#63 Bill Clinton's 'My Life: The Early Years' - My Impressions

by Nate A. Lindell

created 13 May 2012

For those of you who, like me, dislike Bill Clinton, this book may disappoint you. He's a smooth writer, comes across real sincere and humble, intelligent and somewhat honorable if not courageous.

Hey, I liked what Clinton did for college students, but thought he was gutless for claiming "I didn't inhale" & disrespecting Hillary (whom, by the way, I am not a fan of) by his Monica Lewinsky affair. As a prisoner, I despise him for passing the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), which have inflicted much misery on the Blacks who thought of him as their first President, as well as on myself. But this book, Volume I of the paperback version of his autobio, shows that Bill had and has a heart, meant well, wasn't in love with himself, and overcame the kind of difficulties (i.e. a childhood without a father, a drunken and abusive stepfather, and lack of wealth) I couldn't overcome.

Originally, I had no intention of READING the book, just wanted to base some scurrilous [sic] on the photos I expected to find in it (oh, they're coming! :)). But with nothing else to read, I perused a few pages, then a few more, and haven't been able to put it down.

Yet another reason I have for not liking Slick Willy!

How personalities develop - particularly psychopathic ones - is a topic of the greatest interest to me. I must understand this to understand if "rehabilitation" is even possible, if the system is TRULY unjust to give out life sentences to murderers and other criminals. How can any punishment be moral if it's inflicted on people who, due to factors beyond their control, were cursed to be criminals?

That's one reason Clinton's book appealed to me. I noticed that he seemed to have - assuming his portrait is accurate, which it seems - a sense of security, hope, and passion that enabled him to overcome his troubled childhood. He attributes this to the devotion of three adults to him - his mom, his grandma, and his grandfather. And, I think he may be right.

Last month I finished reading Philip Carlo's 'The Iceman: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer' (e-mail him at pcarlo847@aol.com, tell him I said "great book!"). More than a year ago I read Truman Capote's 'In Cold Blood' (good luck e-mailing him!). In those two books I found examples of people who had harsher childhoods and adolescences and NO adults devoted to them. Maybe that led to those kids growing up to be killers vs. the President?

I do envy Bill's childhood. At least he ate well. Maybe this is part of the reason I've disliked him - he seemed content, while I was miserable, which was not his fault.

This book is worth reading, even if you hate or love Bill Clinton. Not only does he carefully explain his personal development and ideology, but the guy lived through a lot of very critical political history and provide the inside view of the workings of the political system and the path to political success. If you're interested in any of the above, ya need to read this book.

This is not an "endorsement" of Bill Clinton, although I believe he'd make for a worthy conversationalist; it's an endorsement of his book. The man can write and has a story to tell, even to those who despise him.

Throw rotten tomatoes at me if I'm lying!

Prometheus