The New Yorker

The current issue of The New Yorker reviews two of the current crop of books about Hillary Clinton; and as is often the case with that magazine, the crown jewel of the New York publishing universe, the review is perhaps more perceptive on its subject than the books likely are themselves. After all, literally dozens of works later, what more is there to know about the most written-about figure on our political stage?

Turns out, a lot. Consider this quote, about her infamous mishandling of health care:

Clinton’s biggest blunder, as Bernstein tells it, was to offend the very legislators whose support she needed most. At a retreat for Democratic senators in the spring of 1993, Clinton was asked whether it was realistic to pursue such an ambitious health-care program, given her husband’s many other legislative initiatives. She responded that the Administration was prepared to “demonize” those who opposed the task force’s recommendations.

“That was it for me in terms of Hillary Clinton,” Senator Bill Bradley, of New Jersey, told Bernstein. “You don’t tell members of the Senate you are going to demonize them. It was obviously so basic to who she is. The arrogance. The assumption that people with questions are enemies. The disdain. The hypocrisy.”

As I blogged here recently, the Republic is having a Rome moment; now, The New Yorker sums up the feeling on this week's cover.

I knew it would be bad, back during the 2000 campaign and after the Supreme Court coup; how bad, nobody could have foreseen.