by Douglas
Messerli
Taylor Branch The
Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President (New York: Simon &
Schuster, 2009)
Branch, however,
also taped records of each meeting and summaries of what the two discussed on
his return home to Baltimore, and the contents of this lucid and entertaining
book are the result of those recordings rather than a distillation of the tapes
themselves, which, although serving as a resource for Clinton’s own memoirs,
remain within his library, having not yet been opened to the public.
In that sense, The Clinton Tapes as a book represents
less a record of Clinton’s statements as much as it is a memory and evaluation
of Clinton’s perceptions and attempts to put himself into an historical
context. As much as some readers may find this, accordingly, as a second-hand
report of Clinton’s administration, it is all the more enlightening given the
personal context in which Branch presents Clinton’s observations and ideas. One
might almost describe this work as an autobiographical biography of history. As
cumbersome as that may sound, it is in some respects far more revealing, I
suggest, than would be Clinton’s comments presented without commentary.
That Branch, the
noted historian of Martin Luther King, became involved in this project, was
almost an accident. As Branch writes, “Our new venture had started with
convenience and a dusty friendship.” He and Clinton had been friends in the
South while coming of age in the civil rights movement, but had gone their
different ways since 1972. Visiting Baltimore shortly after the 1992 election,
Clinton told the Baltimore Sun
reporter that he had missed several of the election night celebrants, including
“Baltimore novelist Taylor Branch, a long-time friend.” “I’m just sick about it
all,” concluded Clinton, “I’ll call him this week some time.”
Clinton did not
immediately call, but several friends did, some teasing Branch about being
called “a novelist,” others curious about his relationship with the new man in
power. Shortly after Thanksgiving someone called from the transition office,
suggesting that Clinton wanted to see him and his wife, Christy, and the two
drove to Washington on December 7th to attend a dinner at Washington Post publisher Katharine
Graham’s house.
That event, in
turn, led to an assignment of Branch to write on the President for Life magazine during inauguration day,
coverage the Clinton assistants had accepted. Within a day, Branch was sent to
the Blair house to begin the pre-inauguration coverage and, almost before he
knew what was happening, was drafted to read and comment on a version of the
President’s speech. The president-elect was busy rewriting the first half of
the address, while his aides and Branch—he, obviously, “off the record” since
he was also reporting for Life—worked
until four o’clock in the morning suggesting revisions. The fact that Clinton
primarily wrote the speech himself just hours before the beginning ceremonies
of Inauguration Day foretells the whirlwind of energy which surrounded Clinton
in the years ahead. Only four hours
later, notes Branch, “The Blair House foyer crackled with adrenaline…. From a
national security briefing, Clinton went by motorcade to Metropolitan AME
Church for an inaugural prayer service….”
Indeed, despite
the 663 pages that follow, Clinton seems hardly ever to sleep, summoning Branch
to him at all hours of the day and night, and, even when was sick or, after a
serious injury, propounding on, evaluating, and foretelling major world events,
all with the incredible detail that the man’s prodigious memory called up. As New York Times Book Review writer Joe
Klein correctly summarized:
Bill
Clinton is a one-man carnival—a magician, tightrope walker, juggler,
hot-dog-eating contestant and burlesque show.
As Clinton himself proclaimed, “My only regret is that I
have to sleep so much.” “I’d like to be awake all the time.”
Every encounter
with Clinton becomes a scatter-gun commentary on the entirety of world events,
revealing his total political involvement. More than any other President,
except, perhaps, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Clinton loved politics, absolutely
reveling in the confrontation and
compromise necessary for successful political action.
Despite all of
this presentation of Clinton’s complete immersion in history and politics,
however, Branch also reveals very personal aspects of the man, his deep love
for and involvement with Hilary (with whom, when she occasionally appears in
the middle of their conversations, Clinton takes out time to intimately talk)
and his devotion to his daughter Chelsea, for whom, on at least one occasion,
he cut the discussions short so that he might help with her homework.
Branch also makes
it evident, through Bill and Hilary's brief discussions, that she is just as
committed and involved in the political life. Just overhearing some of their
conversations as related by Branch, utterly exhausts one. For them love and
work are simply inseparable, which helps to explain Hilary’s ability to put
aside her husband's painful sexual philandering later in his administration.
Despite Clinton’s
apparent unflappability with regard to politics, however, it is clear that he
and Hilary were unprepared for the bitter hostility of some press members and
the enormous waste of energy and time the Republicans and others devoted to
their downfall, particularly with regard to Kenneth Starr’s seemingly
interminable investigation into their involvement with the Whitewater scandal,
a relationships with was tangential at most. Both Clinton and Branch, in fear
that if word got out about their tapes they would be subpoenaed, resisted
discussion of either Whitewater or, later on, Monica Lewinsky. But every so
often, in his berating of press hostility, Clinton simply could not resist
bemoaning the enormous amount of wasted energy, both by others and himself, on
what he perceived as trivial issues.
Revved up, President Clinton continued with summaries of two recent
trials in the Whitewater investigation. Should I remind him of our
intention
to
save this legally sensitive material for a separate tape? Part of me
bridled at censorship…. Arkansas accounted for a minuscule fraction
of
the gargantuan losses that ensued across the national by mismanagement,
fraud, or outright theft, and a small part of the Arkansas tab
bankrupted
thrift institutions associated with the Whitewater land development. The
current prosecutions, finally, were not about correction or restitution
for
any
of these failures, which fell against the taxpayers. On the contrary,
said Clinton, they were Ken Starr’s attempt to squeeze vulnerable
bankers
into making some kind of allegation against Clinton, on promise of
leniency.
Clinton
perceived, in his first term, they he had had some enormous successes, despite
the hostility; but it soon became apparent that the Republicans were determined
to vote against anything he or the Democrats might propose simply to claim that
opposing party had no agenda. Clinton summarizes the polarities of American
politics in terms that are terribly disturbing, but appropriate even today:
“Our
politics are like Bosnia,” the president observed. Leaders were so tapped
in
cycles of payback for prior injuries and wrongs, with the press egging on every
fight, that it was hard to see any larger context. He seemed blithely
philosophical
about
this position. Then again, he suggested that a Bosnia could be the epitome
of
politics—if it finally could attain that
rare higher plane…."
No matter what
one thinks of the man, it is nearly impossible to deny, after reading Branch’s
book, that Clinton had a large agenda and saw his role in historical terms that
related, in his mind, to that higher plane.. One of the most touching moments
in this near-encyclopedic commentary is a moment in which, despite the obvious
antagonism he must of felt with former President Nixon, Clinton readily admits:
A
month ago today, he had received from Nixon a letter about Russia that
Clinton called the most brilliant communication on foreign policy to
reach
him
as president. Nothing else came close, he said. It was about planning
for
a “post-Yeltsin era,” with penetrating studies of political characters and
fledgling countries.
One need only compare that magnanimous view with what the
President relates of Robert Dole’s and John McCain’s vindictiveness.
Ultimately, what
strikes one in reading this book in 2010 are the similarities between the
Democratic administration of Clinton’s first term and that of President
Obama’s. Both achieved significant legislation despite the refusal of the
Republicans to embrace little but a policy of “no.” We have yet to see the
results of the election of 2011, but we can suspect that it will be quite
similar to the results of 1994:
"Nowhere in the 1994 elections did a Republican incumbent lose for
Congress or
governor, while Democrats across the country lost eight senators, eight
governors, and fifty-five representatives. Republicans gained control of
both
legislative chambers in the biggest midterm shift since 1946, the year
Clinton
was born."
The prospects of Obama, accordingly, who has faced the same
political negativity, despite his achievements is disheartening, to say the
least.
Obviously, Obama
is not Clinton. He is clearly more conciliatory than Clinton, and hasn’t the
lust for politics that Clinton professed. Issues of race also make Obama’s
presidency more complex. Despite his evident intelligence and knowledge of
political issues, Obama sometimes presents himself as a man of less experience.
But the echoes one hears throughout Branch’s book are so strong that they
suggest as a country we may never grow out of the Bosnia-like cycle of payback
and refusal to participate in true political debate. As Clinton concludes in
one of his last sessions with Branch:
Human nature drove candidates to seek efficiencies and shortcuts by
catering to big money. This required callousness over time, even
meanness.
It was difficult enough to survive. It was hard to keep sight of public
purpose, although he insisted that most politicians tried. His voice
caught.
And it was so very hard to be progressive and win.
Los Angeles,
July 29, 2010
Reprinted from Green
Integer Blog (July 2010).
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