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90 of 115 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Informative, Interesting, Insightful, October 20, 2004
This review is from: Because He Could (Hardcover)
Dick Morris has done it again...written an "insider's look" at the Clinton White House that runs the gamut from highly personal revelations to deeply insightful ruminations about the affect that personal beliefs and practices can have on national life. As he did in the excellent REWRITING HISTORY, Morris provides fascinating details that go "behind the scenes" to reveal searing vignettes, humorous episodes, painful failures, and astute observations. Sure, Morris has a rather large ego, and some of the book is definitely self-serving. But, one gets the sense that Morris already knows that about himself, and doesn't really have anything to hide. His portrait of Bill Clinton is complex and nuanced...and devastating. For a better understanding of what happened to America in the 1990s, and how that is playing out today, read this book immediately.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A de-coder ring for Clinton's memoir, "My Life", January 1, 2005
This review is from: Because He Could (Hardcover)
Dick Morris and his wife, Eileen McGann, wrote this book as a kind of de-coder ring for Clinton's memoir, "My Life". They had previously done the same thing with Hillary Clinton's "Living History" with strong results. I think this book is more lively and personal. This is because Morris was more personally involved with Bill than with Hillary. It is also obvious that he likes Bill more than he likes Hillary.
As with "Re-writing History", those who are passionate about the Clintons either way will likely be dissatisfied with aspects of this book. Morris believes in and talks about Bill's strengths and accomplishments. Morris is very clear on the brilliance of Bill's mind, his overpowering charisma, and his ability to learn from political setbacks.
However, Morris begins the book criticizing Bill for not taking enough credit or explaining all of his true accomplishments. He thinks that Clinton failed to put it all together because, Morris says, that Bill sees everything as a series of individual events, as very personalized stories. So, Bill doesn't see the big picture and how some things connect to other things. Morris then goes through all of the accomplishments of the eight years of the Clinton administration.
The rest of the book explains various aspects of what makes Bill tick. For example, on page 69, Morris says, " In Bill Clinton's world, no move could be made without someone at the ready to jump in front of him and take the bullet - whether they liked it or not." When one considers the trail of ruined lives left in the wake of both Clintons, I think this is an apt sentence.
Morris discusses Clinton's being AWOL on terror and why, that Clinton was a supreme politician who never wanted to be seen engaging in politics, that his most debilitating scandals grew out of his debt to Hillary for saving him from the Gennifer Flowers scandal, and it was Hillary who did not want to be put on the hot seat for the Travel Office Firings or her commodities trading. Although, Morris admits he cannot really put his finger on why did not settle with Paula Jones when that scandal first arose. The first settlement offer asked for no money and no apology. However, Clinton, fearing Hillary (Morris supposes), there were aspects of that whole thing that he could not admit to without angering Hillary.
The book also has a whole chapter dealing with errors in "My Life" and ends with a discussion of the Clinton Presidency and some thoughts about what it all meant.
It is a pretty good book, an easy read, and I think it makes a good contribution in balancing the Clinton propaganda put forth in "My Life". Morris took the title of this book from a statement Bill made in an interview about the Lewinsky scandal. Clinton makes one of his patented non-apologies by explaining that he engaged in the affair "because I could". It does say a lot about the character of the man and his sense of entitlement and license.
I do think that this book deserves to be widely read because of the candidacy of Hillary for President and 2008 and the Clintons belief in the Co-Presidency.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Because Morris Could, August 23, 2005
This review is from: Because He Could (Hardcover)
This book, unlike Morris's work on Hillary, is actually worth reading, because its perspective and analysis of our 42nd president is fascinating. Though the title is a little tiresome (and becomes especially so when Morris continues to say throughout the book `Why? Because he could!') the book is a fast page turner.
I particularly enjoyed Morris's portrayal of Clinton as one who only came to life around other people: if they were happy, he was, if they were in distress, he felt their pain. A master of reading people and changing according to their feelings, Clinton was perfectly suited to becoming a president who ruled by polls. Enter Dick Morris. As Clinton's chief poller, he also became, at one time, his chief political advisor. And Clinton needed one.
As `My Life' by Clinton shows, the president had no overall strategy and failed to see events as interconnected. For him, each issue needed to be examined individually and with Clinton, that was a laborious endeavor: the prez had the painful habit of considering each argument with equal weight, and therefore was extremely indecisive and cautious to take action. Result? Fiasco's like Waco, Somalia, Bosnia and Health Care reform. More seriously for the future: the loss of the Congress to the Republicans (over ten years now and counting) and the failure to stop Bin Laden.
Morris gives credit where credit is due though: Clinton's work on welfare reform cut the roll books in half and the tough work on deficit reduction allowed the economic boom of the 1990s to take place. Also interesting, was Clinton's use of the presidency as a bully pulpit for families and education: an issue that was local politics, and therefore cost Clinton nothing in the budget but brought in massive political capital.
Read this book before reading Clinton's `My Life'. Why? Because Morris points out the inconsistencies and just plain untruths contained therein. Also, Morris says that the president's autobiography is the `Rosetta Stone' that decodes Clinton. If that is the case, then Morris is certainly the interpreter.
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