All Too Human Abridged

Rating:
Summary: A Solid Read
Review: I have to give Stephanopolous credit, this is a pretty darn good book. It is well written and thoughtfully conceived, not to mention somewhat moving (I actually came to feel sorry for him; the final chapter lends me to classify it as a tragedy.). After repeatedly seeing him and enjoying his commentaries on ABC's "This Week," I felt compelled to purchase the work. I'm glad I did. The insider views and vignettes of the White House are fantastically interesting, and Stephanopolous's political wit and wisdom shine through unobstructed. In response to some criticism I have heard for this book, I don't understand why people are arguing that it is far to George-centric and that it merely serves to boost his ego as the definitive insider in the Clinton White House. Of course it is all those things!!! The book is basically an autobiographical account of his years in the White House. "Autobiography" implies "ego" and "author-centric" qualities. However, the author in many ways mitigates his self-praise through truthful accounts of his own naivete and personal failures - evidence that he attempted to present an objective view. The only critique I feel the need to offer is his apparent disdain for anyone who might ideologically oppose him or the Clinton administrations policy, as if he is aware of the existence of some universal truths spelling out the righteous qualities of their policy fomulations. This I find plagued with ideological hubris; however, it takes little away from the overall character and intention of the book. All in all, a good, solid read that's worth anyone's time.

Rating:
Summary: An insightful look behind the closed doors of politics.
Review: I have been intrigued with Stephanopolous since the '92 election. He was young, goodlooking, and exactly where I wanted to be. He was a kind of idol or hero to me. Unlike many Clinton supporters, GS's comments about the president during the Lewinsky scandal did not turn me against him. When the book came out I obviously had to read it, and I am definitly glad I did. Even if you are not a Clinton supporter, you will appreciate the inner turmoil the White House went through during its first term in office. The book displays the anguish of giving in to what you feel is right to do what is best for your agenda. The personal tug-of-war that goes on inside of GS, Hillary, Clinton, and the entire staff shows a very human side to the figures that you see on TV. It shows that they aren't just the President and First Lady, or some political mouthpiece, but real people who have to deal with the same problems the average man deals with day in and day out, just on a larger scale. The book has the reader feeling compassion for those that the press would have you believe are evil, unfeeling people. It is a definite must read for anyone who is a political junkie.

Rating:
Summary: AUTHORITATIVE READING BY THIS AUTHOR
Review: A former advisor to President Clinton, George Stephanopoulos was a believer when he joined the Arkansas Democrat's campaign in 1991. It took him five years, a serious case of hives and increasing depression to become a nonbeliever.

He had tolerated the "bimbo eruptions," midnight to dawn planning sessions, and psychological combat. Putting Washington politics and politicos behind him in 1996, Stephanopoulos resigned. As for Clinton, is there anyone who doesn't know what has happened to him?

Rating:
Summary: All too Mediocre...
Review: I had very high expectations for this book, and with a few exceptions, I was mostly disappointed. I probably made the mistake of reading Sidney Blumenthal's "The Clinton Wars" before I read this book. Blumenthal's tome is probably the best political book I have ever read - it's an excellent account and insider's view into President Clinton's second term, and his psyche.

By contrast, this is an account of Clinton's first term that offers insights into the '92 election, Clinton's first four years, and the administration's early battles on gays in the military, the assault weapons ban, NAFTA, etc. My two chief criticisms of this book: 1. It describes none of these events thoroughly, and 2. It does not offer nearly enough perspective of President Clinton's thoughts and motives.

Stephanopoulos seems to have written this book to stroke his ego - the writing seems very hurried. But hurried for what? This is just a guess, but perhaps Stephanopoulos wanted to rush this book out to press before his name was forgotten and Clinton was out of office? (The hard cover has a copyright of 1999.) Too often in this book, we get way too much George and not enough Bill. Let's face it - probably the majority of people who buy this book are doing so to gain insight into the Clinton presidency, not Stephanopoulos' career. The author also has an annoying habit of giving us his insecure thoughts and fears in italics during important events, arguments or crises. That's the mark of an immature writer.

There are many examples throughout the book where a very important incident or at least one of memorable importance is merely glossed over, but I'll just offer one brief one here. During the '92 election, when the Clintons went on 60 Minutes in light of the Gennifer Flowers allegations, a memorable thing happened off camera that was later revealed in the media and aired on television. During the interview, a bank of klieg lights fell down, nearly hitting the Clintons. Without missing a beat, both Hillary and Bill proceeded with the memorable interview (when at one point, Hillary made the infamous "stand by your man" comment, of Tammy Wynette fame). Yet, Stephanopoulos had no comment on the lights falling, Clinton's composure, or Hillary's controversial comment, and according to him, he was IN THE ROOM during the interview! It would have been nice for the author to "put us in the room," in the middle of the action, and to give the reader his thoughts and those of the Clintons.

To be fair, the book has some bright spots, too. Stephanopoulos gives readers some very good insight about the two government shutdowns during Clinton's showdown with the GOP Congress and Newt Gingrich. Clinton's budget battles and his reasoning behind his economic views are covered quite nicely. He also covers many other domestic issues well, which gives readers good insight into Clinton's goals and dreams during the early years of his presidency.

For diehards wanting another look inside the Clinton presidency, I recommend the book. But, if you're looking for highly detailed, insightful accounts of Clinton's thoughts and actions during the '92 election and his first term, and not his feelings and actions toward George Stephanopoulos, I recommend looking elsewhere, like when Clinton releases his memoirs, and also Sidney Blumenthal's aforementioned book, "The Clinton Wars."

Rating:
Summary: Case History of "Stalled" Thinking About Governing Processes
Review: This book says a lot about our governmental processes that suggests room for improvement. Most people will think about the book from a political, ethical or personal perspective, so I thought it would be helpful to consider the management lessons instead.

As portrayed in All Too Human, the Clinton administration displayed many of the most significant forms of "stalled" thinking that delay human progress. For example, decisions were often made at the last minute or delayed for months, unnecessarily (deomonstrating the procrastination stall). A contributing factor was that everyone was allowed their say, time and time again, making for a hopeless bureaucratic stall. This tendency led to little time to decide what to say about the decision after it is made so a lot of miscommunications occur (creating communications stalls). The people in the White House often did not know how they were supposed to do their jobs (contributing to a misconception stall). They were also slow to understand that the voter anger that led to the Republican success in 1994 was something they were going to have to accommodate (the result of a disbelief stall). Further, the administration did not want anyone to look too closely at controversial areas about the Clinton's past dealings (an ugly duckling stall that affected the credibility of those who defended actions that later turned out to be different than initially portrayed). Two centuries of government had also developed a lot of precedent that made lawyers and poltical advisors limit the President's choices (exhibiting the tradition stall).

Perhaps the most significant lesson is that the administration was slow to perceive that creating good processes for managing government is important. This seems related to the inexperience of many with government at the national level, and the extreme talent of the people at the top who felt confident that they could "wing it" successfully. The good news is that beginning with Leon Panetta's appointment, the White House has been learning to put more stock in management processes.

One lesson of All Too Human is that humans can learn, improve by learning from their mistakes, and go on to make great progress. That seems to have begun to happen before Mr. S. left the White House. With Robert Rubin at Treasury, we saw the contrast of a well-functioning management process.

With better government processes (to elect and to govern), we can hope for an even brighter tomorrow.

Every serious person who wants to learn how to manage better (and citizen who wants to mprove our country) MUST READ THIS BOOK. This is especially timely as we enter the next presidential election campaign. I hope the candidates are asked early and often about how they will improve on the management processes described in this book. May the best process improver win!

Rating:
Summary: All Too Mediocre...
Review: I had very high expectations for this book, and with a few exceptions, I was mostly disappointed. (...) this is an account of Clinton's first term that offers insights into the '92 election, Clinton's first four years, and the administration's early battles on gays in the military, the assault weapons ban, NAFTA, etc. My two chief criticisms of this book: 1. It describes none of these events thoroughly, and 2. It does not offer nearly enough perspective of President Clinton's thoughts and motives.

Stephanopoulos seems to have written this book to stroke his ego - the writing seems very hurried. But hurried for what? This is just a guess, but perhaps Stephanopoulos wanted to rush this book out to press before his name was forgotten and Clinton was out of office? (The hard cover has a copyright of 1999.) Too often in this book, we get way too much George and not enough Bill. Let's face it - probably the majority of people who buy this book are doing so to gain insight into the Clinton presidency, not Stephanopoulos' career. The author also has an annoying habit of giving us his insecure thoughts and fears in italics during important events, arguments or crises. That's the mark of an immature writer.

There are many examples throughout the book where a very important incident or at least one of memorable importance is merely glossed over, but I'll just offer one brief one here. During the '92 election, when the Clintons went on 60 Minutes in light of the Gennifer Flowers allegations, a memorable thing happened off camera that was later revealed in the media and aired on television. During the interview, a bank of klieg lights fell down, nearly hitting the Clintons. Without missing a beat, both Hillary and Bill proceeded with the memorable interview (when at one point, Hillary made the infamous "stand by your man" comment, of Tammy Wynette fame). Yet, Stephanopoulos had no comment on the lights falling, Clinton's composure, or Hillary's controversial comment, and according to him, he was IN THE ROOM during the interview! It would have been nice for the author to "put us in the room," in the middle of the action, and to give the reader his thoughts and those of the Clintons.

To be fair, the book has some bright spots, too. Stephanopoulos gives readers some very good insight about the two government shutdowns during Clinton's showdown with the GOP Congress and Newt Gingrich. Clinton's budget battles and his reasoning behind his economic views are covered quite nicely. He also covers many other domestic issues well, which gives readers good insight into Clinton's goals and dreams during the early years of his presidency.

For diehards wanting another look inside the Clinton presidency, I recommend the book. But, if you're looking for highly detailed, insightful accounts of Clinton's thoughts and actions during the '92 election and his first term, and not his feelings and actions toward George Stephanopoulos, I recommend looking elsewhere, like when Clinton releases his memoirs, and also Sidney Blumenthal's aforementioned book, "The Clinton Wars."

Rating:
Summary: The Spin Doctor is in......
Review: It's an interesting book. Unfortunately the purpose of the book is to Spin his legacy. The title alone shows that he's putting some distance between he and the White House.

He could have taken the high road on many occasions and advised the President to do the right thing, but power and celebrity were more important. Now he's spinning again. So what are we to believe?

Like the President he writes things and expects us to just believe it and move on: "Even worse, we created a mess of our own when two midlevel White House staffers mistakenly obtained the FBI files of nine hundred Republicans from previous administrations" (pg. 416)

How do you "mistakenly obtain" 900 of anything? I suppose they were all filed under the letter "R" for Republican and the staffers were just holding them until they could put them into alphabetic order by last name?

In another example, referring to charges of sexual assualt as a "bimbo eruption" (pg. 55) he wants you to believe its all part of a right-wing conspiracy out to get the President. What makes these women "bimbos"?

In the sad, sad end he claims to have been burned out. It's a testament to his ego and desire for power that he was able to keep a straight face for as long as he did.

Just Spin Baby.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Political Education
Review: Albeit long, this book was an interesting look into a complex political career. Stephanopoulos is honest and thoughtful about his actions and decisions. This book offers insight into the organized chaos we call the West Wing.

Of course, if you are more interested in Clinton himself, forget about this. This is about George. So don't buy this book and get all whiny. It's solid reading, but it might take you a few days.

Rating:
Summary: Quite interesting in spots, but bloated
Review: Stephanopoulos (GS from here on) is in a bind writing this book. It's his autobiography, but his story is interesting only insofar as he's writing about interesting people. Great writers can spin beautiful stories from ordinary people doing ordinary things (Reynolds Price's "Clear Pictures" comes to mind) but GS is a politico, not a professional writer.

Still, his prose is lively--he's especially handy with a simile--and he is properly self-effacing. You can just tell this is the eager-beaver in the office that you would dislike, but he comes across as likable in the book, largely because, in looking back, he doesn't take any of it too seriously.

The books slows considerably once GS is in the white house. The insiders portrait of the White House is interesting for a while, but as he describes the details about this budget battle and that legislative crisis, the annoying eager beaver come through--you can feel GS reliving these battles through the pages, and it will be a rare reader who wants to follow his thought processes that closely.

A fun read, but if you skim some stuff you're in little danger of missing much.

Rating:
Summary: Not a Bad Primer on Clinton's First Term
Review: Probably the most balanced perspective on the first Clinton term one can expect. You'd never catch rank partisans such as Begala or Carville writing anything remotely resembling the fairness applied by Stephanopoulos. For those with an open mind (neither rabidly for nor against Clinton), this is an excellent primer on Clinton, the man. For all his intellect and political wisdom, Clinton did some really stupid things - things that defied common sense - things that came with high risk, but little promise of reward. Clinton's human nature got the better of his "book smarts," which makes Stephanopoulos sub-title appropriate. I do have two pans about the book. First, Stephanopoulos' superficial treatment of how inexperienced White House staff "accidentally" procured FBI files on 900 Republicans. He mentions it, but never explains it. Second, a subject he fails to mention at all - Why Bill Clinton was laughing at Ron Brown's funeral (which, when caught, suddenly composed himself into a "mourning" pose).