I left him the reagan library, and he is the most generous person. He taught me how to work in a president ial library system. This book is wonderful. Because it is not just a portrait of a president , its that but not only that but a portraita portrait of ten years well, he was there for a. What i guess my 1st question is, called the gilded age. How much of that prosperity and sense of wellbeing did we have . The leadership of the choices he made. He made . Guest thanks for it is a pleasure to be here and also the organization. Non we bonded over the way to malibu. Going to stand for hours and hours. As you stand on the four 05 that was far more important the part of writing a book was bill clinton as the political figure and that question to the heart of it that is likely read my lips no new taxes that hurt the presidency also created the background for the 90s prosperitys the we see the leadership has an impact but also the superheros is the American People in the ingenuity the extraordinary talent the age of the baby boomers grew yuppies turning into grownups to create the technological revolution. Given the force of history is that determined to more by clinton and his Big Personality and his direction or is it technology that changed so dramatically . These are the questions that keep me up hours and hours. Arthur schlesinger, jr. In his classic book on roosevelt said its 1933 Winston Churchill is about to cross the street on fifth avenue and looks the wrong way and is almost hit by a car. Two months later roosevelt is next to the mayor of chicago and an assassin mrs. Roosevelt and kills the mayor and we say what if each had died . Were not allowed to use that word of the other hand we see in the 30s in the 90s that leadership counts and clinton shaped his time but also really, really lucky. I remember Inauguration Day 2009 if you look at barack obama and he said oh my goodness it was one thing to launch the campaign with peace and prosperity but then he realized i have work to do in bill clinton was blessed by the eight years of peace and prosperity. And so wager portrait is of a great tragedy. For all his talent and his triumphs he also left the nation economically unbalanced and vulnerable to osama bin baden and politically polarized ended deadlocked purdue blame him for the polarization . That surprised me that you put that on him. He was definitely a part of it. I love the fact you did a reading. If you look at clintons role he should have been the great healer and you niger. With his vision to bring them together to say progressives from themselves from those conservative ideas with you to be the idyllic president that he himself through his own failings than blind spots and weaknesses helped to feed the problem that we now face even more that recall blue and red america that is ours to reemerge in the 1990s and then to see their all kinds of changes once upon a time you had abc and nbc and cbs that wanted to be neutral and objective even if there was a bias. You talk about how important for cronkites and dan rather then fox and msnbc to bring in more the ideological twist washington is changing. Once upon a time mostly men and the spouses and children lived in washington d. C. So they went to Church Together , little league, a school, gatherings, and now they fly home. Speaking of his own flaws and how he may have affected our sense of community or lack of it. I pick out the juicy readings selected telltale borderline behavior of clinics and hysterics with his turkey into an appetite and temper tantrums his marriages and selfdestructive sexual addiction and camellia in politics and insatiable drive. How important really is his temperament to the tone of society . Is this really what youre book tries to gatt . After five minutes reverse course in college theyre trying to explain to read that there is no science to politics what excited me of history was contingency in change and rationality was personality. I think it does count to see bill clinton and Hillary Clinton, to people who share a marriage and common ideals, but their personalities are so different they function differently in the american political arena. He is a marginalize character he is superhuman but his weaknesses are so debilitating that we end up being part of the first eight year wrasse reality show. [laughter] bill clinton or donald trump we would not, i believe americans would not put up with donald trump with all his caller if we didnt have eight years of excusing rationalizing justifying bill clintons behavior because he was so effective as well. Bill clinton and donald trump were born within two months of each other in their growth baby boomers what boson in what is their collective personality . Reseal little bit of manikin hysterics a lot of drama and goodness. I will get to monica but i was thinking while reading your book to say how did he survive that scandal . I think because the baby boomers with their sexual freedom forgave him because he was one of us . Absolutely. 1993 there is the sense of we have arrived it is a baby boomer party. That is what we got. [laughter] who is the stars . Barbara streisand, bill cosby. [laughter] that saturday night waynes world the one to realize it is the 90s . The culture is pulled out and then we see that gender bender the sexual revolution in by the 1990s there are all kinds of changes in attitudes toward sexuality and clinton benefits from that. Host you also talk about the incredible things that happened under his presidency, a crime dropped, jobs increased either he determined was luck the deficit is appears wages go up or let me put it this way of all the precedents in our lifetime lifetime, how does he stack up . That is a great question there was an Anniversary Event at hyde park as roosevelt historians gathered and he is serious in cents a letter one of my favorite lines he regretted he had no way to show his greatness. [laughter] that is a therapy session. [laughter] host president s do that. When you have the ken starr report i didnt look at their greasy parts but ive looked at the subpoena that showed the president ial library all the stones about roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln leadership i think during the time he did not look like he could stack up but it is a big mistake when now to distance himself from his accomplishments to fight crime. Look around here it was like shangrila. All these police were deployed with the new approach to fight crime and the president realized cry was not just an issue for law and order but helps to say progressivism from a self had to be an issue that was not blacker wiped the his favor suffering as much if not more than White America and an issue that brought the country together. On welfare reform, crime reform, crime, through sheer will push for compromise. Host as you were researching going to the president ial library, what surprised you . We ask you to bring some photographs because you have a huge stack. Tell us what surprised you in and looked at the pictures. Ion in the Clinton Library and i discover a treasure trove of over 1,000 photos that are not digitized in these little booklets from a reporter named mcnally that followed the 1982 campaign. They were young once. [laughter] with charisma. These pictures are taken after the dnc when there is excitement you also see through the rollercoaster marriage they are falling in love again. You cannot take some of that. There they are celebrating his birthday. Of course, the excitement the couple of the navys with al gore. He knows he will love the Vice President that is different but similar and that we will be the baby would ashley baby boomers save the world with a surge of energy and sex appeal. There is an awkward moment i am on a Job Interview shortly after the election and a college dean says my girlfriend and i were passing around the email chain 12 step program how to get over our crash on bill clinton. What am i supposed to say . [laughter] but we forgot but in 1982 bill clinton is our guy and has that appeal. Host what would you say that common misconception of him and his presidency . His governance that he was pulled driven is a creature was sensitive to poles before he went on a Family Vacation he would pull what is a respectable place but at the end of the day bill clinton was as ideological as ronald reagan. But he had a take go back to the mid 80s within the Democratic Leadership Council theyll look at the failures of the Great Society era of the success of the reagan revolution base everyone to save liberalism look at clintons speeches, his announcement speech in realize that is the governing plan similar to reagan. Fundamentally the idea to bring the sensitivity to the culture of what is going on outside of the political will to read into the political arena and the two key ideas is fighting crime and ending welfare as we know it. In 1996 when clintons science welfare reform people say hes doing it to win reelection he said this is my corer ideology that he tried to spread through tony blair and others. Host 88 he sold himself as a liberal so i guess you suggested is hypocritical . Host it in your book you the departed restrictions in an anchor that bill clinton walked in the reagan revolution and it is a criticism even from the centrists. This is one of the struggles that bill clinton has said that hillary has right now how do hold onto your ideology. Host that centrist radiology with the changes going around . Clinton talked about building on the new republic called the conversation that popped up 90, 91, a 92, there were two sides. One was tactical there were so disappointed in dukakis his defense of liberalism and the promise he would be a pragmatist and so disappointed as a terrible candidate and they promise themselves to find a candidate who would fight like the dickens to win and they found one in bill clinton but they also wanted to say how do we look under the hood to make sure we can update for the 90s . Moving it to the rights. Or to the center. What does this tell us about helleri should she become president . Right now she is moving left as fast as she can. But does she have the same ideology as clinton . Hillary to . [laughter] i said that because it is hard to know where she stands and which is running. Is it from the Clinton White house with though liberals . This by reputation she turned to bill after the disaster where they lost the congress and said we have to bring in dick morris and go to the center. Shiah understood theres still operating under reagan as senator she was much more mainstream standards democrat. In 2008 when she ran for president now again she has gotten so cautious you really dont know where she will bring to the white house. Also it is the style of clinton governance. He loved policy so did she. So that energy we will wake up every day 3 00 in the morning clinton tried to consult to play cards with that energy that is very important to the American People. You have written about a lot of the president s. Candy person be a good president if theyre not a good politician and not good as in the campaign . To make it is hard especially in the 21st century it is emerging very clearly politics is about public leadership in a democracy for someone to say i will just be a policy person and not played with politics is problematic we saw that with nixon and carter and also with clinton bill clinton is a natural politician he loves people and is a people person and we see that with obama. Host i am asking that question in light of hillary the way people feel about her as a politician. Right. She doesnt exude that love of the job band of people and that is part of the job description. She came into politics through the back door or through the mayor told door. Her mother dream of ever becoming the first female chief justice of the supreme court. She was known as a brady act and her nickname was sister frigidaire. [laughter] and he was all this. He had that natural love the first time we talked about my book he said it came from somewhere. And bill clinton came from the south for all his antics and modernism he was written to the linoleum floors with essence of position emplace from the quarter pershare store that was important to tell him of putting him in american tradition and also to the people and as a small town governor you say God Bless America that he can go from that. [laughter] to washington is extraordinary and you realize he liked people and understood people. By one to ask all of the scandals that topped the two of them throughout those eight years and whether there was a rightwing conspiracy and i asked of light of Kevin Mccarthy who withdrew from the speakership has now said that Benghazi Committee looking into hilarys actions was destroyed designed to destroy her candidacy. Was there a conspiracy or did they make that up . What i love about being a historian and like the washingtonian doesnt have to be just leftwing or write to winning. We do say yes there is a wing that the republicans look at bill and Hillary Clinton as the mentors to steal the sold that bothers liberals and conservatives because they hijacked the ideas that led to an obsession we see that with the Benghazi Committee and white water resignation in tens of millions of dollars Spirited Away for those minor mistakes into high crimes. Yes they have been unfairly treated on either hand both of them again and again have a moral blind spot it is extraordinary how people would know theyre under scrutiny keep doing things that they should know better. The email server. Why do that . Is like a telephone of greek tragedy you have the sendoff of parties based on action and influence that demeans the presidency and the Clintons Hillary had opened a gift registry spielberg and other hollywood types and donors were sending tens of thousands of silver and furniture to houses in the house in washington then they take about 30,000 a furniture deeded to the white house event take it to their homes. Hillary gave the answer because we were broke she was all under way to signed a 10 million book deal they knew there would be raising money through speeches so it is a moral blind spot they cannot help themselves because theyre so convinced of their self righteousness. That is a baby boomer thank staying. Host so with the scandals and in particular of monica, does that affect their the course of American History . Because of the scandal what didnt he get done or what changes were brought about because of that . 8097 was the best year of his presidency. After the reelection the was a certain sense of the stock market booming in jobs created, all the indexes are working and clinton launches an important conversation about race in america and talks about the american future that is in just black and white but brown and rainbow rather than step in this dichotomy is asians and hispanics the immigration act is extraordinary and he wants to have a conversation on race but that diets with the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Nevertheless, it turns into a great moment. Throughout that awful year, and especially in the midterms, his governance is limited because one of the cheese of dash chief of staff said they were one of the most influential people. We have now seen how traumatic it was to her and how mean people were to her. She was the first person cyber bullied. Nevertheless, her role in this scandal changed the course of the presidency. They said he would have the meeting with his lawyers, close the door, come to the office, change things around and Start Talking about being the president. I dont want to ignore the fact that a great part of this book is the 90s. Not just the clintons. You write an awful lot about the culture of the time. Im wondering, maybe you can walk us through this. Lets talk about movies. Everybody loves movies. What were the big movies that you think and minimize the decade and what affected clinton, was clinton the reason these movies came out over the movies influencing him . You take a filmlike for scope which came from nowhere and it was a really long movie and it was a huge hit. The story is to try to make sense of the 1950s. Part of the story is prosperity. How does he get vindication . Bubblegum shrimp. It goes back tear first question, the gilded age. The 1920s, it was run by recover republicans. Then also knew have this republican. Culturally, you see a kind of celebration of money and prosperity which is good. Hes the first president after the cold war ends. We are not just feeling prosperous, we are feeling like we won this huge battle, global battle. We were feeling good in many ways. The to the movies reflect that wonderful spirit we had . Cold war is two different phenomenon. It gives us a sense that we are a hyperpower and we can do anything but it also leaves us with who are we . The cold war gave us a structure. It gave us a way of understanding and justifying all that we did. Clinton sometimes joked to me and its hard to know what to do with bosnia and other countries. I was on a trip and a man who was part of the operation told the group of americans, who were there, that the cold war had ended and he said, just what you are saying, you are not going to know you are. You have defined yourselves against us. We are evil, youre good, you tell yourself. When you dont have us as your enemy, youre going to lose yourself. Youre not going to know who you are and youre going to be lost. I never got that, but it was chilling and it did play out years after. That leads to that awful moment on september 11 when we look back on peace and prosperity and say what did we do with this great gift . How come we didnt do more . We need to do better and there is some sweetness and horrific nest that comes from that one day. There are few that remember the incredible spirit. We have become strangely kind of a lonely year lonelier place. I guess we can prime blame al gore for the invention of the internet. We are becoming withdrawn and isolated and polarized. I want to ask you again and they are setting up microphone so you can ask questions, but i want to ask, if its right to blame these president s for things like this that are so huge that are happening to us. Its almost out of our control. Its happening to us. You mentioned television, the 247 constant seven constant criticism that a president goes through. What we go through it individual, individual, we cant fight the technical logical ways. He talked about a bridge to the 21st century and it really was true. Amazon was just a river and paypal was something loan sharks say. Google was just a number. Now those have become powerful and part of our lives. Thats not because of bill clinton. In some ways though we might give him credit close i didnt have the vision of wired up america. Making sure we had high tech have and havenots. The challenges understanding, yes, some of these things are huge and we live in a world where friends are virtual on facebook. Theyre not real. One of. One of the things that scares me about America Today is that we are so so into our technology and our individual technology that weve lost community, technology, true friendship and communication. Thats not the president s fault but president s can make a difference. A president can restore it. I do think leadership counts and personality affects things. If you put that together, in every decade, there are, and you have to write this as a book with the ideological changes but you also see, if george w. Bush had been reelected, or if dole had been elected in 1996. He was the same age as hillary is today and they all made fun of him. That would have been different. Hes younger than reagan was . Yes. Were also living in an age where we live longer. So the point is that yes, there were these pigs so why do we care so much about the presidency . He sets the tone and makes a difference. Having written this book, and its a good book,. I want to say hi to my mother. Thanks so much for being here. Is your mother here . My mother and my father. [applause]. Having written the book, are you optimistic or pessimistic about our future . Its a big question. The answer is yes. [laughter] now you sound like a politician. Where im optimistic is where i think we have a tendency, we as journalists, we have a tendency to focus so much on what we havent achieved. We forget the miracles of waking up in the morning and feeling safe when you walk on the streets. We walk wake up and go to an elevator. The magic of medicine and in all these magical things going on in technology as part of it. Thats what im optimistic about. What really scares me about today is this loss of a certain sense of the american soul. I also say we have become so much welcome and open and tolerant than ever before, but there used to be a sense, we had our moments and problems but there used to be a certain sense of america standing for something. I call it the stand test. We need to pass this test where we stand for something. What we stand for when its all about the ipad, the ipod, the me, mimi and the now, now, now. Who are we . Thats where leadership is important. The challenge i put out to Hillary Clinton and donald trump and marco rubio and Bernie Sanders is, dont just come up with policy. We need a vision for this country. We need a sense of how. We have all this magical technology. We need to move forward. Im not hearing that from any of the candidates. Im not hearing that because theyre all too afraid. So there will be questions after my questions. If you have questions, think about it and then will invite you to the microphone. I dont get this. Almost every president gets a rand to having a war with the press. Its always flew foolish because it wont get them anywhere. I know they were warned that it makes no sense and they dont win with that kind of thing, but theyre still doing it. Tell us about that. Thats a great question because you represent the press. They are generational piers. They had been friends. They came from the same schools and have the same experiences partly excitement was that our guy was there. That leads to a greater sense of betrayal also. I spoke to people had worked in the clinton administration, the book Bush Administration and now the obama administration. I said of the three president s who was given the roughest time by the press . The obamas talk about racism, clinton said they just hated him and the bush felt it was hard on them as well. There is a certain sense of war. Clinton was repeatedly warned not to do this. One of the things i said in the book as they ended up being the angriest Administration Since richard nixon. I think its because they had a sense of betrayal. I think its betrayal because when i was covering the white house, jimmy carters people felt, i think, and maybe the clintons felt that they thought the press was on their side. So betrayal is the right word. They felt betrayed. The republicans never thought the press was going to be on their side. They had a great relationship with the press corps because there was no expectation. They actually respected what we did. Reagan had a Good Exchange with the press. They understood the boundaries. I dont think democrats did. The clintons have all those stories. They watched all the fox news claims saying that the press is liberal. The press votes democratic. A number of clinton socialites;, they said you know what, what, it was North Eastern bias against each other and the southern outsiders. They felt they werent getting a fair shake because they were dead differently. I think that is kind of a rationalization. A very good friend of bill clinton sat with him late at night recording interviews for his bit. They said dont fight the press. You are going to lose. Clinton cant help himself. The same way he cant help himself and other ways. [laughter] impulse control is not one of his strength. Alright anybody want to come to the my . If you dont i will keep going. Here we go. What did you think clintons presidency would be like if he was president today in what some people think is the continuous era of partial attention . Thats a a great question. Again, as i said clinton benefited from the 1990s but he also regretted he didnt have some of the challenges obama is facing. One of the great strengths of bill clinton, which i think George W Bush and obama laughed, but he had loved politics and had been an effective governor of arkansas. He knew how to sit down and negotiate. The story of bill clinton and is a symbol of how he can talk and negotiate. Theres amazing compromise that occurs in the 1990s which we havent seen in the bush era or in the obama era. Being aware of the if question, i think his kind of leadership might be useful today. He was a schmooze or. A question about camp david. Something that has always bothered me, they said can clinton there was no connection between the people in israel. What was reported was that Vladimir Putin reacted strongly with select words which i wont repeat. What are you talking about, are you crazy et cetera. And never had any policy indication that someone was leading the Palestinian People could be so far from reality. This is continued today. It sort of got thrown away and never implemented in terms of the policy because of that exchange. One of the great tragedies of the 1990s is the soviet union and South African apartheid ends rather easily. Northern i learned results. Its all in the 90s. Its all in the 90s. They think the same magic will occur with the palestinians. Bill clinton hosted arafats more than any other president. She said mr. Clinton youre a very great man. He yells at him and says im not a great man, im a failure because of you. Then he says what this gentleman is saying that he had been cast by the United States of america to be Nelson Mandela mandela. In clintons defense, he felt he couldnt fix it. Hes a great example of how a revolutionary who needs a movement cannot be the leader. He cannot move out of the original role. All the advisors think what was going on with him . He just make the move. Given what you know about bill clinton, what we will he see in hillarys campaign . If she wins, what will he do in her administration question at. Thats a great question. It goes back to the Clintons Clintons and they go to the gas station and the attendant turns out to be an old boyfriend of Hillary Clinton. Will clinton looks at him with all that yuppie disdain for the working class and said hillary, if you would have married him you wouldve been mrs. Gas station attendant. And she said bill, if you hadnt married me, youd be mr. Gas station attendant and hed be president. That goes to the question of who help too. One of the special things about his relationship as he is a peoples person. She was the one who knew how to cut the losses, fire people when necessary. He so wants to be loved and she wasnt afraid to be hated. So we interesting to see. We saw in 2008 that he began a liability. The fact that the Africanamerican Community was turning on him and barack obama was this guy from nowhere. It made him furious and they ultimately. If you notice he was way off and the challenge will be what will we do with it if he becomes first man. We think he was in orbit but we dont really know let me ask you something, do you think that needing to be loved is a good quality for president . He had an extraordinary history which you should google and read that says the biggest problem with bill clinton, and it goes back that whenever they walked into a room they could cents who was the person who least like them and try to spend time wooing them. That is a major mistake for a leader. They talk about this need of bill Clintons Clintons to be love which leads to him listening not to old experience people but instead of listening, they were so afraid of the press and the bad headline that went on this whitewater thing emerges they say go with the special prosecutor. Im saying dont, dont, dont. Youre going to make it huge mistake for yourself. Bill clinton, trying to be loved and trying to stop the negative headlines, signs that authorization and that was the biggest mistake he made. It jumps off the page with frustration and anger. You mention that bill clinton , he did get involved did you answer why he wasnt interested in getting involved in rwanda . Its a tragic mistake that he made. They were so much in damage control mode that the big fight is against reporters and activists. If its called the genocide then america is forced by treaties to step in and they dont want to intervene. One of the interesting things that happens to bill clinton in the white house and he comes in, do you know who taught him how to salute . Ronald reagan. Reagan learned it from the movies. [laughter] hes afraid to take power. Its a reflection of the learning curve that all president s go through that realizes at the time, dont do anything, im a president and i have to to lead. Its a great moment of courage for him. He felt guilty about the massacres that occurred and he actually changed and we see that it was actually a big mistake of the 1990s is his data. Theres information that Osama Bin Laden has declared war and george w. Bush failed to lead. Its partially their fault and partially the fault of the press and reporters. Nobodys asking questions about terrorism. Nobodys asking question about Osama Bin Laden. He learned from al gore likes to sleep naked. And that george w be bush likes to eat texmex but we were in massive collective denial. Bill clintons talk about his regrets many times. Thank you so much. [applause]. Thank you all always for coming and being our wonderful members and his book is ons on sale. Thank you all so much. Good night. [inaudible conversation] now on booktv professor Pedro Domingos talks about learning machines and how they work by providing a glimpse to the algorithms that power google, amazon and facebook as well as our smart phones. Tonights guest Pedro Domingos is a professor in the department of Computer Science and engineering at the university of washington go of the association for the management of artificial
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