Rating: 
Summary: Great Reading...
Review: Great Reading. I was never a supporter of this administration but read the book to gain some insight into the people involved. The book is well written and difficult to put down in spite of reader approval or agreement. I found the closing sentences a pessimistic view of tolerating perceived quality leadership and settling for low character. I find it pessimistic because I choose not to give up finding the quality leader and quality person. They are out there somewhere... I don't regret for one minute having read the book as it again was great reading. I recommend it to anyone interested in history current or otherwise.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: George Stephanopoulos' seemingly blind allegiance to the Clintons and the ideals they represented prevents this book from giving us an objective description of Clinton's first term in office. That having been said, the subjective portrait Stephanopoulos paints is merely a novelty at best. As the book unfolds, we begin to wonder how this man came to be the President's closest advisor, and similarly as Stephanopoulos indirectly describes his own ineptitude, the mirage of legitimacy that holds this book up is slowly torn apart. As if all of this wasn't enough, the book reads extremely slowly, offering little in the way of critical analysis. All in all, any common Clinton supporter could sum up their sentiments in a similar publication, this one is simply distinguished by the author's having been physically present for much of the proceedings.
Rating: 
Summary: Exceptional Story of Truth: Politics, Press, and Power
Review: Through his eloquent poetic prose, George Stephanopoulos invites the reader into a world of politics, the press, and power. His intriguing descriptions and personal accounts of the people we all know from CNN and The Post, George allows the reader to know more than the facts. He invites us to know how it feels to be there, to be a part of the action, decision-making, and excitement. He allows us to watch him evolve from the lost recent grad into the successful person he is today. Furthermore, his personal touch allows us to understand his morality, loyality, and obligation to the people of the US, the President, and of course, himself.
Rating:
Summary: A page turner...even for a die-hard Clinton supporter
Review: To put it short, anyone who is interested in getting more of an inside view of the Clinton administration needs to read this book. I am still supportive of President Clinton but realize that he had many tricks up his sleeve. Stephanopoulos paints a very realistic picture of the inner workings of the Clinton White House. Excellent book!
Rating: 
Summary: Inside with George
Review: George Stephanopoulos was the "young mop-top" that everyone noticed during the Clinton campaign. He was brash, attractive, and well spoken. He seemed to be both an insider, with Clinton's ear, and an outsider -- an ethnic, dark-eyed pessimistic in the cheery Clinton camp. In this book, Stephanopoulos paints himself in just those colors. He was frequently the one who saw the darkest possible outcome and feared the worst for the campaign. Yet he was very, very close to the Clintons. He was not a "Friend of Bill," and never on first-name basis with the President, but almost always present -- listening, advising, watching. This book is some 480 pages long, which is a lot. It is filled with details about the political process. Some of these are interesting -- the last minute bargaining for votes on Clinton's budget, the preparations for Arafat and Rabin's historic handshake. But much of what is detailed in this book is of little interest to the general reader. The conflicts within the White House and the polarizing effect of Dick Morris' presence fascinate Stephanopoulos, but are not exactly high drama. Much of it is just office politics and bickering, with the White House resembling a small business where everyone wants to influence the boss. Stephanopoulos himself is the central character here, not Clinton. And George S. is a very interesting character -- driven, energetic, and smart. He enjoys the spotlight and seems to get quite an ego boost from being a celebrity. He shamelessly recounts being pinched in the "lower cheeks" by two fans. It's all politics and show business rolled up in one adrenaline-soaked experience.
Rating:
Summary: All Too Ego
Review: What simplistic tripe this book is. Stephanopolous injects far too much insecurity in this writing. He, on numerous occasions in the book, alludes to the fact that his being "Greek" has some kind of correlation with the other "oppressed" peoples of the world - absurd. Additionally, he seems to be the driving force behind ALL of the successes during his involvement in the Clinton Administration, relegating people like James Carville to a back seat (the opposite seems to be true if you read any of Carvilles works). His bias is clear and not at all masked, which supports the current " I am not a narrow-minded liberal even though I behave like one" mentality prevalent in today's network news media. Pass on this book and get one with true insight and analysis.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Memoir
Review: This book provides an excellent inside account of the intricacies of the Clinton Administration, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in politics.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Look at the Process
Review: I liked the title of the book because after you read it you come to think (at least I did) that the first part "All Too Human" deals with his old boss and the second part "A Political Education" deals with his experiences in the job. The author (his name is too long to type) provides the reader with a short bio of his job search before joining the Clinton team - parts of the interview process was interesting. He then takes us through the campaign, election and then his four years in the White House. He provides the reader with a detailed and sometimes new view to the personalities of the people he worked with, the center of power if you will. The facts and process of the campaign trail were very interesting as was the details on how legislation is created and passed between the Congress and White House. For the person interested in gossip (I count myself in this group) we also get a good amount of stories and antidotes although probably not as scandalous or illegal as the far right would have liked to see.
The author wrote a very easy to read, warm and interesting book that has a lot of personality that comes through the writing. This is his experience of his time in the campaign and political advisor roles so the story is focused on his perceptions and actions. If you are looking for an overall detailed account of the election or the first four years in the Clinton White House I would suggest the Woodward books "The Agenda" and "The Choice" and the Elizabeth Drew book "Showdown: The Struggle between the Gingrich Congress and the Clinton White House".
Rating:
Summary: Behind-the-scenes look at the Clinton presidency
Review: Heard the taped version of ALL TOO HUMAN: A POLITICAL
EDUCATION by George Stephanopoulos, one of President
Clinton's senior advisers . . . this is a real behind-the-scenes
look at what life was like in the White House . . . I felt that
I got to know not only Clinton better, but also Al Gore, Dick
Morris and Hilary Clinton--and in doing so, was not very
impressed with any of them . . . somehow there were
real accomplishments . . . yet I was amazed that this
happened given the resultant scheming, protracted decisions
and last-minute flip-flops . . . the author's question at the
end puts this all into just the right perspective: "What if this
good President had been a better man?"
Rating:
Summary: Its the biography, stupid!
Review: I've noted in a number of other reviews a common complaint with the book; where is the detail on Clinton, or Hilary, Gore or other aides? This is a biography of Stephanopoulos, not a story of Clinton. It's George's perspective about the whole experience, not just about Clinton. You will learn what George thought about Clinton, what impressed him, and what disappointed him about his boss. This book gives you a great feel for what George lived through during the 2 election campaigns and Clinton's first term. He is honest about his vying for position with the President against other advisors, about things he did well, and times that he blew it. You come away feeling what it might really be like to work on the inside of the greatest office in the world, the glamour, the ad hoc scrambling to push positions through Congress, the constant damage control sessions, the full-time job to spin facts into the desired public perception (George is the Rumplestiltskin of the White House in that regard). It confirmed what I'd felt reading newspapers about the Clinton administration during the first term; the White House and Congress are not all working together in the best interests of the US. Rather, each faction, whether Repub, Demo, Special Interest, etc. is only trying to maximize their own interests at the expense of anyone else's. (Sounds like a good application for Nash's game theory). Sure, this account is not an objective overview of anything; this is what George saw, felt, did, how he failed and succeeded. Anyone wanting to work in politics will find it interesting. Anyone affected by politics (that's all of us citizens) will cringe at realizing it's all on the job training each time a new administration comes in to office. I really enjoyed the read.
|
