Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter's Story

by Michael Isikoff

Book Overview

"I realized something that should have been apparent to me much earlier: I was in the middle of a plot to get the president." A quarter of a century after Woodward and Bernstein's history-making expose All the President's Men stunned the nation by capturing the Nixon presidency in the throes of turmoil, Newsweek reporter Michael Isikoff gives us an equally explosive and surprisingly suspenseful behind-the-scenes account of his investigative role in...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0609603930
• ISBN13: 9780609603932
• Release Date: April 1999
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Isikoff's Uncovering Clinton

The Editor and most other reviewers have done an excellent job in reviewing this book, and here I would like to concentrate on some aspects that are important to me. Isikoff points out that Nixon and Clinton both hated their enemies, but that they were different in an important respect: Nixon deep down had a suspicion that his critics might be right, but Clinton deep down believes that his enemies are scum. He also concludes that Clinton is far more psychologically disturbed than the public ever imagined, and goes into considerable evidence involving Clinton's previous behavior with women.What I myself find unpardonable about the whole issue is the effect that the events had on the young people of the USA. I was in the High Schools, the Middle Schools, the Universities, and even the Elementary Schools as a teacher when the stories broke and the President contradicted himself and finally admitted some of his mistakes. (I go back and forth between teaching mathematics and private math-physics consulting.) The young generation took Clinton and Lewinsky's behavior as role models to an enormous extent. In and out of classes, they cheered the two of them, and the more blatant their "alleged" affair became, the more the immoral and unethical conduct itself was cheered. Students did not merely support Clinton and Lewinsky. They supported what they did, how they did it, when they did it, why they did it, and they publicly stated again and again that in effect they intended to do it too. It was no longer merely Democrat against Republican. It was getting thrills by cheating on your wife or husband, by having sex and thrills in public or via public exposure, and having thrills by stepping on your subordinates and hurting others. This is the generation, in Southern California at least, that is being defended by the teaching and school administration establishment as really doing well in their grades - contrary to the repeated evidence of testing scores compared to other states and other countries. I found, on the contrary, that except at the university level there were only a handful of students interested in studying rather than "cooling it" and abandoning their responsibilities. I know the argument of the Democrats, and I sympathize to some extent, but not enough to tolerate incompetence and immorality of the type that was present before the collapse of Ancient Rome. The Democrats usually say: he's our only hope for Higher Education Funding and Social Programs. What kind of social program is the collapse of Ancient Rome? What kind of social program is the Crucifixion of Christians or the incineration of Jews which Ancient Rome in its worst days developed and handed down to its admirers and imitators like the Nazis and Fascists? What kind of social program creates a young generation of monsters? Maybe there is a poor choice between liberal immorality and conservative unconcern. But if we reward and

A well written account

Finally there is a definitive book on the events of the past year. Isikoff has written a thoroughly engrossing book that will be used for generations to come to explain why Bill Clinton was impeached. There is a lot to hate in this book if you are a die-hard partisan. Clinton supporters can react with righteous indignation about the conduct of Tripp and Goldberg while Clinton haters can relish in the accounts of the preditory womanizing and probable sexual assault of the President. There is a lot to learn in this book that has not been reported before. If the reader can take off the polital blinders for a moment and read this wonderfully written book objectively they will understand why the president deserved to be impeached and why Linda Tripp deserves to go to jail. This book finally establishes that:1) Paula Jones is totally vindicated and deserves the most sympathy. No one deserves to be treated the way she was first by Clinton, then by the feminists and finally by the media.2) Kathleen Willey was almost certainly assaulted by the President. 3) The President used private detectives to smear and intimidate women with whom he had sexual contact (consentual or not). Abuses of power that should disturb even the most strident Clinton defender.4) Linda Tripp illegally and immorally set up Monica Lewinsky and the president. She and Goldberg's actions should disturb even the most rabid Clinton-hater. 5) The investigation by the Office of the Independent Counsel was probably beyond their scope and should be looked into further. There seem to be no heros in this book but very clear villains. In the end I think Clinton and Tripp deserve each other.

Masterful chronicle of low life in high places

Isikoff's book provides a detailed blueprint to events we are all, regretfully, too familiar with, showing with great clarity the incestuous links and synergies between the known and lesser known players in all sides of this historical melodrama. Nobody looks good: yes, there was a right wing cabal squaring Chicago, Arkansas, Philadelphia and Washington DC; yes, in all probability Starr & staff had a political agenda in pursuing his loose legal mandate; yes, Paula Jones was probably telling the truth; yes, Paula Jones was used by the right wing and thoroughly betrayed by organized feminism; yes, Linda Tripp was every bit the Wicked Witch of the West, gossip and schemer long before Monica entered the picture; yes many of the "pundits" we would see on cableTV were in fact were players in the melodrama, with ties to one faction or another; yes, Clinton was manipulative and sleazy; yes Clinton was lucky in his choice of enemies, particularly in the House of Representatives, a pathetic bunch more interested in scoring political low-points than addressing an issue (which explains in some way how ineffective they were in persuading the American people of the appropriateness of their course); yes Clinton was lucky in his choice of friends who with enormous zeal would put their own reputations on the line and viciously attack that of others to defend allegations which they themselves, as most Americans at the time, probably believed to be more plausible than not; yes, organized feminists in particular behaved hypocritically in dealing with the women in this tale.....no allegation brought forth in the Anita Hill controversy came close to what happened here. During Watergate the villains were clearly villanous and their actions brought forth dignified and patriotic behavior in Congress. Clinton's scandals seem to have soiled everyone who has come in contact with them on all sides of the story. Indeed, the American people have a right to paraphrase Shakespeare and say "a plague to ALL their houses!!!" One of this book's several virtues is Isikoff's perspective as the prime investigative reporter so close to center of events as to feel, at times, drawn into the conflict as a participant. His struggle to maintain personal and professional integrity in the earnest pursuit of an ever tawdrier story provides a rich counterpoint to the telling of this sorry episode. I, like all Americans were indeed part of this tale, so I think it's unfair to finish without sharing where I find myself today: I am glad that Clinton was not convicted.....a conviction would have set a worse precedent than acquittal; I can hardly wait for his term to end. Both the White House and the House of Representatives are in dire need of thorough housecleaning.

A remarkably gripping read, and a very important story

It will be immediately evident to anyone who reads this book that some of the reviewers below didn't even pick this book up, as they seem to be responding to some concept of what they think it (or he--the author) represent, rather than the book itself--which is one of the most gripping narratives I've read in years, and the fact that it paints the most telling portrait of our president yet, and is filled with never-before-disclosed stories, and is easily the most important book about both the powers and the processes behind the scenes in the press, are all icing on the cake for readers. Isikoff comes off as more honest (and insightful) than any of the multitude of players caught up in the whirlwind of scandals that have come to plague the Clinton presidency, and his book is by far the most important--and most entertaining--to come out of those scandals.

Isikoff suggests Clinton's possible personality disorder

This is a powerful book. As a social and economic conservative member of the "vast right-wing conspiracy", and a psychologist, I feel vindicated by Michael Isikoff, as I was by David Maraniss. My from-a-distance impression based on Isikoff's and Maraniss' books, along with media coverage and my personal observations, suggests that President Clinton shares a personality disorder with many politicians on the "vast left-wing conspiracy" side of the aisle. This disorder fuels their reach for power, prestige, and control, in the name of "democracy and justice". Clinton's personal war on the Serbs is a symptom of this, and his possible, dissocial and narcissistic personality disorder, as illuminated by Isikoff. Clinton's abuse of Monica Lewinski, Paula Jones, Kathleen Willley, et al, and attacks on powerless people such as Linda Tripp, and his blatant insult of the U.S. Constitution and the justice system by his lies and coverups are also the result of this possible personality disorder. To a greater and more dangerous degree, this personality disorder dominated Ted Bundy and his behavior. I knew Bundy for a short time. Like Bill Clinton, he was charismatic, charming, manipulative, handsome, and very intelligent. Clinton's fun-loving and crowd-pleasing ways are assets in the same entertainment field represented by buffoons the like of Rivera and Flynt, but not in the U.S. Presidency. I see his public demeanor as a facade which may well cover up a lot of deeper and more deadly psychological motives and mental processes. Thank you, Michael Isikoff for further examining this very complex and potentially dangerous politician. Personally I never did trust Clinton and I am enraged that he is hiding behind his Serbian War to cover up his own failures as a man and human being. In this highly readable and must-buy book, Michael Isikoff validates my distrust. To both the "vast right-wing and left-wing conspiracies", and all the rest, I say, buy and study this book.