Highwire

the long version

Highwire takes readers on a journey from a small Southern state to the pinnacle of national power, and introduces a cast of characters that is the most dramatic to hit the White House since Nancy Reagan consulted her astrologer. Center stage in this psychodrama is Bill Clinton, playing the role of a man Americans have elected to their country's highest post without quite knowing or trusting him. Again and again in his first year in office - whether having his back shoved against the proverbial wall on the issue of gays in the military, or in pulling off a legislative triumph, such as NAFTA, by the skinniest of margins - Clinton reenacted scenarios first played out on the road, where his best performances feature "a frenetic rally of salesmanship and sermonizing, blending the used-car dealer and the Baptist preacher.". In analysis that is plainspoken and down to earth but wise to the ways of the political animal, John Brummett charts the course of Bill Clinton's precarious highwire act in a narrative that combines insights into the man himself with an astute look at two political cultures: "In Arkansas, they call it incest. In Washington, they call it contacts.". Whether laying out the facts of the Whitewater real estate deal in a commonsensical, easy-to-comprehend manner, or outlining the tragic story of Vince Foster, John Brummett helps us separate the national forest from the trees, and shows how a Clinton strengthened by the rigors of the presidency may yet emerge a better man.