The Clinton Presidency: First Appraisals

From Library Journal Fourteen well-known political scientists assess President Bill Clinton prior to a final chapter that predicts the likely outcome of the 1996 election, which Walter Dean Burnham gives to the Republicans. The book opens by setting the Clinton administration within the restraints of the separation of powers. Subsequent chapters focus on White House staffing, congressional relations, impact on the judiciary, the party system, interest groups, public opinion, domestic policy, and foreign policy. Coeditor Rockman reminds readers of the complicated dilemma of modern presidential leadership. While the book tends to emphasize Clinton's negatives, the editors acknowledge the flawed predictions in their previous book, The Bush Presidency: First Appraisals (LJ 9/1/91). For academic and larger public library political science collections.William D. Pederson, Louisiana State Univ., ShreveportCopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Publishers Weekly Four years ago, the editors offered a midterm evaluation of the Bush presidency. Now, in this anthology, a dozen political scientists assess the successes and failures of the Clinton presidency and the structural obstacles Clinton faced upon entering office. The contributors look critically at Clinton's reliance on public opinion polls, his management of the White House, his inclination to try to please too many conflicting interest groups and his foreign policy, but they are more forgiving of his inability to loosen Congressional gridlock and even praise his handling of the economy. The essays are somewhat repetitive, as several contributors rehearse the same events of Clinton's first two years in office to illustrate their points about his governing style. This brand of political science is only two steps removed from journalism. Unfortunately, those steps appear to be accessibility and lively writing, while the play-by-play approach of some of the contributors sometimes obscures the big picture. Still, the anthology's exhaustiveness makes it useful for anyone trying to make sense of Clinton's struggles in office. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.