Customer Reviews

The Dysfunctional President: Understanding the Compulsions of Bill Clinton

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

 

 

This was one of the first political books I ever read and I bought it mostly because it was written in the form of a psychological case study. The author's diagnosis of Clinton's chief concern being that he is the adult child of an alcoholic may or may not be the cause behind his erratic professional and personal behavior. To me, he appears to be more narcississtic than anything else (of course, a narcississtic personality is not mutually exclusive with having an alcoholic parent). Seeing Clinton last night speak at the Democratic Party convention reminded me of just how much the public differs in its perceptions of this man and how much he continues to affect our lives. I can honestly say that this book was informative and provocative and I recommend it to you.

As a rule, I am scornful of books that attempt to psychoanalyze public figures from afar; indeed, I am skeptical about psychology in general. In this case, the author himself points out that his analysis should only be taken so seriously considering he has never seen the 'patient'. I am also dubious about the notion of 'syndromes' in general. Certainly Bill is a liar and a vacillator who denies personal responsibility, but are these traits really caused by the fact that his father was an alcoholic? So I came to the book a skeptic. That being said, I found the book very compelling. The most amazing thing about it is it seems to predict the Lewinsky scandal, and Clinton's reaction to it. Those that loath Bill Clinton will certainly enjoy it, and find it very convincing. Those that love him will dismiss it out of hand. Those who are in between will be very disturbed.