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POTUS Speaks: Finding the Words that Defined the Clinton Presidency

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Whether you admired the 42nd President or not, many agree he had fabulous oratorical skills. A person who is partly responsible for that was Michael Waldman, his chief speechwriter and author of POTUS Speaks. Even though he admits having a bias for Clinton, it is clearly non-evident in this book, in comparison to grossly negative statements or outlandish praises about a complex President. If you've ever wanted to know what a Clinton speechfest was really like, this book is for you. It takes you into the last minute motorcade edits and to gaffes by the White House staff (which Clinton masterfully covered up with his brilliant skills). An example is the big NAFTA speech, in which the President doesn't have the correct speech, and instead the "sloppy copy" with edits and cross outs all over the place. And, no one knows the difference.
A must read for anyone interested in the White House.

Michael Waldman is my idea of a great writer of political books. He's a guy who was definitely on the inside, but he doesn't spend the whole book aggrandising himself or justifying everything he did. Waldman does a great job of showing what it was like to work for Clinton the man, Clinton the president, Clinton the political strategist. As opposed to books written by others who worked in the White House during the Clinton years (Stephenopolis, Gergen, Morris), you don't get a sense that Waldman is writing for any other reason than to objectively report what he saw and did while working for the President.

There is nothing shocking or new in this book, really, but it does a great job of showing the dichotomy that existed in the White House during the scandals. Waldman was a policy, not a political, guy. Even in the heart of the scandals - indeed, on the most important days of that whole mess - Waldman recounts how he and other policy guys just worked on policy issues (the budget, fast track, education) as if nothing else was going on. On the day Clinton is impeached, Waldman and the President were working on a speech together. Amazing!

This book is excellent for many reasons. First, it is a great inside look at how speeches and policies were constructed in the Clinton White House. Second, Waldman was there for the entire presidency (except for the very end), so his observations on how the President (and the White House staff) changed over the years are insightful and fascinating. I really enjoyed watching/reading as he and the other young aides went from, well, young aides to senior White House Staffers. Third, this book did more to help me understand Clinton the man than almost any other I read, precisely because it didn't TRY to explain who Clinton the man is. Rather, Waldman just shows us what Clinton did, said, and how he acted during his presidency without trying to over analyze it or draw conclusions. In this way, we get to see Clinton unfiltered.

For political junkies looking for a good book on how policies are formed and shaped in a modern White House, this is a great book. For lovers of Clinton, this is a must-read. For those looking for chest pumping, look elsewhere. Waldman wrote a great book. Well worth a read.

This book gives a fine example of what it's like to work for the most powerful, or one of the most powerful, person[s] in the world. Not unlike the NBC show "The West Wing", the battles over language; the frustration over when things go wrong and the joy at when they go right, this book by Michael Waldman sparkles with wit and humor. It also goes a long way to explaining the tough task of working for a President like Bill Clinton. If you're a "West Wing" fan, as I am, and want to get a clue into working inside the White House, read this book.

It is a refreshing start to a book when the author admits up front that he is and was a strong supporter of President Clinton. Unlike many of the books that have come out regarding Clinton, either positive or negative, they all profess to be unbiased and fair, but usually by about 25 pages in you know the track the author is following. With this book the author admits up front his position so there is never any question as to the slant he was using. You could read the book and know that the positive side of the situation was being documented, not a sly attempt to malign the President.

As you know from reading the book synopsis, the author was the head speechwriter for Clinton and was with him for almost his entire Presidency. Unfortunately for me that fact seemed to mean that he was not really involved in any policy decision (I assumed that fact going into the book), but also that he did not share any gossip or good insight in how many decisions were made. I do not think there was anything detailed in the book that was not already spelled out in other books or in the papers. The laborious speech writing process Clinton used was interesting and the lack of organization of the early administration was expressed well.

Overall I found the book to be just average, nothing really new. I felt that best parts of the book dealt with the start of Monica issue and the impeachment process and how the speechwriting team just kept plugging away. If you are looking for a light book from a Clinton fan then this book will make you happy. I would suggest that the following books are better: Locked in the Cabinet (by Reich), All Too Human (by Stephenopolis) and Shadow (by Woodward). All of them give far more detail and I thought they were actually better written.

POTUS Speaks is such an intriguing look at the behind the scenes work done in the West Wing. Maybe this should be entitiled "The Real West Wing". Waldman takes the reader on a journey through the thought processes of one of the most brilliant presidents of the century. Whether you agree with his politics or not, the reader will certainly become aware of President Clinton's awesome ability to do things "on the fly".

This is a real glimpse (I keep wanting to say behind the scenes, as that's really what this is) of what staffers and aides go through on a daily basis during an administration. A great read for all political junkies, no matter the party affiliation.

This book is about Presidential speechwriting. It includes all stages of the process as told by the author. It is particularly interesting as a portrait of what it is like to write speeches for a president who is active. The scenes about President Clinton's late edits are especially good. A nice read.

As a Democrat whose first campaigning was for George McGovern in 1972, Clinton was the Moses who led our party out of bondage and into the Promised Land. The Jews would not have reached Israel had not Moses drowned the pursuing Egyptians in the Red Sea. The Democrats would have felt the whip of President Gingrich had not Clinton claimed the high ground on faith, crime, capitalism and welfare and assembled tough, smart counterpunching advisors like Waldman, Bruce Reed, Gene Sperling, Rahm Emmanuel and the rest of the War Room.

POTUS Speaks chronicles the Exodus. The account comes to us through the eyes of a caring liberal, a former Nader Raider, who operated at White House rank sufficiently elevated to observe Clinton's moves and report them to us. For students of history, here is an advisor charged with stimulating Clinton in the area where he was already peerless -- policy, rhetoric, tone and style. This book is a window into Clinton's political and public policy heart of hearts. Waldman gives us the play-by-play in a remarkably ego-free account.

For a McGovern Democrat, the Gore defeat only confirms that the Republicans have been justified in their seething resentment of Clinton: by rights they SHOULD have occupied the White House through the 1990s. They were denied only because Clinton and his staffers refused to be as foolish as Democrats are wont to be.

Patrick J. Burke

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