HILLARY RISING
The Politics, Persona and Policies of a New American Dynasty
James D Boys
Jaico Books (By arrangement with Biteback Publishing, UK)
310 pages; Rs 350
The result is somewhat disquieting owing to Ms Clinton's questionable ethics, though Mr Boys does list her considerable achievements, describing her as a woman of great skills and talent. He argues that throughout their career, the Clintons have sought deliberately to buck the system. In the 1970s and 1980s, as the wife of the governor of Arkansas, Ms Clinton engaged in a variety of dubious business ventures, arousing suspicion that she was benefiting from inside information.
She has an "apparent need to get rich quick", particularly when not in public office. She was paid an advance of $8 million and $14 million for her two memoirs, and earns $200,000 for each speech; book sales and speaking engagements fetched her $12 million in the first 16 months after she left the state department. Significantly, the Clintons' wealth followed - rather than preceded - electoral success and official positions. Mr Boys stresses that Ms Clinton's dodgy ethics have long fuelled concerns about her suitability for office, and that she will have to convince voters that such concerns are baseless.
Ms Clinton was initially content to wield power without being in office. Even before her husband's inauguration as president, she was actively involved in selecting members of his Cabinet. As First Lady, she headed a task force mandated with reforming America's healthcare system, and even began providing input on foreign policy - an area where she had no experience. Worse, "she maintained an effective veto on policy to an unprecedented degree for an American First Lady," leaving Cabinet members and White House staff unsure about who was responsible for the final approval of policy.
But, frustrated that her role in the Clinton administration never developed as she had hoped, Ms Clinton sought an independent political career. She ran for the Senate in 2000, won handsomely, was re-elected in 2006, and became secretary of state in 2009. In Mr Boys' telling, Ms Clinton "never fully emerged as the single, defining voice of authority on foreign policy within the administration", because President Barack Obama ran a highly centralised foreign policy operation in consultation with members of his inner circle based at the White House and the National Security Council, and let no one overshadow him.
Ms Clinton was more hawkish on national security issues than Mr Obama. During the Libyan civil war, eager for the US to be seen as a force for positive change, she secured Arab League support for US-led air strikes against Colonel Gaddafi's forces and enlisted the help of the Emir of Qatar to act as a go-between with various rebel groups. But the militant attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that claimed the life of the ambassador was a big setback to Ms Clinton since it happened on her watch, though, as Mr Boys stresses, eight congressional investigations into the incident have failed to establish any culpability on her part.
Can Ms Clinton win? Mr Boys reckons that America's demographics favour her: Mr Obama was re-elected in 2012 because, in addition to securing 41 per cent of the white vote, he also won the support of the Asian, Latino and African-American communities. And there is Ms Clinton's appeal to female voters as well. But he cautions that she has a battle on her hands because, to too many Americans, "she remains a cold, distant figure". The first of the presidential debates on September 26 should provide some pointers.
The one big weakness of Hillary Rising is that it was published before Ms Clinton and Donald Trump were nominated by their respective parties. Mr Boys acknowledges that Bernie Sanders' strong showing has forced Ms Clinton to take a more leftish stance than she would have liked to, since historically at least it has been important to occupy the middle ground in a presidential election. He merely says that Mr Trump's candidacy is not the joke it was once considered to be, astonishingly giving the subject no further importance. And he warns presciently that Ms Clinton is vulnerable in battleground states such as Ohio and Florida, where Mr Trump has recently made inroads.
Ms Clinton's use of a private email server when she was secretary of state, possibly to avoid creating documents that the government would retain - underlining her penchant for secrecy - is also referred to cursorily. The addition of an updated concluding chapter and a head-to-head comparison of the Democratic and Republican nominees would have added to the book's appeal. Hillary Rising is nevertheless superbly researched, and offers deep insights into Ms Clinton's political persona and the factors that have brought her within sight of the ultimate prize in US politics.
The Politics, Persona and Policies of a New American Dynasty
James D Boys
Jaico Books (By arrangement with Biteback Publishing, UK)
310 pages; Rs 350
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This account of Hillary Clinton's journey from childhood to First Lady, senator, secretary of state and presidential candidate by James D Boys traces the factors that have helped shape Ms Clinton's career, and assesses her chances of becoming the next president of the US. Mr Boys is a British academic who focuses on the political history of the United States, and the subject of whose first book was Bill Clinton's foreign policy in the post-Cold War world.
The result is somewhat disquieting owing to Ms Clinton's questionable ethics, though Mr Boys does list her considerable achievements, describing her as a woman of great skills and talent. He argues that throughout their career, the Clintons have sought deliberately to buck the system. In the 1970s and 1980s, as the wife of the governor of Arkansas, Ms Clinton engaged in a variety of dubious business ventures, arousing suspicion that she was benefiting from inside information.
She has an "apparent need to get rich quick", particularly when not in public office. She was paid an advance of $8 million and $14 million for her two memoirs, and earns $200,000 for each speech; book sales and speaking engagements fetched her $12 million in the first 16 months after she left the state department. Significantly, the Clintons' wealth followed - rather than preceded - electoral success and official positions. Mr Boys stresses that Ms Clinton's dodgy ethics have long fuelled concerns about her suitability for office, and that she will have to convince voters that such concerns are baseless.
Ms Clinton was initially content to wield power without being in office. Even before her husband's inauguration as president, she was actively involved in selecting members of his Cabinet. As First Lady, she headed a task force mandated with reforming America's healthcare system, and even began providing input on foreign policy - an area where she had no experience. Worse, "she maintained an effective veto on policy to an unprecedented degree for an American First Lady," leaving Cabinet members and White House staff unsure about who was responsible for the final approval of policy.
But, frustrated that her role in the Clinton administration never developed as she had hoped, Ms Clinton sought an independent political career. She ran for the Senate in 2000, won handsomely, was re-elected in 2006, and became secretary of state in 2009. In Mr Boys' telling, Ms Clinton "never fully emerged as the single, defining voice of authority on foreign policy within the administration", because President Barack Obama ran a highly centralised foreign policy operation in consultation with members of his inner circle based at the White House and the National Security Council, and let no one overshadow him.
Ms Clinton was more hawkish on national security issues than Mr Obama. During the Libyan civil war, eager for the US to be seen as a force for positive change, she secured Arab League support for US-led air strikes against Colonel Gaddafi's forces and enlisted the help of the Emir of Qatar to act as a go-between with various rebel groups. But the militant attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that claimed the life of the ambassador was a big setback to Ms Clinton since it happened on her watch, though, as Mr Boys stresses, eight congressional investigations into the incident have failed to establish any culpability on her part.
Can Ms Clinton win? Mr Boys reckons that America's demographics favour her: Mr Obama was re-elected in 2012 because, in addition to securing 41 per cent of the white vote, he also won the support of the Asian, Latino and African-American communities. And there is Ms Clinton's appeal to female voters as well. But he cautions that she has a battle on her hands because, to too many Americans, "she remains a cold, distant figure". The first of the presidential debates on September 26 should provide some pointers.
The one big weakness of Hillary Rising is that it was published before Ms Clinton and Donald Trump were nominated by their respective parties. Mr Boys acknowledges that Bernie Sanders' strong showing has forced Ms Clinton to take a more leftish stance than she would have liked to, since historically at least it has been important to occupy the middle ground in a presidential election. He merely says that Mr Trump's candidacy is not the joke it was once considered to be, astonishingly giving the subject no further importance. And he warns presciently that Ms Clinton is vulnerable in battleground states such as Ohio and Florida, where Mr Trump has recently made inroads.
Ms Clinton's use of a private email server when she was secretary of state, possibly to avoid creating documents that the government would retain - underlining her penchant for secrecy - is also referred to cursorily. The addition of an updated concluding chapter and a head-to-head comparison of the Democratic and Republican nominees would have added to the book's appeal. Hillary Rising is nevertheless superbly researched, and offers deep insights into Ms Clinton's political persona and the factors that have brought her within sight of the ultimate prize in US politics.