Jonathan Yardley disses Clinton's 'Living History'; Blumenthal's 'The Clinton Wars'

WASHINGTON POST ^ | Sunday, June 15, 2003 | Jonathan Yardley

[Liz]

LIVING HISTORY By Hillary Rodham Clinton Simon & Schuster. 562 pp. $28

THE CLINTON WARS By Sidney Blumenthal Farrar Straus Giroux. 822 pp. $30

What Hillary Rodham Clinton says about herself -- "I have never been as good or as bad as my most fervid supporters and opponents claimed" -- can be said as well of William Jefferson Clinton.

Also: "Neither the fawning admiration nor the virulent rage seemed close to the truth." In his eight years in the White House, Bill Clinton aroused so much of both that it's difficult, at this still-recent remove, to get an objective fix on his stewardship.

It is no less so after reading these two fiercely partisan memoirs, one by his wife, who now serves as junior senator from New York, and one by his former assistant.

The books are at once similar and different. They are defensive, exculpatory, self-justifying and at times bellicose, especially when it comes to the subject of Kenneth W. Starr, the independent counsel who made life so miserable for the Clinton White House.

They are simultaneously encyclopedic and selective: They go on at immense length when that is convenient to the argument being made, but retreat into see-no-evil blindness when the facts are inconvenient.

They make obligatory gestures toward the shortcomings and failures of the Clinton administration, but they resolutely stand behind it -- Blumenthal, incredibly, asserts that "just as the presidents of the late 20th century operated in the shadow of FDR, those of the first part of the 21st century will stand in the shadow of Clinton" -- and no less resolutely decline to confront the manifold ways in which it debased the presidency, the White House and the country.

[Liz]

-- Blumenthal, incredibly, asserts that "just as the presidents of the late 20th century operated in the shadow of FDR, those of the first part of the 21st century will stand in the shadow of Clinton" -- and no less resolutely decline to confront the manifold ways in which it debased the presidency, the White House and the country.

Thank you Jonathan. The Clinton worshippers are so corrupt as to be irredeemable.

[Ff--150]

those of the first part of the 21st century will stand in the shadow of Clinton

Love ya, Liz, but shouldn't this have a "Barf Alert"!?? =-)

[Liz]

You're a real pal FF, but read it again.

Yardley comments that Sid Viscious made that incredibly unbelievable assertion and adds that Blumenthal and Hitlery "no less resolutely decline(d) to confront the manifold ways in which it debased the presidency, the White House and the country."

[skinkinthegrass]

...but shouldn't this have a "Barf Alert"

GOOD POST, liz...not tring to make a fine point...I'd say ANYTHING $hrillary writes (or doesn't write) automatically gets "Barf Alert" status....not Req'd.

[Ff--150]

Okay...I'll put the [/sarcasm] in next time

[Liz]

Hey, nice save.......

[Liz]

So, so right........

[Southack]

Yeah, yeah, and even the NY Times daily edition dissed Clinton's History, but what did the NY Times weekend review of the book say/do (cheerleading, other guesses)?