Bill Clinton and Black America

Rating:
Summary: Can we please get over Bill Clinton?
Review: As a Black man myself, I was constantly amazed that so many Blacks adored Bill Clinton. I'll give DeWayne Wickham credit for trying to turn out an intelligent text looking at the relationship between a US president and the US Black population. However, he should have toned down - WAY down - the adoration and praise he directed towards Clinton. Wickham's book would have been greatly helped by a large helping of objectivity.

As we're clearly seeing now, Bill Clinton will inevitably go down in history as not only our worst President ever, but also as the worst person we've ever had as President. His only success was being smart and/or lucky enough not to derail a vibrant, roaring US economy. Most of his policies were failures. As Wickham discussed, Clinton squandered away huge amounts of political capital with that stupid Monica Lewinsky affair, then was (correctly) impeached for lying and committing perjury over it. Worst of all, we now know that Clinton's lame, lacksadaisical response to repeated terrorist attacks (the first WTC bombing, Khobar Towers, the two African embassy bombings, the USS Cole bombing) encouraged Osama Bin Ladin and other Islamic terrorists to declare open season on America - because they laughed at Clinton's tepid responses, and thought they'd continue to get away with it. Don't believe me - listen to Osama Bin Ladin on that captured videotape. Many Americans, including many blacks, died on September 11th because of Bill Clinton's weakness and pre-occupation with sex over the previous years. We Blacks encouraged him, cheered him on, and let him get away with it. Contrary to Wickham's book, Black America's unquestioning, fanatical support of Bill Clinton has clearly been shown to be something we should be deeply ashamed of now.

This book spends a lot of time looking at Clinton as "our first black President." I was deeply, deeply offended by this. The attributes usually quoted - Clinton being a shucking and jiving scam artist, being sexually promiscuous and adulterous, never getting caught, being able to sleaze out of tight situations, being noted for lying and dissembling - what part of this reflects well, at all, on Black America? None! Why on earth are we proud of being compared or linked to a disbarred lawyer, the first elected president ever to be impeached, a man who is widely known to this day as a phony and a liar? Wickham's book doesn't address this - probably because there is no good answer.

In short, DeWayne Wickham's book is long on warm, fuzzy thoughts and a highly selective memory of the Clinton Years. We can't escape history, however. History will judge Clinton harshly, and US Blacks along with him. President G.W. Bush has done much more for US Blacks than Clinton ever did - better programs, more Blacks in his Cabinet and Administration, stronger action to protect us against threats, and bringing us all together as a nation. I will be curious to see if Wickham will one day write a book on, "George W. Bush and Black America." Somehow, I wouldn't bet on it. This book could have been much, much better if Wickham had focused on reality rather than the political myths and Democratic Party line that seem to pervade it. Not a good effort, and not up to the usual caliber of Wickham's otherwise incisive and interesting articles.

Rating:
Summary: "A Race Man In the White House
Review: Before reading interviews of various folk who comment on te love affair between former President Bill Clinton and black America, I suggest first reading the two chapters near the end of the book, "A Race Man in the White House" and "A Drum Major for Change." In these two chapters, Wickham puts his finger on a simple but important fact about Clinton when he writes that rather then distance himself from the black community he made an effort to bring the races together and "he tried harder than any other president to make race less of a factor in our lives.

Moreover, Wickham writes: "What impresses me about Bill Clinton is that he does not view black skin as a 'disagreeable mirror.' More to the point, he has shown a greater willingness than any other president to look African Amercans in the eye not with condescension, as Lew Payne points out, but with an uncommon sense of fairness."

In his 310-page book, Wickham makes it clear that Clinton did not use magic to woe black America. He appointed an unprecedented number of African Americans to top jobs in his administration and he tackled America's racial problems head on. And while the Republicans attacked affirmative action, Clinton promoted a "One America" initiative to help build a bridge of understanding between whites and blacks.

The book is loaded with interviews with a cross-section of black America. Over and over again, the same theme is sounded: Bill Clinton was well liked because he made the connection that other presidents ignored. Clinton made the connection that past president did not make because of racism or ignorance.

Wickham has weaved together a number of interesting interviews of African Americans of different walks of life in a way that make this book easy reading. I recommend this book to all students of history and those who want racial progress.

Rating:
Summary: Give me a break. Clinton is one of the worst presidents
Review: Before reading interviews of various folk who comment on te love affair between former President Bill Clinton and black America, I suggest first reading the two chapters near the end of the book, "A Race Man in the White House" and "A Drum Major for Change." In these two chapters, Wickham puts his finger on a simple but important fact about Clinton when he writes that rather then distance himself from the black community he made an effort to bring the races together and "he tried harder than any other president to make race less of a factor in our lives.

Moreover, Wickham writes: "What impresses me about Bill Clinton is that he does not view black skin as a 'disagreeable mirror.' More to the point, he has shown a greater willingness than any other president to look African Amercans in the eye not with condescension, as Lew Payne points out, but with an uncommon sense of fairness."

In his 310-page book, Wickham makes it clear that Clinton did not use magic to woe black America. He appointed an unprecedented number of African Americans to top jobs in his administration and he tackled America's racial problems head on. And while the Republicans attacked affirmative action, Clinton promoted a "One America" initiative to help build a bridge of understanding between whites and blacks.

The book is loaded with interviews with a cross-section of black America. Over and over again, the same theme is sounded: Bill Clinton was well liked because he made the connection that other presidents ignored. Clinton made the connection that past president did not make because of racism or ignorance.

Wickham has weaved together a number of interesting interviews of African Americans of different walks of life in a way that make this book easy reading. I recommend this book to all students of history and those who want racial progress.

Rating:
Summary: In Time He Will Be Recognized As A Great Leader of People
Review: In reading Mr. Wickham's book, I felt he captured the true strength of William Jefferson Clinton ... An Understanding of Race Relations in America. Through the eyes of those who work with him and for him, Wickham found the chronicled the uniqueness of this man who saw all people as equals. Unfortunately, this very personal belief created a level of discomfort for those who wish to imped racial progress for ideological and/or political reasons. I applaud Clinton for never wavering on the question of race relations and DeWayne L. Wickham for telling the story of Bill Clinton through the eyes of Black Americans. Bill Clinton will eventually be recognized as a great President with an extraordinary understanding of people.

Rating:
Summary: My Opinion
Review: The first time I knew I'd made a wise choice by voting for Bill Clinton was while viewing news footage taken of him the first few days he took office for his first term. He was walking with some aides around the White House and two elderly African American women waved and smiled to him. He walked over to them and began talking. Just then an aide stepped between Clinton and the two women with his back to the two elderly women. Clinton became furious and part of what he said to the aide had to be bleeped out to be shown on television. The footage was meant to show the temper of a new president. What I saw was a president rightfully ticked at a staff member for disrespecting two elderly African Americans. I remember thinking "d**n, Clinton gets it". To better understand why black america loves Clinton (besides hiring more blacks in his cabinet than any other president, balancing the budget and starting and supporting job and education programs), I would recommend that you read "Invisible Man". With Clinton, for a change, we weren't invisible, we mattered and weren't taken for granted. He didn't say dumb things like "It is a terrible thing to lose one's mind" at a United Negro College Fund function or assume that welfare benefit increases was an important issue to African Americans (we work!). He had a respect for the history and the people that had never been seen before or perhaps since ( I once saw him unexpectedly be asked to recite the Negro National Anthem. He recited the first two verses without struggle and then sang the THIRD!). For the first time, I had a feeling of safety. So, in a sense, he was "more black" than Clarence Thomas who climbed up the ladder of opportunity built by many black heroes and continues to block the climbing of it to young African Americans today by tearing down Affirmative Action laws. To the reviewer who had the nerve to make suggestions on what African Americans I should admire ("Thomas and Rice"), I'd thank you to mind your own business. How dare you? Do you have a clue about the black experience in American? I think not. I love this book because it's a reminder that even if I don't see another great president like Bill Clinton in my lifetime, I at least got to see one. And for that I am truly thankful.

Rating:
Summary: My Opinion
Review: The first time I knew I'd made a wise choice by voting for Bill Clinton was while viewing news footage taken of him the first few days he took office for his first term. He was walking with some aides around the White House and two elderly African American women waved and smiled to him. He walked over to them and began talking. Just then an aide stepped between Clinton and the two women with his back to the two elderly women. Clinton became furious and part of what he said to the aide had to be bleeped out to be shown on television. The footage was meant to show the temper of a new president. What I saw was a president rightfully ticked at a staff member for disrespecting two elderly African Americans. I remember thinking "d**n, Clinton gets it". To better understand why black america loves Clinton (besides hiring more blacks in his cabinet than any other president, balancing the budget and starting and supporting job and education programs), I would recommend that you read "Invisible Man". With Clinton, for a change, we weren't invisible, we mattered and weren't taken for granted. He didn't say dumb things like "It is a terrible thing to lose one's mind" at a United Negro College Fund function or assume that welfare benefit increases was an important issue to African Americans (we work!). He had a respect for the history and the people that had never been seen before or perhaps since ( I once saw him unexpectedly be asked to recite the Negro National Anthem. He recited the first two verses without struggle and then sang the THIRD!). For the first time, I had a feeling of safety. So, in a sense, he was "more black" than Clarence Thomas who climbed up the ladder of opportunity built by many black heroes and continues to block the climbing of it to young African Americans today by tearing down Affirmative Action laws. To the reviewer who had the nerve to make suggestions on what African Americans I should admire ("Thomas and Rice"), I'd thank you to mind your own business. How dare you? Do you have a clue about the black experience in American? I think not. I love this book because it's a reminder that even if I don't see another great president like Bill Clinton in my lifetime, I at least got to see one. And for that I am truly thankful.

Rating:
Summary: Bill Clinton and Black America
Review: The things that Dwayne points out as things in common with Clinton are things to be avoided. That Clinton was elected twice was not due to black support, it was due to Ross Perot. Blacks would do well to ignore Clinton as a role model and seek people, like Sowell, Thomas, Rice, etc. to emulate. I did appreciate Dwayne trying to explain things. It was a complete mystery to me. WJC was flat out the worst president we have ever had.

Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking Book
Review: While I began this book believing that African Americans are too inclined to support any white leader who isn't blatantly racist, I ended by at least acknowledging that President Clinton went further than previous presidents in adressing the complexities of race. It's a credit to the author that he presented a balanced view of a complex subject and represented a broad and diverse group of thoughtful individuals. This book makes you think. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Clinton: Up Close and Personal
Review: While there may be countless books written about the lives of presidents from an historical perspective, "Bill Clinton and Black America" is a fresh look at the life of a president from the very mouths of his contemporaries.

Interviews with people from all walks of life give the reader an up close and personal look at Bill Clinton -- the man. It's candid, compassionate and real. Excellent read!