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The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton

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It is nearly impossible to think objectively about Bill Clinton, the man or his administration. In THE NATURAL, Joe Klein, the once-anonymous author of PRIMARY COLORS, gives us a concise, balanced history of the Clinton presidency. He provides a fair account of Bill Clinton: we are not spared his self-pity or the scale of his appetites and indulgences, but we also see the seriousness and vision he brought to the nation's leadership.

The Clinton administration had a rocky beginning, noted for its naïve political blunders. Remember Travelgate? How about the mere possibility of universal health care? The Clintons relied heavily on their friends, who were not always the wisest or most capable choices. One of the strengths of THE NATURAL is its portrayal of key relationships. We learn a lot about the former president through Mr. Klein's account of his complex marriage and Mrs. Clinton's formidable, imperfect influence. He also describes the similarities and differences between Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich, who led the failed Republican revolution and masterminded one of the nastiest, most counter-productive political arenas in American history.

It is unfortunate that Bill Clinton's comprehensive understanding of economics will not be what history remembers about his presidency. Mr. Klein points out that balancing the budget was a tremendous gamble and the budget surplus Clinton left the next administration was unprecedented. His sound policies --- welfare reform, Internet commerce, the earned income tax credit --- provided a base for financial prosperity that we are unlikely to see again. One of the melancholy notes of the book is the sense of squandered talent and opportunity. What else might Bill Clinton have accomplished if he had not been so distracted?

Bill Clinton was under constant attack from the right wing and the scandal-hungry media. He fended off investigations into his avoidance of the draft during the Vietnam War, his use of marijuana, his finances, his extramarital affairs, his wife's law practice and not one of the fanatics determined to destroy him made the slightest impact until he lied under oath about his affair with a White House intern. Why did he give his assailants such a wealth of ammunition to use against him? How could such a smart man make such a stupid mistake? We may never know what he was thinking, but the disappointment and disillusionment of the president's staff and supporters practically soak through the page.

The strange thing about THE NATURAL is how distant the Clinton presidency seems. September 11, 2001 was a moment of such enormous import in American history that the overwrought peccadilloes Bill Clinton became known for now seem trivial. Bill Clinton never faced a challenge to the presidency like al-Qaeda's attacks; he made his own challenges. It will take a much longer, more in-depth book to really examine Bill Clinton's complicated character, but THE NATURAL captures his administration, a time that is simultaneously recent history and a long time ago.

--- Reviewed by Colleen Quinn

In this publication Klein essentially presents a summary of the Presidential career of Bill Clinton. Any reader of previous Klein commentary knows that, on the whole, Klein likes Clinton a good deal; however, he avoids becoming an apologist that the likes of Frank Bruni and Bob Woodward seem to have become with President Bush. He makes available criticisms of Clinton--both political and ehtical--at least as quickly as he does praises. In the end, this seems to be the culmination of the very vivid picture that Klein has been painting of Bill Clinton the man and politician ever since _Primary Colors_. The prospective reader should note before beginning that there is no controversial argument at work here (apart from what is already controversial about the President), nor is _The Natural_ a systematic synthesis based on study of recent history; this is merely a summary of the events of Clinton's presidency with subsequent commentary. Particularly engrossing is the section just over halfway through the book in which Klein succintly recounts the history behind the presently bitter partisanship in Washington and the effect of the post-Watergate media on public and private political discourse. In the seventh chapter (of eight) Klein also begins to analyze Clinton with respect to his historical context--which quickly gets interesting--but stops abruptly (Klein clearly hasn't gotten this far with Clinton yet). I would surmise that most of the people that dislike this book do so because of their emnity towards Bill Clinton himself, but if you are looking for a summary of the era with generally just and honest commentary from a rational and balanced commentator, this isn't a bad place to begin.

For someone who did not pay much attention to politics before 2000, I found this book very helpful. All I remember from the Clinton presidency is that the President seemed to be entangled in scandal constantly, and that the Republicans seemed to care far more about bringing him down in any way possible than about guarding the welfare of the country. Klein's breezily written book, while it does at points dwell on all of the scandal (how could it not?), fills in many of the lesser-known details about Clinton's vision and both his accomplishments and failures. I came away from this book feeling that the patchwork of disjointed memories I had concerning politics from 1992 to 2000 had now clicked into place in a coherent narrative. I also came away with a much better understanding of why most Americans think Clinton was a good President, whatever they might think about his personal character.

Obviously, the biggest flaw of this book is Klein's attempt to conduct historical analysis a mere 1 year after the end of Clinton's presidency. And beyond that, the book could have been a good deal longer -- it comes in at a scant 217 pages.

Having said that, Klein does a decent, if not masterful, job of analyzing Clinton's presidency. Where it's strongest is in highlighting his list of acheivements, which, given all of the scandals, is important, since the biggest ones were not on the forefront of people's minds (defecit reduction, which led to the boom; bailout in Mexico; EITC, which is more important than you would have thought).

There was one thing that he highlighted that I found particularly compelling: "In 1986, a single mother who left welfare for work could expect to make about $1900 and lose her health benefits. In 1999, she gets $7000 more and keeps her health beniefits."

Anyway, if you're like me -- a moderate-liberal who liked Clinton but was highly disappointed by his presidency -- you'll find it crystallizes what you thought of him. If you hated the guy, at least you'll have a better understanding of what he DID accomplish.

And lastly, Klein is at least a smooth and succinct writer, so it's a good read. Not great or monumental; it won't ever stand as the definitive analysis of his presidency; but, given the fact that it is only a year later, it's moderately insightful.

I am a fan of Joe Klein's from his columns in the New Yorker magazine and bought his book after just finishing First in His Class by David Morannis, the biography of Bill Clinton from birth the his announcement that he would seek the presidency in 1991. I enjoyed Klein's book and in fact read it in two quick days. However, it was somewhat disappointing. While clearly not intended to be exhaustive, it was meant to clarify and synthesize Clinton's policy making decisions during his 8 years in office as well as their political overtones. While most of the major content areas are present and accounted for (e.g. failed health insurance reform, welfare reform, effect of the Lewinsky scandal, etc.), the synthesis is hard to find and make sense of. Klein seems to be arguing that Clinton's efforts became less grandiose and more effective as he learned how be a good president, but simultaneously continued to demonstrate his personal flaws and shoot himself in the foot. This is not really a novel conclusion, and probably not worthy of a whole book. If Klein's thesis is more complicated than this, it is not well articulated in the book, and better editing is needed. More likely, future books will tackle this topic more effectively as history provides more of a context for Clinton's accomplishments and failings. Buy this book only if you are truly curous about Clinton now and can't wait for other authors to complete their work.

THE NATURAL was an enjoyable enough but misnamed book. "The Natural" seems to refer to Clinton's natural proficiency as a political operator, yet Klein details the up and down, tumultuous presidency that we all remember. Clinton's first two years were not that of a "natural," nor was low point of his presidency leading up to his admission of an affair with "that woman."

The subtitle, "the misunderstood presidency," is also misleading. This book reveals no great new interpretation of the Clinton era but rather sums up the conventional wisdom: Bill Clinton was a good, substantive president who failed to live up to his full potential and disappointed a lot of people with his personal behavior.

While the title of THE NATURAL creates unmet expectations, the book serves a useful function. In just over 200 pages, it captures the major themes and flavors of the Clinton presidency, gives just enough supporting evidence to back up Klein's instructive but not especially groundbreaking insights, and serves as the outline for what could be a truly great future book. This book serves as a reminder of what the Clinton years were like (seemingly so long ago), but the book itself will probably not endure as especially memorable.

THE NATURAL won't endure because it is so short and light on details. Joe Klein is a reporter, not an historian and the book reads like an extended ATLANTIC MONTHLY article. This is not altogether bad - I felt like reading the book pretty much straight through as I would an article. But the potential for a detailed, Robert Caro style biography of Clinton is a tempting future volume waiting for someone else to write.

One final note: it bears mentioning that Klein seems admiring of Clinton. Where Klein writes disapprovingly, he seems like a disappointed - almost betrayed - true believer. He's clearly fascinated by Clinton and has a vision for what he could have been. This admiring fascination becomes a little much when Klein begins shilling for the New Democratic movement. Klein's journalistic credentials were hurt with the revelation that he wrote PRIMARY COLORS. THE NATURAL doesn't help, but this kind of a book may be a good medium for his talents.

Joe Klein, journalist and author of "Primary Colors," has written a very light and easy-to-read book about the Clinton presidency. This book is not a tell all, nor does it document all the facts of Clinton's two terms. Instead, in broad strokes, Klein wants to capture a fairly big or overall portrait of the Clinton presidency. With some exceptions, he seems to do a fine job.

The book essentially reads like an extended Newsweek article. It is not very meaty, the sentences are short and simple, and one could easily read this book on a longer plane ride. Klein takes us from Arkansas where Clinton was preparing for the primaries, though two terms at the White House, and through key moments of the Clinton Presidency such as healthcare reform, reelection, Lewinsky, and legislative battles. In short, it is a broad overview and not a detailed account of Clinton's eight years.

Somewhere in the middle of the book Klein takes a serious right turn for about twenty pages and discusses Newt Gingrich's rise to power. Frankly, I thought the subject could have been handled in half the pages. The tangent is interesting, but I really don't see how it adds much to Klein's account of Clinton's presidency. The twenty pages might have been better used by looking at another aspect of a presidency that continues to ignite debates and stir emotions.

The other disappointing aspect of this book is the author's word choice. The book is easy and light reading, but every five or so pages, like clockwork, we see some odd language use that is seriously out of place. We hear about "North Carolina's antediluvian Visigoth senator..." somewhere toward the end of the book. This is but one example, but many more can easily be found throughout. Other reviewers provide such examples and I won't reiterate. I'll just say that nobody talks like this, and I can't help but wonder why an accomplished writer would want to write like this. The language is seriously out of place relative to the rest of the book.

That said, Klein's view of the Clinton presidency is interesting even if there are no new arguments or insights. Klein is certainly one of a small number of people in a position to write such a book. He was there, alongside Clinton in a sense, from start to finish. As a result, we get an interesting perspective and an enjoyable read.

This book is certainly worth reading. Little annoyances aside, I am glad I took the time to learn more about this presidency. In a sense, it makes me look forward to Clinton's autobiography. I suspect the story of Bill Clinton is far from finished.

As an avid reader of everything Bill Clinton, I have been looking forward to the publication of this book for the past 6 months. It is a quick read and an interesting book, but often reads like a Clinton press release on how he was "misunderstood" (this is obvious from the beginning when you read the full title).

The anecodtes are great, and the policy discussion is refreshing to find in a mass-media book like this. Yet, Klein does make a few lapses. He repeatedly talks about the "self-destructive behavior" of the GOP when they pushed for impeachment, while at the same time decrying the behavior of the President. He fails to convey how those favoring impeachment were self-destructive or wrong in their pursuit - he just assumes the reader will join him in this assumption.

Nonetheless, this is a good book that does an excellent job covering Clinton's personal transformation during his presidency. I finished this book wishing it were longer!

You can tell that Klein is left-leaning the way he describes "New Democrats" as people who at least like the idea of fiscal responsibility. If he were conservative, he would have trashed all of this ideology as so much bull. However, had he done this, the criticisms of Bill Clinton would have come accross as partisan sour grapes. The fact that he was as open to Clinton's presidency as he was makes the criticisms, in my mind, much more meaningful.

Klein does give Clinton good marks in several areas. First, his intellect, which allows the man to bring an understanding of many issues to the presidency that few office-holders before him. Certainly more than the current president. Second, no one can complain that the man didn't come to work everyday with his sleaves rolled up, ready to put in long days, also unlike the extended "working vacations" of the current administration. Finally, if he were a stereotypical liberal he would have used the wealth of the 90's to fund a myriad of new federal programs that would have had a tough time sustaining themselves these days. Instead, he did pay off a lot of government's bills, which I find admireable.

So much for the good parts. When Klein comes down hard, he comes down really hard, and not just on Willie. Hillary gets her share of venom for totally blowing any chance of her precious health care program by making it far too complicated and not accepting any modifications of it. And whatever dislike he may hold for Clinton, Newt Gingrich is many levels below that for his petty politics and hypocrisy that partially resulted in his own destruction.

And then there's the man himself. Klein comes down hard, as he should on several ideosyncracies of the administration. Clinton's sloppiness, in consistantly being late for meetings, and letting meetings about smaller matters go on far too long really slowed down the administration. The fact that he took so long to get his staff together, and then didn't really makeup what he wanted resulted in it taking forever to get things going. To it's credit, the current administration does not seem to have this problem.

He also comes down hard on the the appearance of impropriety. From hanging around with sleazy characters because they provided funding, to pardoning sleazy characters because they provided funding, Clinton made people around him understandably associate this sleaziness with the administration. For this, he can't be forgiven.

And then there's the way he handled the whole Lewinsky matter. Now the Republicans and the media also should have their share of blame for letting this get to the prominence it did, but the bulk of the responsibility lies on the shoulders of Clinton himself. By insisting for months that nothing happened, he forced his staff to take the same stand publicly. When he finally did admit to the affair, this made all these people around him look like fools. And the way he twisted around what the meanings of the word "sex" and "is" were just cemented what the general populace feels about politicians and lawyers.

In general, the theme of the administration seems to be one huge missed opportunity. While I do credit them with not "blowing it" when it came to the good economic times, it was also the time to start getting a better handle on such runaway issues as AIDS, Social Security, and yes, even health care. Unfortunately, 9/11 has lowered the priority of these issues. Clinton's biggest sin was to let general disorganization and the blowup of petty issues prevent him from achieving any decent level of greatness.

When I bought this book I had read some rather nasty reviews stating that the book was very left of center and nothing more then a 200 page campaign add. In all honesty that would not have been disappointing for me to read, but what I got was a book that did not shy away from the biggest disappointments of the Clinton Presidency. The author tries to provide a balanced look at the Clinton Presidency by given equal time to both the good and the bad. Sure the author leans to the left a bit but that did not make him pull up the rains at all when talking over the personal problems Clinton kept getting involved in.

I think Klein did a very good job with the book, he is a funny and sharp writer that keeps you wanting to read the book in one sitting. I would also say that the writing style is not for the quick and easy reader, it makes you want to pay attention and think over the writing after you put the book down. My only real complaint is that I would have liked about twice as much volume. At a bit over 200 pages it does feel like it just gives a broad overview. Overall I found the book very enjoyable and interesting that anyone that is interested in President Clinton will find entertaining and useful.