Tony Blankley: Inside Hillary's mind

Washington Times ^ | Wednesday, June 22, 2005 | Tony Blankley

[JohnHuang2]

About once a year I review a book in this column that ought to be required reading for people who care about politics. Edward Klein's "The Truth About Hillary" is such a book. The pre-publication leak about the book — that Bill Clinton had allegedly talked about raping his wife — was off-putting for me. I don't usually waste my time reading salacious scandal books from the left or the right. But I was advised to take a look at this book, which I read last weekend. It was worth my time. This is not a scandal book intended merely to gratify the reader's salacious interests. Instead, Mr. Klein has written a serious political and psychological biography of the most likely next Democratic nominee for president — and thus, quite plausibly I fear, the next president of the United States. Although this is a heavily researched book that includes amongst its sources almost 100 people who are or were personally close Mrs. Clinton, this is not a peek through a keyhole. Instead, it is a peek — and more than a peek — into the mind of Hillary. And, whether you like or hate Hillary, the inside of her mind is a fascinating place in which to rove about. Hillary haters will certainly find further evidence to support their sentiment. Principled liberals , I suspect, will be deeply disconcerted by what they will find out about her mind in this book. But for people who like their presidents, ruthless, expedient and very smart (in a dangerous time those are not all bad features), the portrait Mr. Klein paints may well not be seen as negative. In fact, as the author notes, Mrs. Clinton has more than a little in common with Richard Nixon.

[rep-always]

I know what you mean.