Shadows of Hope A Freethinkers Guide to Politics in the Time of Clinton

The American political system has lost its magic. The vast majority of Americans no longer trust their government and feel helpless before forces which they can neither understand nor control. It is in this context that Sam Smith analyzes Bill Clinton's origins, performance, and frequently confusing and indecisive behavior. Smith sees Clinton as a product of our culture and a symptom of our illness. Everyone who cares about our country should read this iconoclastic and penetrating book. Chapters 1 and 2 deal with the campaign (especially the myths the Clintonites created about themselves and the failings of the press) and Clinton's first year in office (including the failed nominations, communication crises, and the budget debate). A comprehensive third chapter gives the first usable outline of Clintonism, describing the ideology that lies behind the president's contradictory statements, broken promises, mutating policies, and claims to rise above ideology. Chapters 4 and 5 first dissect the Washington system and its immutability and then, with numerous examples, show how the American political culture frequently opposes its own interests. A final chapter offers a new vision of how to bring American politics home, based on community, participatory politics, and a Congress which will more accurately reflect the country's demography and ethnic diversity.

"[Sam Smith's] work is not different from what quality journalism ought to be: truth-seeking, independent, fair-minded and debunking.... In 'Shadows of Hope,' Smith penetrates the darkness with the language and probing skills of such earlier independents as George Seldes, I. F. Stone and Tristam Coffin." --Colman McCarthy, The Washington Post

"Shadows of Hope is in the style and tradition of I. F. Stone. It carries the reader from the De-Constructionism of the Bush years--with its language largely a collection of predicates and prepositions--into a new political order of Post-Modernism--which is outside history, without continuity, loyalty, or reasonable stability in the meaning of words." --Eugene J. McCarthy

"In an age of sound bites and increasing political homogenization, Shadows of Hope is an encouraging sign that independent analysis is still alive and occasionally kicking." --Michael Rust, The Washington Times

"A progressive journalist offers a tonic, conversational critique of the Clinton era.... an accessible catalogue for those questioning the new status quo." --Kirkus Reviews

"... Smith's contribution to [our] unabated sense of alienation is frightening and warrants consideration."

Includes bibliographical references (p. [259]-260) and index.

SAM SMITH is editor of the Progressive Review and has been an alternative journalist in Washington, D. C. for three decades. He was editor of the DC Gazette and one of the founders of the D. C. statehood movement. His book, Captive Capital: Colonial Life in Modern Washington (also published by Indiana University Press) is still regarded as a major source on non-federal Washington twenty years after its publication.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Audition

2. Showtime

3. In Search of Clintonism

4. The Club

5. Signs Along the Highway

6. Bringing Politics Home

Notes

Bibliography

Index