Customer Reviews

The Choice

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The Choice, written from November of 1994-early summer of 1996, is all about the decision making, staffs, fund-raising, advertisements, and financial tumbles of a presidential campaign. Woodward capture the essence of two campaigns and strategies. The two being, President Clinton, and Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole.

For the coverage of President Bill Clinton, it is very fascinating! In many ways this book follows up where Woodward leaves off with The Agenda. Only in the portrayal of Clinton here is of a President who has regained not only his confidence, but ultimately control of his White House and presidency. The Clinton White House of the first two year of the administration, as mostly everyone knows, was a disaster in the works. The Clinton White House of the last two years of the first term (1995-96), was much more controlled and disciplined. In The Choice, we see the emergence of political guru Dick Morris make his presence felt and heard through the Clinton camp. You get an illustration of how other Clinton staff and advisors such as White House Chief of Staff Leon Pannetta, George Stephanopolus, and Press Secretary Mike McCurry have their head-on collisions with Morris and his triangulation strategy, of polling the issues
most important to the American people and advising Clinton to follow that path to reelection. Which he ultimately did.

In The Choice, we also learn of a new key figure that will make his rise in the Democratic political process fundraising guru and mastermind Terry McAullif (now chairman of the DNC, handpicked by Clinton right before he left office). You see the mass fundraising effort led by McAullif who raised unprecedented amounts of cash for both the DNC, as well as the Clinton-Gore 1996 reelection bid. The money that was used to fund the now infamous Medicare-Scare television adds that dominated key voting districts and states. The adds that would turn the tide for Clinton, stopping the roaring tide that was giving the Republicans and the "Contract with America" such momentum throughout 1994-95, and going into the election year of 1996. The Medicare adds that would scare seniors into thinking that Gingrich and Dole were going to eliminate Medicare, Medicaid, social security. Woodward gives in his final analysis, that these adds are what would give the Clinton his reelection.

The Choice also tells the story of the rough and tumble of making the decision and running of a presidential campaign. The enormous amounts of key staff people, ect. The Choice, gives you the view of the campaign of the Republican front-runner, then Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole. All I could really say to this, is I now know, more than ever, on why I felt even then (in 1996) that the nominating of Bob Dole by the Republicans in attempt to bring down Bill Clinton, was a complete debacle. We get an image of a candidate who was a good, honest, man, but whom was too wishy-washy on the issues, and his past voting record throughout his congressional career. It shows how Dole
was a horrible speaker, and how disarray his campaign and staff was. Dole would have on so many occasions, be in the position of having to make an important stump speech, and his speechwriters wouldn't be giving him the material until moments before he was to take the podium. It also waists no time explaining on how Dole wasn't exactly the best communicator in the world either. But ultimately, Woodward's conclusion, which is no surprise the same conclusion of this reviewer, as well as most of America, that Dole just didn't have a message for what he wanted to do and more importantly, why he wanted to be President. The age factor didn't help either.

The Choice also covers many other interesting people and names that dominated the political scene and captured the minds and imaginations of most politicos throughout this era. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, the book also gives you an idea of the decision to run for President, or not. Through this, we hear of many other people's decision and weighing in on whether to run, or not. We go through California governor Pete Wilson, Tennessee Senator Lemar Alexander, former Vice President Dan Quayle, Texas Senator Phil Gramm. The spoilers also are mentioned in this book with no punches held, such as right-wing zealot Pat Buchannan, Ross Perot, and Steve Forbs. You also learn of, why the most sought after candidate, decided not to run. That possible candidate is non other than the former Chairman of the JCS, Colin Powell.

Other's mentioned were Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and his childish charades and temper tantrums, which helped add to his unpopularity and eventual demise. We also get a fly-on-the-wall view of the infamous budget battle between the Clinton White House and the congressional GOP of 1995, and then the government shutdown. Also included is Clinton's desperate dealing to get a peace accord in Bosnia. Bob Dole's decision to sacrifice his Senate seat and status of Majority Leadership, for his campaign. So The Choice, goes beyond just the campaign.

For me, what I came away with from this book more than anything else, was the way Bill Clinton grew-up so the speak, and into the Presidency. Now, I'm obviously not referring to his personal conduct, but as a leader, and the power that was within his grasp. The power that the office of the American Presidency gives to anyone to potentially use who occupies the Oval Office. It also gave me a different view of the man!!! Normally, and in the past I have always viewed Clinton like many of his campaign staffers, and of his generation. A person who is arrogant and unappreciative of the old and those past who have paid their dues. In The Choice, Woodward gives you a vision of a man who often at times would tear into his staff members, for taking cheap shots at people such as Newt Gingrich. For instance, Clinton ripped into Mike McCurry once for taking a pot shot at Speaker Gingrich in a White House press briefing. So it portrayed
a side of the man, that I never knew, or thought possibly existed.

The portion that I enjoyed the most, was how behind the scenes both Clinton and Dole (even throughout the campaign of 1996) had a very cordial relationship, and tremendous respect for one another. At one point, Clinton.....after a major budget meeting in the Cabinet Room, pulled Dole aside and proposed that they find a solution on how to reform welfare, under the table, no politics involved. Another fascinating tale, was when Clinton stunned people like George Stephanopolus and others in his close inner-circle, on why he really wanted Bob Dole to win the Republican Nomination during the Primary season, because he felt that if something were to happen to him, or if he lost reelection
due to a crisis, he believed Dole was the only rational and able leader in the GOP. That shocked me!!!

In the end, it just goes to show, how interesting the world of American politics truly is! The relationship between
Clinton and Dole, even in spite of something as heavy as a presidential campaign and election, was very, very impressing.

The Choice, no doubt proves once again on why Bob Woodward is considered to be, perhaps the best political writer
in our times. I plan to soon read his 2000 best seller The Shadow: The Tale of Watergate and Five Presidents. of Clinton, Reagan, ect. Woodward is also due to come out with his latest book sometime in November, and the title is to be called Bush At War, I'm sure it will be revealing and a bestseller. I will send a review of the TR book when I am finished.

-Nicholas J. Vertucci

Ok, I admit it; I am a big fan of Woodward. I will read everything he puts out and probably enjoy it. With that being said here is another book of his that I will profess to really enjoying. For my money he is the best political writer in the business today. He has so many contacts that many times in reading the book you could swear he has the White House bugged. This book follows the Clinton team through the two years leading up to the 1996 presidential elections. He does a great job of following both campaigns and paralleling the issues so that you get both sides. You get all the standard Woodward items with the book, great details, wonderful he said - she said conversations that really make you feel like a fly on the wall, an easy to follow and well laid out book.

I have read the book All Too Human that George Stephanopoulos wrote and in the book he describes the interviewing technique of Woodward, he stated that Woodward has a great style of getting you comfortable with him and then before you know it you are spilling all the secrets. What was also interesting is that Stephanopoulos wrote that Woodward audio tapes all of his interviews so that leads me to believe that the information in his books has not gone through a reporter taking notes loss of detail. One last bit of info is the Stephanopoulos said that once "The Agenda" came out the Clinton's got so mad at George for all of the info he told Woodward that they basically shut him out for a year. That must mean Woodward got it right.

A good follow up to this book is the Woodward book "The Agenda" which is the Clinton White House the first two years and the Elizabeth Drew book "Showdown: The Struggle between the Gingrich Congress and the Clinton White House", it picks up where The Agenda leaves off. This is an interesting book that I really enjoyed. If you like Woodward you will like this book, if you are interested in the first two years of the Clinton presidency then this is also a good source of information.

Bob Woodward did a great job of giving us a view of what the candidates and their families have to go through during the political process of getting elected. All the decisions that must be made. From whether or not to even run. When to announce, who to hire on staff, raising fuds and advertising. Woodward had direct contact and interviews with all the candidates excpet Clinton. Where he had to rely on the President's staff and friends.

The book covers all the candidates that try for the nomination, including those that would have been considered but chose not to run. A very interesting insight into the process of running for our most powerful elected office. The book eventually comes down to the campign between Dole and Clinton.

Woodward is known for being very accurate and tapes all his interviews. This is the first book of his that I have read. And I will now try to pick up and read the Agenda next.

What makes Bob Woodward such a prominent author and journalist is his ability to get behind the scenes of important events and key people and report them to mass audiences. In "The Choice," Woodward's talent is handicapped in several respects. First, the subject matter - the early rounds of the 1996 presidential election- is only mildly interesting. Second, much of Woodward's information was already public knowledge at the time of the book's release. Finally, the author is so caught up in getting the "inside story," he loses sight of the election's broad themes. He loses the big picture. A respectable work but there are better books about this subject.

For good newspaper reporters like Bob Woodward, earlier is better than later as far as filing a story is concerned. But book authors operate under a reverse logic, which is where Woodward's 1996 "The Choice" goes wrong.

The last sentence in this account of Sen. Robert Dole's challenge to Bill Clinton's run for a second term as president explains the situation more starkly than I can: "The election was 174 days away." In other words, most of the story had yet to take place, including the conventions, the debates, the last-minute ads, and of course the voting itself.

Woodward didn't even know who Dole's running mate would be, blindly offering up a number of Republicans, including Dick Cheney, a chapter after Jack Kemp endorses Dole's rival Steve Forbes and is quoted saying "I'm done" with the GOP. After "The Choice" went to print, Dole chose Kemp.

Woodward had his own choice, between writing for posterity and for "Nightline." Alas, those looking to get a complete accounting of the 1996 election better look elsewhere.

Woodward's book suffers in another key way; of the two candidates, only Dole would talk with him. This Dole did at length, and the book benefits from a warmer portrait of the last major Republican of the Nixon era than mainstream media usually provided. Dole is seen as a tough guy with a good heart he wears on his sleeve more often than you expect, and an understanding of politics and their purpose which comes to the fore most impressively when he teams up with Clinton to help stop ongoing carnage in Bosnia.

Dole's fatal flaw is an inability to change, even in the face of wise counsel from his aides. Former vice president Dan Quayle presciently describes Dole's platform as "competence, not ideology, not passion." As the campaign develops, Dole's failure to communicate a single compelling theme leaves him vulnerable to such oddball challengers as Steve "Flat Tax" Forbes and Pat "America First" Buchanan, men well to the right of not only Dole but any other Republican senator, not to mention the national mainstream.

With Clinton, message discipline was a less fatal problem. His reliance on flaky advisor Dick Morris's pleas for "triangulation" leaves his more left-leaning staff huffing, but with no primary challengers and a big war chest, he can carry the ball to the end zone without breaking a sweat.

At one point, after Clinton plays him over a budget deal, Dole tells an aide "that he believed Clinton would say and do anything to get reelected." It's a more revealing comment on Dole than Clinton, who I'm sure would counter with the comment: "And why not?"

Even Hillary Clinton's consultations with a psychic, where she holds imaginary conversations with Eleanor Roosevelt and Gandhi, do little to liven the book up, though it was responsible for much of the press "The Choice" got when it was published. Since Hillary had actually shut herself out of the policy loop for once in her husband's presidency, feeling the martyr after her failure to socialize health care, Woodward's focusing on her seems excessive and unfair, not to mention oddly dry.

Woodward's writing here is surprisingly sloppy. He never claimed to be a prose artist, but it really shows up with the kind of slack yarn you have here. Of Dole at one speech, he writes: "If tension could be bottled, he would have kept a bottling plant busy all night."

He was rushing to write this, and you will be rushing to read it, only to get it over with. Think about it: How much fun is it to read a book where you know more than the author? You know who won. He doesn't. It's like Deep Throat in reverse.

Bob Woodward not only describes the inner workings of the Clinton reelection campaign, but gives details of the relations Pres. Clinton had with his staff and wife at the time.

Ok - so 1996 wasn't the most exciting presidential election ever, but this book fails to pick up on any interest that may be drawn from it. Focussing on those candidates who were well known in Washington, Woodward manages to miss any chance to discuss the surge and collapse of the Forbes campaign, give no adequate discussion of Perot and runs out of steam by the time his account reaches the party conventions. For an overseas reader, there is no insight into why Clinton was able to keep the Dole-Kemp campaign in his pocket for the whole of 95-96, nor any structure to Woodward's approach beyond chronology. Ultimately, this reader was forced to draw the conclusion that Woodward had got himself a contract to write the book, but was insufficiently interested in the material to do more than retype his notebooks.

I recently finished, "Plan of Attack" by Woodward... I couldn't put it down!! He turned Mr. Bush, Powell, Rice and all others into real people with real feelings. I felt as if I were right there and I can still feel the pulse of all of Mr Bush and his cabinet as they worried over and worked with all players for the Iraq war. Great Book!!!!!!