Customer Reviews

Behind the Oval Office: Winning the Presidency in the Nineties

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dick Morris, the political consultant widely acknowledged for arranging Clinton's second term win, writes an insightful analysis of President Clinton's career, personality, and political tactics in Behind the Oval Office. Called "The most influential private citizen in America" by Time Magazine, Morris is a consummate influence professional who understands how national attitudes can be engineered through artful communications and carefully chosen positions on issues. Behind the Oval Office can be read as Morris' tactical playbook, where he exposes the psychological machinery that supports political power. Here, Morris details how he conducted regular polling to understand the public's desires, from that polling located unassailable positions for the president to assume, and from those positions crafted messages that persuaded Americans to vote for Clinton. Morris also reveals how he "inoculated" the president from political attack, how he sometimes found it necessary to distract the American public away from a close examination of the president's actions, and how he ran "stealth" advertising campaigns that slipped under the radar of the media elite, to successfully change the voting behaviors of millions of Americans with an image of a likeable and fair president who deserved a second term. Morris also provides an insightful analysis of the missteps and blunders that marked the Dole defeat, and offers a strategy with which Dole could have beaten Clinton. In the revised edition of the book, Morris has released copies of White House agendas that provide a virtual diary of how Morris and Clinton outmaneuvered their political rivals.

As a political staffer myself, I am always looking for "behind-the-scenes" type of books. "Behind the Oval Office" provides its readers with a thorough understanding of the Clinton White House and the manner in which it has conducted business over the past few years. Dick Morris, in depth, discusses many of the approaches that Clinton took in his attempt to gain successful reelection in 1996. Particularly interesting is Morris' triangulation approach to governing. I would highly recommend this book to others who are interested in presidential politics.

Dick Morris is full of himself. However, this book is worth reading...particularly if you are a political junkie like myself. "Behind the Oval Office: Winning The Presidency in the Nineties," offers a front row seat to White House political strategy. To this end, the one conclusion that all will agree upon with this book is that President Bill Clinton is a slave to the polls.

In many ways this book reveals how shallow politics can get. Morris is an extremely influential political actor in the Clinton White House and is able to expertly navigate the President through the dangerous aftermath of the 1994 Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole midterm Republican advances. Moreover, there is no doubt that Morris laid the foundation for Bill Clinton's second term victory.

Morris does not enjoy the victory...he goes out in disgrace. Nevertheless, this book shows how the author's twenty-year relationship with William Jefferson Clinton and his wife Hillary allowed this couple from Arkansas to survive many political storms. Morris is a master of polling and offers many insights on how polling tracks voter thinking on many sensitive issues. This book is easy to read and a straightforward account of how the "big boys" win in the political arena.

Bert Ruiz

I was not expecting the author's detailed views on President Clinton's personality. I was assuming I was going to get a 350 page "I am the Greatest" ego stroking puff piece. I was actually prepared to dislike this book given the author's conservative leanings and now permanent pundit position on FOX, but as it is the inside book covering how Clinton turned around his numbers in 94-95, I felt it was worth getting through. It turns out I was wrong. The book was very well written and interesting. The author shared a number of insights into how the Clinton White House worked and what was going on in 94 - 95.

The author also did not have the overblown ego that I was expecting to encounter; as a matter of fact he spent a good deal of time apologizing for his famous fall from grace. He was also rather kind to some of the people he worked with (or battled with) in the White House. As a matter of fact some of the other insider books on the Clinton years have not been this kind to Dick Morris. Maybe that is the danger of being one of the first out of the gate with your memoir, you can not get back at others. Overall I found the book very good. It was detailed and fun to read. The comments are well thought out and provide an interesting view into how politics works now days. Ok, his ego does pop up from time to time, but it is not so bad that it takes away from the overall book. Hey at this level they all have healthily egos. I would recommend that it be one of the books to read on the Clinton years.

Bill Clinton hired Dick Morris as a consultant for his 1996 reelection campaign. His role as an advisor to the president was kept a secret for several months, and eventually ended in a tabloid-driven scandal that cost Dick his job. Behind the Oval Office provides an account of this time from Dick's perspective.

The account is told in a surprisingly linear and story-like fashion. It makes for a captivating literary experience (which is a real accomplishment considering that this is a political book). It also serves as an outlet for Dick to apologize for, and make peace with, the scandal that cost him his job (and almost his marriage).

I found the book to be quite fair in describing the principals of the Clinton administration and Republican leadership in Congress (Dick Morris had also consulted for many Republicans over the years and briefly served as an information conduit between Bill Clinton and Trent Lott).

The bottom line is this: If you're looking for some sort of a hatchet-job on the Clinton administration, look elsewhere. If you're looking for starting revelations and juicy details, try the tabloids. However, if you want to know more about one of the most unique relationships a president has ever shared with an advisor, this is the book for you.

Part campaign chronicle, part autobiography, part political strategy primer, Behind the Oval Office is Morris's look at the period from about November 1994 through August 1996 when he worked as a consultant for Bill Clinton. Morris includes some background information, such as his earlier history with the Clintons and his relationship with Trent Lott, but the primary focus is how Clinton won the presidency after the 1994 midterm elections, to many observers, turned him into an apparent lame duck.

Morris takes great pains to point out that he is (or at least was) an equal opportunity consultant, advising both Republicans and Democrats. Indeed, when he got his first call from Clinton in 1994, he was working on a handful of Republican campaigns, including Tom Ridge's race for governor in Pennsylvania. Previously, he had worked for Trent Lott, whom Morris deeply respects, and, surprisingly enough, for Jesse Helms, a job which, not too surprisingly, ended with Morris's being fired. There's something a shade Machiavellian about this, about caring for victory above all else. But Morris also goes to great lengths to explain his "craft." It is not simply spin or slander or attack or government-by-polls; rather, it is about issues and substance. Morris insists that he merely examines a candidates repertoire of positions and, based on polls, picks the ones to emphasize.

It is an interesting book by an obviously brilliant man. Clinton's reversal of fortunes between 1994 and 1996 is nothing short of stunning, and much of it was Dick Morris's doing. That is, until he encountered his own scandal during the 1996 convention. (Of course, Dick Morris's strategies would continue to reap benefits after he left.) If there is a negative of this book, it is Morris's constant apologies for his trysts with the prostitute. It's a refreshing stand--to admit his wrongdoing, apologize for it, and recognize that he hurt others more than he hurt himself. But it was such a constant refrain in the book as to detract from its overall impact. Still, the book is insightful not only into the 1996 campaign but also into campaign strategy in general. It is a fascinating read.

The undisputed master of polling, political stratagem, geopolitical sagacity, and, er... prostitutes writes an amazingly candid look into the Clinton White House worth reading years later. Morris chronicles his triangulation strategy that unfortunately led to Clinton's improbable 2nd term. Morris operated largely in secret as "Charlie" over the phone and later in and out of the East Wing while Clinton's staff worked separately in the West Wing.

Morris tells how Clinton instructs Morris to continue with the subterfuge to avoid the largely ineffective and overly quarrelsome Leon Panetta and Harold Ickes. Without Morris and his insight, Clinton no doubt would not have signed the Republican-sponsored Welfare Reform Act and would have lost in 1996. Morris, who is a foot shorter than Clinton, was tackled by Clinton while in Arkansas, only later to be consoled by Hillary as she told him that Bill only does that to people he loves. With friends like that...

Dick Morris is simply one of the finest Political Advisors ever to be produced since Marcus Hanna. It puzzles me that he is not the head of the Republican National Committee or Democratic National Committee and both should worry if he ever hooks up with Jesse Ventura. If this happens it will be the end of the two party system in America. The book is full of insightful, uncommon but important facts, tidbits and information. Although it is easy for one to be a Monday Morning Quarterback about the 1992 and 1996 elections, Morris profoundly accomplishes something rarely scene in the political arena, brutal honesty and so vile in exposure that you wonder why politicians are so blind as opposed to being visionary. What I mean is, every consultant, every employee and every staff member of the RNC should be fired after reading what Dick Morris has to say in this book. They are living off of the Fat Cats contributions and doing nothing for the betterment of the party. None would last a week with a major corporation based on such sorry results. But perhaps maybe this is how the Republican Elite likes it, living in the shadows of power. Well, if they want to change hire Dick Morris with a Lifetime Contract and fire the do nothings at the RNC. As far as Democrats are concerned, hire Dick Morris so the Republicans cannot get his ideas, strategies and sense of purpose. In either case, Dick Morris like this book is somebody to respect. Excellent Pure Excellence. Highly Recommended For Anyone Interested In Politics and America's Future.

Mr. Morris seems a bit full of himself in the book. However, if you are someone who follows politics, then you will love this book. The behind the scenes accounts are a great insight into the Clinton presidency. I recommend this book to all political junkies.

I'm a die-hard conservative Republican, yet I could not stay away from this book. His detailing of the strategy that got Clinton re-elected, as well as pointing out what the Republicans could have done and should have done was extremely interesting. Frustrating, too. After reading this book, it is obvious why you hear Forbes already putting out radio commericals for next year's election. Start early. Too bad Morris is not a die-hard Republican. We could use people with his strenghts and assets.