Customer Reviews

Because He Could

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

First of all, I didn't read this book because I wanted to understand Bill Clinton better. I have never figured out why people say he is a mystery or an enigma. The book title "Because He Could" pretty well sums up Clinton's motivations and character. His public actions show him to be a weak man with a desperate need for attention and approval...your basic narcissist. Through luck, intellect, charisma and an insatiable drive for power, this particular narcissist made it to the presidency. (To me, the much bigger mystery is how people could vote him in even once, much less twice.) So why did I buy the book? I think Dick Morris is a brilliant political researcher and strategist whose grasp of the political climate is right on target 99% of the time. I wanted to see what his writing was like. I wasn't surprised to find that his writing style is witty and crisp. I thoroughly enjoyed Because He Could. The chapter on terrorism reminded me what a cowardly president Clinton was, always putting political expediency above what he was smart enough to know was best for the country. His paralysis in the face of difficult decisions was explained very well by Morris, who attributed it to his fear of criticism of his own draft dodging and his pathological need to be popular. I recommend this book very highly to anyone who is objective about Clinton, whether Republican or Democrat. To those who were taken in by Clinton's charm and remain enamored of him despite his despicable character and overall poor performance, I wouldn't suggest reading a book that rubs salt in the wound. But most of all, I hope anyone who has a thought of supporting Hillary for 2008 will read this book as well as Rewriting History (which I'll tackle next). The only negative thing I came away with was wondering how Dick Morris could have stomached working with this man and helping him stay in office...it makes me sadly realize his own character couldn't be too swift. Maybe he's changed for the better, as all of us can, and this book is a testament to the better man. I think I'll enjoy reading more of Dick's books...he is singularly qualified to write on the subject.

Dick Morris comes back again with his second punch knock-out for the Clintons. The author, a former advisor to the former president, knows what he is talking about. "Because He Could" becomes the neutralizer to Clinton's book, "My Life," just as "Rewriting History" was to create an equilibrium for Hilary Clinton's "Living History." Now I am not sure you can call Morris a partisan, as he aided the Clintons personally, though he is surely not positive towards the family in his books. For anyone thinking that this is book is all about slander on the Democratic party in the midst of an election, the answer is that Bill's book just came out a few months ago and I'm sure that it took a while for Morris to get through with "My Life" and to create his own book. Thankfully "Because He Could" is about a third of the size that "My Life" is.

If Morris is doing this for partisan or political reasons then I say, why the hell not? We have Kitty Kelley, the gossiper, writing a book on our current sitting president solely to oust him, containing nothing but character assassination when she has never even met him. I'm not comparing Morris to Kelley at all, as Morris actually worked with the Clintons and is quite more respectful to the people in the aim of his books.

I just had to laugh when I read that review where it said "At least he didn't kill anyone." WHAT? Do you know anything at all about Bill Clinton's presidency? Were you paying attention? Or are you so paritsan that you don't really care to look at the history? Bill Clinton himself, who I voted for twice, admitted in his book that he wishes he would have been harder on terror. That he should have ordered a strike against Osama bin Laden, like his advisors urged him to do. He was told that they had Osama cornered and they knew exactly where he was. What did he do? He worried about how it would play politically for him. He didn't kill anybody? Remember September 11th? I like Bill Clinton, I really do. But I think his book was mostly a bunch of inflammatory, bloviating, arrogant, one-sided, hard to understand, poor pity me mumbo jumbo. So, with the release of Dick Morris' book I was glad to have a balance. I know enough to understand that the truth is in the middle somewhere. Becuase He Could is a good read. I can understand why the Clinton's are not happy with it. Perhaps the mirror is too clean!

I couldn't put this book down. Morris has the real goods on Bill Clinton and analyzes all Clinton's seemingly inexplicable actions.

1) The beginning of this book is so boring I wanted to scratch my eyes out

2) It gets better though. Dick presents the good things that Clinton did so well that I actually came away with a more positive impression of Clinton that I had going in.

3) Dick presents the negatives, and they are not few in number. However, they are equally funny and tragic. Funny because I am not a Clinton fan. Tragic because of the missed opportunities and wasted time for both him and our country.

4) Even though I don't like what Clinton stood for, I came away with more sympathy for the man. I also feel like such a charismatic man could have done more with his time in office.

Unlike 'My Life,' this book attempts to put some perspective on the Clinton years. Much of it is self-serving -- like most Morris books, it suggests Clinton would have been more successful if he spent more time listening to Morris. Still, it is an excellent read, particularly the chapter on how Clinton let Osama bin Laden slip through his fingers. The book examines Clinton's strengths and weaknesses (particularly his weaknesses) and helps explain how a man who was president for eight years will only be remembered by history for a silly little sex scandal.

He played a large part in adivsing Clinton on how to get out of the mess he got himself into. Ignore partisan reviewers who just love Clinton and probably didn't read the book.