhood and ending with his wife Hillary’s election as Senator of NY State.  For those who are not aware of the historical moments from 1960s through 2004, pick it up and learn some of the “behind the scenes” rationale and thinking about the political decisions of the US (mostly from a Democratic point of view).  Clinton’s early life was pretty meager and he certainly did commit himself to education and moving from a difficult childhood (alcoholism, isolation, and limited resources) to a very successful politician.  Clinton shares his personal failures through his on-going sexual escapades (seemingly caused by desertion and abuse from the male figures in his life).  We learn about Clinton’s amazing ability to network and make people feel good about themselves.  Even though I had grown up during this period (living in DC!), I forgot how much turmoil he went through (either because he caused it himself or others were willing to dose it out to him because they believed he deserved it).  He detailed all of his various campaigns and the work that he and others did to win the race.  Clinton does present himself as learning the importance of diversity from a very young age being among different races, especially African-Americans.  One of the things that I felt was a bit “over the top” (and believe me as Clinton says “Was I better off at end of 8 years with him as President?”  YES I was) was his continual dropping of names and letting folks know how much he helped them or thanked them.  It came off as insincere to me.  The stories of the republican vs. democratic turmoil showed just how much human nature will never change, power is important to humans!  The book left me feeling badly for Hillary and Chelsea with how his personal life became front page headlines.  Has Clinton ever changed?  And how did his personal choices impact his professional choices?  Could they be separated?  Loved hearing about some of the NYU staff who were involved in the Clinton White House.   Long book that will teach us about a master politician and how he survived his own debacles.  Worth a read if history and politics is your thing.  If not, take a pass, I’m sure a 60 minute TV show on the history of Bill Clinton will capture most of this.