biography Archives - fundinmentalfundinmental

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The Friday 56 is hosted by Freda’s Voice.The only rules are to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 or 56% in your ereader and find any sentence or a few ( no spoilers) that grabs you and post it.

Please join Rose City Reader every Friday to share the first sentence or so of the book you are reading along with you initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

Please include the title of the book and the author’s name.

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The Natural by Joe Klein

The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton

Even though this is the Goodreads ebook cover, this is the cover I have on my 1st edition hardcover.

My 56

So the political benefits of dropping the gas tax were obvious. And there was no political benefit to expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit…The EITC was too cumbersand a concept for most journalists to even bother to understand, much less attempt to describe.

But Clinton…expanded the EITC…

(Page 56 in hardcover)

I am not big into politics, or news, for that matter, but I do believe in exercising my right to vote. I must be informed enough to make my own educated choice, so some knowledge is mandatory. That being said, I thought it was “funny” that this was sitting on a fiction shelf. Timing is everything, so even though I have only been sharing non fiction, thus far, I will go ahead with this biography.

MY QUESTION TO YOU: How do you view the press? Do they cause more harm than good in this day and age?

Add to Goodreads

GOODREADS BLURB: Joe Klein, best-selling author of Primary Colors and one of our most brilliant political analysts, now tackles the subject he knows best: Bill Clinton. Astute, even-handed, and keenly intelligent, The Natural is the only book to read if you want to understand exactly what happened–to the military, to the economy, to the American people, to the country–during Bill Clinton’s presidency, and how the decisions made during his tenure affect all of us today.

Much has been written about Clinton, but The Natural is the first work to cut through the gossip, scandals, media hype, and emotional turbulence that Clinton always engendered, to step back and rationally analyze the eight years of his tenure, a period during which America rose to unprecedented levels of prosperity. Joe Klein puts that record into perspective, showing us what worked and what didn’t, exactly what was accomplished and why, and who was responsible for the successes and the failures.

We see how the Clinton White House functioned on the inside, how it dealt with the maneuvers of Congress and the Gingrich revolution, and who held power and made the decisions during the endless crises that beset the administration. Klein’s access to the White House over the years as a journalist gave him a prime spot from which to view every crucial event–both political and personal–and he sets them forth in an insightful, readable, and completely engrossing manner.

The Natural is stern in its criticism and convincing with its praise. It will cause endless debate amongst friends and foes of the Clinton administration. It is a book that anyone interested in contemporary politics, in American history, or in the functioning of our democracy, should read.