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scottjeffe 's review for:
Hard Choices
by Hillary Rodham Clinton
It was hard to decide how many stars to give this book. I love Hillary Clinton but this book often read to transparently like a campaign kickoff - most obviously when she pulled all her punches about Israel and her dealings with Netanyahu (?). As I said, I am torn on the rating because other places I found the book fascinating. Because Hillary didn't bring peace to the Middle East (who could) or make freinds with the Russians (who'd want to), there is an impression that Hillary focused on little things that really will take a long time to percolate up in importance. The book put a lot of that to rest (although the emphasis she put on the whole Burma thing and Aung Su Ki (?) kind of baffled me. This woman is a courageous freedom fighter but I don't see how Burma is key to the Asia Pivot that she wrote about with such authority.
All in all the impression is this: she did what all of Obama's cabinet had to do: clean up the messes that Bush made and left. She did that well, and in the process raised our standing with our allies. This impression that we are weaker in the world because of Obama and Hillary is as flawed as everything else that Republicans put out. We ARE less influential than we once were (while still having the strongest military by a power of 10), but this is because of 30 years of republican policies and republican obstruction. They set out to weaken the federal govt in order to get their way domestically, but it all goes together. The world sees us as a dysfunctional democracy and Hillary Clinton could only do so much to change that in 4 years.
All in all the impression is this: she did what all of Obama's cabinet had to do: clean up the messes that Bush made and left. She did that well, and in the process raised our standing with our allies. This impression that we are weaker in the world because of Obama and Hillary is as flawed as everything else that Republicans put out. We ARE less influential than we once were (while still having the strongest military by a power of 10), but this is because of 30 years of republican policies and republican obstruction. They set out to weaken the federal govt in order to get their way domestically, but it all goes together. The world sees us as a dysfunctional democracy and Hillary Clinton could only do so much to change that in 4 years.