White House Staff Dishes on Clintons: Hillary Hit Bill With a Book, Crooks Had Open Door [View all]

[Capt. Obvious]

A new book alleges bad behavior by the first family who wants to move back in.

....

The Clintons were the most polarizing, the first Bush the most beloved.

In chapter after chapter, the consensus seems to be that George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush were the most beloved and respected of the presidencies covered in the book—which may have had to do with the fact that they were somewhat used to staff. On the other hand, the book is filled with quote after quote about how difficult the Clintons were and how paranoid they were. Friends of Bill’s consistently set off alarm bells for the Secret Service for having criminal records. On the other hand, many of the women interviewed in the book felt that Hillary “was very, very sympathetic to working women” and had a good relationship with the female staff.

Hillary hit Bill with a book.

The Monica Lewinsky era in the book is perhaps the juiciest. One anecdote that has made the rounds is that Hillary hit Bill so hard with a book that there was blood all over the bed and the president needed stitches. That time period also took its toll on White House workers, who would often find themselves berated for little things by Hillary. The staff was also consistently shocked by the couple throughout their time in the office, from “their vicious cursing” and “periods of stony silence.”

....

The staff thought Hillary knew about Monica.

In the eyes of some of the staff, Monica Lewinsky was not part of some vast right-wing conspiracy, and Clinton “knew about Lewinsky long before it came out.”

....

George W. Bush was exactly how you would imagine him.

In what will come as a surprise for few, Brower writes that President George W. Bush would mess with the residence workers by turning photos on their side or by chasing “imaginary flies with fly-swatters when they walked by.”

Ronald Reagan had a penchant for sharing national-security secrets with the staff.

Among the many concerns on Nancy Reagan’s plate apparently was that “she was always wary of having him talk too much to the staff, especially when it came to divulging national-security secrets.” This observation came after an anecdote in which Reagan tips off the White House chef that he just gave orders to bomb Libya.

....

Daily Beast