Carol Felsenthal, author of the new book, Clinton in Exile: A President Out of the White House, gave a fascinating interview today on WYNC's Leonard Lopate Show.
One of the most interesting things about it was that Bill Clinton grew hugely depressed by the prospect of leaving the presidency. He told friends that but for term limits he could have been president for another thirty years. In his last week in office, she said, he began working more or less around the clock to cram as much out before he left as possible, which lead to a sleep-deprived state in which he signed off on the great slush pile of pardons without realizing the trouble some- like that of Marc Rich- would cause.
So wishful was he to hang on to the job that he left office with no staff and no idea what he was going to do next, and fell into a funk over his legacy being Monica Lewinsky. "When he gets in those moods he's a woe is me sort,"Felsenthal said.
The show will be available as a podcast, and is definitely worth a listen. Felsenthal's description of Bill Clinton is one that makes evident his obsessive desire to get back in The White House, even if it is via his wife, and helps to explain how he veers between helping her and hampering her.
For all the fuss about George H.W. Bush being mystified by a grocery store bar code scanner, Felsenthal says when Clinton left office he not only had no staff- his White House staff was more concerned about getting on with newly-elected Senator Clinton- the house in Chappaqua wasn't ready to move into, he didn't know how to use a cell phone or an ATM card, and to this day the man doesn't know how to use a computer.
No comments:
Post a Comment