STROBE SLAPS CLINTON IN BOOK; BUSH 'BETTER-GROUNDED'

Drudge Report ^ | 6/28/2002 | Matt Drudge

[ex-Texan]

STROBE SLAPS CLINTON IN BOOK; BUSH 'BETTER-GROUNDED'

Fri Jun 28 2002 11:27:24 ET

Former Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott was "disturbed by" former President Clinton's "indulgence of [former Russian President Boris] Yeltsin's misbehavior."

In his memoir, THE RUSSIA HAND, Talbott also claims Bush is "a better-grounded character than Clinton."

A savvy insider's account of the diplomatic twists and turns of U.S.-Russia relations in the '90s, Talbott's anecdote-stuffed book will "fascinate anyone with an interest in the personal dynamics of statecraft," BUSINESS WEEK reports in fresh editions.

MORE

Talbott "sees Clinton and Yeltsin as a curious and rather worrisome pair of psychological twins. After all, both dipsomaniac Yeltsin and alley cat Clinton could be said to be in thrall to obsessions that occasionally sent them reeling. 'I suspected there was more to his affinity with Yeltsin than being approximately the same height and shape and shoe size, or being the leaders of two countries that could blow up the world, or being fellow politicians who had to contend with obstreperous legislatures and hostile media,' Talbott observes.

"The key, as I saw it, might be that Yeltsin combined prodigious determination and fortitude with grotesque indiscipline and a kind of genius for self-abasement. He was both a very big man and a very bad boy, a natural leader and an incurable screwup.

All this Clinton recognized, found easy to forgive, and wanted others to join him in forgiving.'" BUSINESS WEEK adds, "The question is whether Clinton forgave too much."

Talbott, "by his own telling, was alert to the dangers of the oligarchs but saw no better alternative to continued White House backing for Yeltsin. But Clinton, even by his friend's charitable account, comes off as seriously deluded.'" BUSH BETTER-GROUNDED THAN CLINTON

Clinton's successor, President George W. Bush, "has forged what appears to be a tight bond with" Russian President Vladimir Putin, "so Bush needs to take care that he himself doesn't become overly committed, as Putin clamps down on press freedom even while pursuing an economically liberal course.

Talbott writes: "My guess is that Bush, a better-grounded character than Clinton, will do OK. Let's hope so: US-Russia relations are tough enough without the complication of psychologically handicapped leaders."

Developing...

[Alberta's Child]

Talbott "sees Clinton and Yeltsin as a curious and rather worrisome pair of psychological twins . . ."

If this isn't the defining statement of the 1990s, I don't know what is.

[Dane]

Look up the term brown noser in the Dictionary and you will see a picture of Strobe Talbot.

[Constitution Day]

If this isn't the defining statement of the 1990s, I don't know what is.

Wow. BTTT

[colorado tanker]

Gee, I bet Boris and Billy really enjoyed themselves when they partied with the Saudis picking up the bills.

[mountaineer]

I'd take anything said by Comrade Talbott with a very small grain of salt.

[Lee_Atwater]

Interesting, I thought Strobe at Clinton were good friends from their days at Oxford. Maybe Talbott wants a political job at the State Department again. It just doesn't pay to be a Bill and Hill sycophant like it used to, I guess.

I'd like to know if Strobe really was a KGG tool while he was a journalist in the USSR.

[Lee_Atwater]

KGG=KGB

[Recovering_Democrat]

So did Strobe do anything about it????

[Consort]

Is Strobe seeing the light?

[d14truth]

Talbott, "by his own telling, was alert to the dangers of the oligarchs but saw no better alternative to continued White House backing for Yeltsin. But Clinton, even by his friend's charitable account, comes off as seriously deluded.'"

Clintons--THE OLIGARCHS--bears repeating OFTEN!

[d14truth]

Nice set-up. That would be a 'strobe light'. {;~)
Never to be confused with a 'Stroh's Light'.

[Howlin]

Exactly. Trying to clean up HIS reputation, no doubt.

That being said, I look forward to MORE of this stuff.

[Humidston]

"Yeltsin combined prodigious determination and fortitude with grotesque indiscipline and a kind of genius for self-abasement. He was both a very big man and a very bad boy, a natural leader and an incurable screwup."

Darn. I thought he was describing Clintoon!

[TheMole]

The information recounted here by Drudge is probably accurate. However, what's really good about George W. Bush is that the anti-American world-government-promoting northeast academic liberal Strobe Talbott is no longer playing any role in U.S. foreign policy.

[SkyPilot]

I read somewhere that on Boris Yeltsin's first visit to the US, they police found him drunk in a fountain, with fresh flowers in his hand. He could not even speak.

Anyone got a link or remember this???

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Where was Strobe when Clinton was in office? Why didn't he say anything then?

[BOBTHENAILER]

I'd take anything said by Comrade Talbott with a very small grain of salt.

You beat me to it. The title of this review belies what is probably a self-congratulatory book. I wouldn't read it if I was paid a thousand to do so. Talbot stinks to high heaven.

[Utopia]

Darn. I thought he was describing Clintoon!

You could say he really was, as he also mentioned that Clinton and Yeltsin were psychological twins ... So, if Yeltsin is a screwup, ergo, Clinton must be one too.

[RightWhale]

Talbott also claims Bush is "a better-grounded character than Clinton."

Not only a better-grounded character, but Bush has actual character, as opposed to Clinton's virtual, mirror-like character that merely refelcts the situation of the moment.