|
|
|
Jewish World Review June 22, 2005 / 15 Sivan, 5765 Inside Hillary's mind By Tony Blankley
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
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 a hundred people who are or were personally close to 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.
One of the more interesting anecdotes recounted in the book
describes the time President and Mrs. Clinton met with President Nixon. It
was March 1993, the first time Nixon had been invited back to the White
House since he departed in 1974:
"The elevator door opened, and the first person Nixon saw when
he stepped off was Hillary Clinton.'Your health care reform legislation in
1973-74 was so good that we are using it as a blueprint for our own
package,' Hillary said. This struck Nixon as an incredibly strange, wonkish
greeting from the First Lady. But then Hillary managed to top even that by
adding: "Had you survived in office, you would have been light years ahead
of your time." "Had I survived in office! Nixon later remembered thinking.
Maybe I could have if she hadn't been working to impeach me."
The anecdote continued with Nixon's recollection that he had
thought that Bill Clinton was too nice to provide world leadership:
"He doesn't scare anybody.' Then Nixon added, as though he had a
sudden insight: 'Hillary inspires fear.' Nixon explained that a few minutes
after the meeting started Chelsea Clinton joined the group." The kid ran
right to Clinton and never once looked at her mother. I could see that she
had a warm relationship with him, but was almost afraid of her mother.
Hillary is ice-cold. You can see it in her eyes. She is a piece of work .
Hillary inspires fear." Of course, for Nixon, that was a high compliment.
For any woman running for president, she must first prove to the
public that she is tough enough. And what better character reference could
such a woman hope for than from the arch-tough guy President Richard Nixon.
But perhaps the most revealing chapters of the book are numbers
six through eight, in which Mr. Klein studies Hillary Clinton's childhood.
The focus of those years is her father, a former Penn state football star
and Navy drill instructor. He raised young Hillary and her two brothers to
be tough, excel at all things and fight to win, which Hillary did, literally
on a number of occasions punching out boys larger than her who displeased
her. Mr. Klein's description of Hugh Rodham Sr.'s parenting methods reminded
me of no one so much as Joseph Kennedy Sr. — father of a president and two
senators.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. Tony Blankley is editorial page editor of The Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.
© 2005, Creators Syndicate |
Columnists
Toons
Lifestyles | |||||||||||||||||
Click 