State of a Union: Inside the Complex Marriage of Bill and Hillary Clinton

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Learned a lot about Hillary - you cant help but be impressed. You don't have to like her but it makes her more understandable.

I am writing these comments in the early part of August. The real question, though, is how will this book be perceived the day after the national election in November. It is virtually certain, whether it's fair or not, that Hillary Clinton's attempt to become New York's next U.S. Senator has been destroyed by the charge of an anti-Semitic remark of over two decades ago. Is it true? Also, even if the accusation is accurate, does Mrs. Clinton deserve forgiveness? One could engage in much abstract speculation and moral inquiry into the larger issues of Hillary Clinton's predicament. Nevertheless, in the practical realm, she is in dire straits. The First Lady needs solid and overwhelming Jewish support if she is to have any realistic chance against her Republican challenger, Rick Lazio. Recent polls already indicate that Hillary Clinton is unlikely to regain the trust of a sufficient number of Jewish voters to salvage her campaign.I am uncomfortable that there are not more witnesses to confirm this allegation. Yet, isn't Jerry Oppenheimer simply doing his job? Some people will question Oppenheimer's credibility because of his National Enquirer past. That argument is simply fallacious. The National Enquirer is admittedly a scandal sheet, but it is still highly regarded for meticulously and thoroughly double checking facts before approving them for print. A former campaign worker has gone on record with his incendiary claims. How can the media not report the story? Shouldn't we be outraged if these charges were ignored? I think that a fair and objective person, regardless of how they feel towards Hillary Clinton, must conclude that the media are placed before a rock and hard place when forced to decide how to handle such a dilemma. The reader may notice that I am ignoring the other aspects of Oppenheimer's book. I am doing so because in the long run the anti-Semitic charge is the only reason why it will be remembered. Historians may very well refer to this book as the one that demolished the Clinton family's last hope for political and perhaps even personal redemption. The impact of this book far outweighs its intrinsic value. I am sure that we will still be discussing it many years into the future.

The book was very informative, and enjoyable. We can't learn enough about the Clintons, for obvious reasons.It pays to stay well informed. This book should be mandatory reading in American History classes. The book was great.Find out who they really are, and how they got there.

I first saw this book referenced in Michael Tomasky's Hillary's Turn. Tomasky described this book as a hatchet job. State of a Union is far from a negative attack on the former First Couple, and actually paints a more sympathetic portrait of the Clintons than their most fawning sycophants usually do. State of a Union is little more than fluff but gives a good overview of a complex and nuanced political partnership. Jerry Oppenheimer manages to give childhood and marital details without dabbling in pure psychobabble, but this is a beach book and not history---and doesn't pretend to be anything else.

A great review of the history of the Bill Clinton Presidency It suggests events we may see in the future if Hillary is successful in her quest for the Presidency.

An anti-Clinton diatribe that locates some new sources of information and arrives at negative conclusions about the Clintons as persons, which it states mainly through innuendo. Makes many uncomplimentary comments about the lives of private persons who would, I suspect, rather not be public figures. Does not deal with public policy.

I read "State of a Union" from cover-to-cover the day it arrived. This book is well researched and includes notes, sources and an index. It is very well written in the best investigative reporting sense and coverage is objective and fairly well balanced between Hillary and Bill Clinton. There are many quotations from family, friends, news reporters, campaign staff workers as well as enemies and detractors. Coverage begins with their ancestral roots, through childhood, education, rise to power in Arkansas and nationally, through the scandals and up to Hillary's bid for the Senate.