I'm now 0 for 3 in the category of books written by Clinton administration officials.
Strobe Talbot's "The Russia Hand" was all about Strobe and he didn't even bother to develop his own character.
"I'll be short" by Robert Reich managed to wander in circles for 100 pages (or however long the thing was).
Finally "The Roaring Nineties" by Joseph Stiglitz was too nice by far. Clinton's policies failed but everyone in the administration was nice, earnest, smart, competent and hemmed in by evil Republicans.
It's all very muddleheaded without being remotely idealistic or bleeding heart. Actually a little bit of heart and soul would go a long way towards redeeming any of these books not to mention the Democratic Party.
The tone of these books taken together leads me to believe that the Clinton administration just didn't get it. They sacrificed their principles because the principles weren't based on a deeply felt emotional and intellectual base. They abstractly understood that things like unfair trade agreements and ending welfare would hurt people but they didn't understand it on a human level.
Their inability to understand what might interest an audience is symptomatic of their personal failings and the failure of Clinton and his administration to speak to Americans as individuals.
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