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Books by and about 2020 presidential candidates |
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Crippled America, by Donald J. Trump (2015) |
United, by Cory Booker (2016) |
The Truths We Hold, by Kamala Harris (2019) |
Smart on Crime, by Kamala Harris (2010) |
Guide to Political Revolution, by Bernie Sanders (2017) |
Where We Go From Here, by Bernie Sanders (2018) |
Promise Me, Dad , by Joe Biden (2017) |
Conscience of a Conservative, by Jeff Flake (2017) |
Two Paths, by Gov. John Kasich (2017) |
Every Other Monday, by Rep. John Kasich (2010) |
Courage is Contagious, by John Kasich (1998) |
Shortest Way Home, by Pete Buttigieg (2019) |
The Book of Joe , by Jeff Wilser (2019; biography of Joe Biden) |
Becoming, by Michelle Obama (2018) |
Our Revolution, by Bernie Sanders (2016) |
This Fight Is Our Fight, by Elizabeth Warren (2017) |
Higher Loyalty, by James Comey (2018) |
The Making of Donald Trump, by David Cay Johnston (2017) |
Books by and about the 2016 presidential election |
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What Happened , by Hillary Clinton (2017) |
Higher Loyalty , by James Comey (2018) |
Trump vs. Hillary On The Issues , by Jesse Gordon (2016) |
Hard Choices, by Hillary Clinton (2014) |
Becoming , by Michelle Obama (2018) |
Outsider in the White House, by Bernie Sanders (2015) |
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Book Reviews |
(from Amazon.com) |
(click a book cover for a review or other books by or about the presidency from Amazon.com)
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State of the Union A Report on President Clinton's First Four Years in Office by Thomas Blood and Bruce Henderson
![](State_Union.jpg) (Click for Amazon book review)
Click here for 29 full quotes from Bill Clinton in the book State of the Union, A Report on President Clinton.
OR click on an issue category below for a subset. |
BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org:
This book is a "report card" on Clinton's first term. Its stated intent is to establish a "universal standard by which citizens can go down a checklist to judge a President's performance" (p. 9) The authors use the standard of fulfilling Constitutional duties and then fulfilling campaign promises. They conclude that Clinton has fulfilled 136 out of 157 campaign promises, or 87%, and that he tried but failed to achieve results on an additional 14, for a total of 96% on that scale (p. 154).
The "report card" is a cute metaphor but the authors' analysis is just not plausible. They claim to judge Clinton by a "universal standard"--pshaw! Whether Clinton has fulfilled campaign promises is interpretative--there is no "universal standard" like the authors pretend. Therefore, this is a campaign booklet much more than a "report card"--and the authors should not pretend otherwise!
For example, the authors score Clinton as having fulfilled 9 out of 9 promises on health care (pp. 136-8), and having achieved results on 5 out of 9 promises on health care, scoring him at 100% on "action taken" and 55% on "achieved results." The authors mask the truth about Clinton's first term--that his health care initiative, known as "HillaryCare" because his wife ran the commission that wrote the policy report, was widely considered the greatest failure of his presidency--if not one of the greatest political and policy failures of American history. The authors claim "promises kept" on health care--but every one of those got killed in Congress when they killed HillaryCare. Only to warped inside-the-Beltway pundits does that count as "Promises kept"--to the rest of us, Clinton promised to reform healthcare and failed.
The campaign promise analysis is "Part 2"; unfortunately, "Part 1" is even worse. "Part 1" scores whether Clinton fulfilled his basic Constitutional duties, such as "Establish Justice" (pp. 15-26, a phrase from the preamble to the Constitution). The authors score Clinton with a resounding "Yes," based on his having succeeded in pushing the Brady Bill through Congress (pp. 15-17) which limits handgun access. Any non-partisan analyst would score Clinton just as resoundingly "No," based perhaps on the Waco killings (pp. 36-38, not in the "Establish Justice" section). Even Clinton supporters might agree that Clinton oversaw a great injustice by using tanks and teargas against unarmed children--but the authors interpret the actions they like in the sections they like.
To think that one can score a president on a "Report Card" in any unbiased manner is just plain silly. This book reeks of bias--we don't MIND bias, but we DO mind when bias hides behind a "fair report card." This book is a pro-Clinton hagiography. Read it as such--not as a "report card."
-- Jesse Gordon, OnTheIssues editor-in-chief, April 2012
OnTheIssues.org excerpts: (click on issues for details)
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Abortion
Require Medicaid to pay for abortions for poor women.
Revoke Mexico City Policy: family planning ok in foreign aid.
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Civil Rights
Affirmative Action is still an effective tool.
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Corporations
50% tax exclusion for long-term investment in new business.
Limit deductions for executive pay.
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Crime
Expand the death penalty.
More community police; more prison construction.
51-day Branch Davidian siege resulted in 76 deaths.
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Drugs
Stop the flow of illegal money to Colombia Cali cartel.
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Environment
Throw corporate polluters in jail.
No net loss wetlands policy.
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Families & Children
Triple funding for battered women's shelters.
Establish a national registry of sex offenders.
Crack down on parents who avoid child support.
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Foreign Policy
North Korea must give up nuclear program to get economic aid.
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Free Trade
NAFTA increased exports to Mexico by 11%.
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Government Reform
End soft money; cap political spending.
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Gun Control
Five-day waiting period and instant background check.
Assault Weapons Ban resulted in 18% decline in use in crimes.
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Homeland Security
Explosive inspection machines for all airline baggage.
Steep fines on convicted terrorists to help victims.
START II: 25% reduction in nuclear arsenals.
Cut the $245B defense budget.
Reduce US forces in Europe to 100,000 troops.
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Immigration
700 new Border Patrol agents; increased penalties on aliens.
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Social Security
Create optional Individual Development Accounts.
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Technology
Fund $20B a year for transportation & communication network.
Mission to Planet Earth plus unmanned probes.
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Welfare & Poverty
Transfer 10% of federal housing to churches, for homeless.
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The above quotations are from State of the Union A Report on President Clinton's First Four Years in Office by Thomas Blood and Bruce Henderson.
Biographies of past presidents:
- President Joe Biden
- Promise Me, Dad, by Joe Biden
- Biden Cabinet, On The Issues collection
- The Truths We Hold, by Kamala Harris
- President Donald Trump
- Crippled America, by Donald Trump
- Trump Cabinet, On The Issues collection
- Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton On the Issues
- President Barack Obama
- Decision Points, by Barack Obama
- Obama Cabinet, On The Issues collection
- Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney On the Issues
- President George W. Bush
- Bush Cabinet, On The Issues collection
- Decision Points, by George W. Bush
- A Charge to Keep, by George W. Bush
- President Bill Clinton
- Clinton Cabinet, On The Issues collection
- Back to Work, by Pres. Bill Clinton
- The Agenda, by Bob Woodward
- President George H. W. Bush
- All the Best, My Life in Letters, by George Bush Sr.
- The Family, (the Bushes) by Kitty Kelley
- William & Mary Environmental Law Review, by Cameron Lynch
- President Ronald Reagan
- Dutch, a Memoir of Ronald Reagan, by Edmund Morris
- Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation, by Pres. Ronald Reagan
- President Jimmy Carter
- An Hour Before Daylight, by Jimmy Carter
- Jimmy Who?: biography of Jimmy Carter
- President Gerald Ford
- Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate,by Bob Woodward
- A Time to Heal: The Autobiography of Gerald R. Ford
- President Richard Nixon
- Seize the Moment, by Richard Nixon
- The Watergate Transcripts, by The Washington Post
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- President Lyndon Johnson
- The Passage of Power, by Robert Caro
- Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, by Michael Beschloss
- President John F. Kennedy
- Profiles In Courage, by John F. Kennedy
- A Nation of Immigrants, by John F. Kennedy
- Kennedy & Nixon, by Chris Matthews
- 1000 Days, by Arthur Schlesinger
- 13 Days, by Robert F. Kennedy
- President Dwight Eisenhower
- Waging Peace, by Dwight Eisenhower
- Ike and Dick, by Jeffrey Frank
- President Harry Truman
- Plain Speaking, by Merle Miller
- Wit & Wisdom of Harry Truman, by Ralph Keyes
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