Hillary Rodham Clinton and Living History: An Ode to the Democratic Party, Book Review Example

For everyone who wants to make a political career, to work for the government, or who dreams of presidency, being interested in the history of national politics is more than natural. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Living History provides an insight in how wives of the American presidents spend their lives and what they do not to wither in the shadow of their popular husbands. Clinton’s book is rather provoking and sometimes even fascinating: it opens the new facets of Bill Clinton’s presidency, discusses the basic daily functions of the White House, and lets the reader look behind the curtains of politics in modern America. However, and unfortunately for many readers, Clinton fails to avoid political neutrality. The tones and moods in her book resemble a cry against Republicans and demonstrative support of everything Democratic in America – everything that supports the Democratic vision and confirms the Democratic Party as the leading carrier of the true American values.

From the very beginning of her book, Clinton applies to the American supremacy as the direct product of the values and opportunities in the American society: “American supremacy was the result not just of military might, but of our values and of the abundant opportunities available to people like my parents who worked hard and took responsibility. Middle-class America was flush with the emerging prosperity and all that comes with it – new houses, fine schools, neighborhood parks and safe communities” (Clinton 6). All those values and opportunities for Clinton are a good reflection of the true democratic thinking in America, the continuous nation’s desire to promote the dominant democratic principles and to support the successful middle class. But the discussion of these values has one particular political intention: to reveal the existing inconsistencies in the Republican politics and to point out the benefits, which the Democratic Party was able to bring in the American society. Throughout her book, Clinton traces the process of her own political maturation. She discusses the rapid transition from the republican consciousness imposed by her parents to the democratic vision of the future, which she acquires in Yale. However, in the discussion of her political evolution, Clinton seems very subjective and unnaturally critical, and the Republican Party for her is always a convenient object of criticism. This criticism is often too subtle and elusive: for example, by praising her Dad’s dedication to the Republican ideals Clinton cannot escape the feeling of opposition to them: “He did not believe in credit and he ran his business on a strict pay-as-you-go policy. His ideology was based on self-reliance and personal initiative, but, unlike many people who call themselves conservatives today, he understood the importance of fiscal responsibility and supported taxpayer investments in highways, schools, parks, and other important public goods” (Clinton 18). Does that mean that the Republican ideology has changed over time? Does that mean that the Republican ideology is no longer as prospective and promising as it used to be several decades ago? It is difficult to answer these questions, but this is what Clinton seeks to imply in her political message. Given that the American society was traditionally torn between the two major political preferences, and given that, as Clinton says, the Republican ideology is no longer promising nor prospective the hint which Clinton makes in her book is more than obvious and does not leave readers any political choice. Even when Clinton discusses the controversies of gender and ethnic discrimination at schools during her time, these discussions disrupt the reputation of the Republican Party as the one, which failed to resolve those problems in time.

For Hillary Clinton, the values that are traditional for the American society, including pluralism and freedom of speech, are integrally linked to Democratic and never Republican principles. Clinton never loses a chance to mention her dedication to these values. Her first appearance on the television as the head of the Cultural Values Committee shows Clinton as a person, who promotes and encourages diversity/ inclusion and intercultural tolerance. It has to show Clinton as a person, who is very sensitive toward issues of racial and ethnic hatred. It is no secret that Clinton’s book was published to promote her own political image and to confirm her as a devoted leader of the Democratic society. Throughout her book, Clinton emphasizes her own commitment to the Democratic visions and to the Democratic Party as a part of her political and individual success. In this sense, her book sounds like a never ending ode to everything democratic (and not republican) on the earth: “Building and sustaining a free society is like a three-legged stool: one leg is a democratic government, the second is a free market economy and the third is a civil society – the civic associations, religious institutions, voluntary efforts, NGOs and individual acts of citizenship that together weave the fabric of democratic life” (Clinton 426-7). The word ‘democratic’ is probably the most frequently used word in her writing. There is a possibility that such emphasis on the democratization is natural and even anticipated if this book is designed to promote Clinton’s public political image and her husband’s contribution to the development of the sustainable society in America. And this is probably correct and even anticipated for anyone, who sees him(her)self as a part of this or that political community, because these are the dedication and commitment to certain political ideals that create true political leaders and make us follow them.

In case of Clinton’s book, these commitment and dedication gradually become imposing and even annoying. There is a persistent impression that everything she discusses in her book has one and the same democratic undertone, and there is no chance for the reader to escape this feeling. Even while describing her experiences as a legal student and practitioner, Clinton cannot avoid mentioning Nixon’s administration and criticizing it. Throughout her book, Clinton tries to emphasize her own commitment to the preservation and promotion of the democratic ideals in America, among which prosperity of the middle-class, ethnic and racial equality, gender equity, and unlimited self-realization opportunities seem to be the most important. Clinton positions the Democratic Party as the source of the major political benefits to the American society, but is there any place to pluralism and freedom of thinking? Sometimes such reference to everything democratic becomes imposing and seems to go against even the basic principles of freedom of choice. In this democratic delirium, it is very easy to lost political stability and the sense of objectivity. In any case, this book is expected to touch the hearts and souls of the reading majority and looks like a convenient political move in Clinton’s professional career.

For prominent political figures, memoirs have always been a convenient instrument of earning additional financial profits, but Clinton was one of the few to use her book of memories as a successful tool of personal promotion. She was not very cautious in her choice of words, and many passages and expressions reveal her true desire to show the Democratic party as the only viable choice, which Americans can make if they think about their future. Simultaneously, Clinton shows herself as a woman, who would not have been able to achieve her goals without her husband and her family and as a woman, who, despite the political pressures in her life, was able to preserve her human face. The political meaning of the book is rather ambiguous: on the one hand, it promotes Hillary Clinton as the personalization of the political success; on the other hand, there is a persistent impression that Clinton tries to impose her worldview on those, who were lucky to read her revelations. The democratic tones that dominate throughout the book turn it into an excellent tool of a sophisticated political game, which no one who decides to choose a government or political career has a single chance to escape.

Works Cited

Clinton, H.R. Living History. New York: Simon & Schuster.