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Title: Clinton: Portrait of Victory by P. F. Bentley, Rebecca Buffum Taylor, Roger Rosenblatt ISBN: 0-446-51758-5 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: March, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95

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Average Customer Rating: 2 (1 review)

Rating: 2
Summary: Clinton: Portrait of Victory (Photographs by P.F. Bentley)
Comment: I am always fascinated with the Clintons. From Bill's exploits to Hillary's statement (after the Sept. 11th attacks) that she understands hatred because of reaction to her now forgotten health care plan, the former first family are like a grisly car accident that reaches the end of its first decade, and we still cannot help but watch.

"Clinton: Portrait of Victory" is a breathless mash note to the then new chief executive, chronicling Clinton's primary and general election wins. The entire book features black and white photography by P.F. Bentley, a photographer I am not familiar with, but who does a very good job.

Reading this book in one sitting, I was struck at the hopeful tone the pictures and essay author strike right off the bat. Roger Rosenblatt's prologue does nothing more than beat the poor reader over the head about how important it is that these are not those ultramodern "color" photos, but b&w portraits. Rosenblatt equates Clinton to a god, and b&w photos to eternal soul searching through the eyes of the photographer.

The photographer had unlimited access to the Clintons and his bold staff, but the book does not open any new doors to the first family. Subjects wring hands, anonymous crowds surge to their media made hero, and anyone who voted against him gets a little ill. You could cut out the pictures of Clinton, insert any other politician, and you would have the same book. The essayist (Rebecca Buffum Taylor) breathlessly tells us how hard it is to campaign, how hard everyone worked, and how hard it is to win. Clinton is shown in candid moments with his family and staff, yet they still feel staged, as if the subjects knew this would make a really cool book if he won, and a tragic tome on honorable defeat if he lost.

Some of the captions are unintentionally funny. Printed below a picture of Clinton enjoying a big cigar (obviously not his last): "Clinton allows himself one small indulgence...". Ah, those small indulgences he would allow himself over the following two terms.