Here and There

Finished reading My Life, Bill Clinton’s autobiography, today. Overall, I’m pleased with having read it, but I’m reluctant to recommend it, for many reasons.

One of the reasons, I should make clear here, is not what the book is commonly criticized for: long-windedness. The length of the book never bothered me, as I felt totally engaged (or entertained) the whole time.

My criticism deals more with the tone and substance of the book.

At times in the book, especially once he begins discussing how political career got underway in Arkansas in the early 1970s, I feel he does what politicians do: politicking. Call it sugar-coating, proselytising, or just old-fashioned bullshitting, a large part of the final 600 or so pages read much like a stump speech. This, of course, is when Clinton isn’t bogged down in policy detail.

I did also, at times, get annoyed with the conversational tone of the book. But in hindsight, thinking back on hearing the man speak, and considering his upbring in the South, I can forgive it. I also amused my easily-amused self giving my head voice reading of the book a Clinton drawl.

The things I appreciate about My Life are its telling of the history of the last half of the twentieth century, its insight into the first Democratic president since FDR to hold office for two terms, and its discussion of 1990s politics, bias and all.

Clinton’s discussion of his childhood isn’t particularly inspiring. That’s true mostly due to how abnormal a situation he lived in. It is, overall, very telling as to what kind of politician he would become, from how his values were shaped to his uncanny ability to survive under intense opposition.

Even his writings about his presidency are insightful, and probably because I was more or less apathetic in those days. I came of age, so to speak, in the ’90s, and for a large part of the decade, was more concerned with myself than politics. This came after a good three or four years of latching onto liberal punk rock politics of the late ’80s and early ’90s (The Bush Years). I’m not sure if it was my biological clock or the relief that in 1992, finally, a Democrat was elected. Either way, I dropped out. It was nice to do some catch-up by reading the book.

Ultimately, I’m glad I read it, but I feel the responsible thing to do now would be to search out alternate tellings of the Clinton presidency from some of the key players (Gingrich, Dole, et. al.) or respected historians of the era. We’ll see if I can muster the patience to be less well-entertained reading about the same stuff.

Oh, and as for my non-recommendation: I judge myself to be a bigger dork for history and politics than most. If you feel inclined to read My Life, be warned: you will more than likely be bored out of your mind!

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