Herbert L Calhoun 2008-01-27
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
A Balanced Deconstruction of the Hillary Rodham Mystique
Dick Morris, the Machiavellian inventor of the process of "triangulation" and a "Clinton insider," has written a sobering but a very balanced analysis of Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton. In my view it is the definitive deconstruction of the famous ex-First Lady's hidden public persona and mystique. The perfect antidote to her own "self-promoting," but lifeless "Living History."
Unlike Barbara Olson's "Hell to Pay," Morris does not get sided-tracked trying to paint Mrs. Clinton into, and then trying to keep her inside the lines of a "self-fulfilling Leftwing Radical Box." He simply tells the truth, as he knows it, without hype, without anti-Hillary angst, and without failing to mention the ex-First Lady's good side.
The good news is that Hillary Clinton is a normally intelligent (but not brilliant like her husband, or as the media has portrayed her to be), well-organized person with a genuine interest in children and women's issues. She is an excellent linear thinker and problem solver, but not a creative one. She can be single-minded and driven, despite often not knowing where the end-states are, or from where the results might come.
The bad news is that she is intellectually shallow, not a deep thinker, mean-spirited, secretive, paranoid, vindictive, inclined to lie for no apparent good reason other than to elevate her own self-image. She carries herself with an unearned sense of her own importance and entitlement. She is driven by grand utopian theories and loses focus easily when they must be translated into practical outcomes - as was the case with the single issue assigned to her during her husband's tenure, healthcare.
Although her "resume" is superficially impressive, her "actual accomplishments" are meager in the extreme. And finally, although Hillary is inner-directed, she needs a Guru or a leader and seems unhappy and insecure in her own skin. Said another way, although Hillary is uneasy with others, she also appears to be in bad company when alone. Her formative experiences seem to have twisted her character in such a way, that of the two politicians her career most resembles and parallels, she is more like Richard Nixon than RFK.
Morris' conclusion: that electing Hillary (to reuse her husband's Charley Rose metaphor) would be a "true roll of the dice." Her professional attributes and her character make up a potent and potentially fatal witches brew of defects - so much so that to take a chance on her for the challenges of the 21st Century would indeed be a risky proposition for this nation. Five stars