The Life of a President

When was it? Oh yes, it was in 2006. Bill Clinton’s book My Life had just been released, and that year he was Chicago’s Book Expo America’s keynote speaker. And as luck would have it, I was there!

Wendy Keller, a literary agent, who at the time wasn’t agenting, but promoting, invited me along with a group of want-a-be authors to the BEA so we would see the workings of an Expo. What fun. I met wonderful people, ate steak I am still raving about, and heard Bill Clinton’s brilliant oratory. He has a way of talking that seems as though you are his only audience. He told stories similar to mine, of running behind an ice truck and having the driver give shards of ice to the kids. Clinton’s publisher told him, “Bill, you don’t have to mention everyone you have ever met in your entire life.”

 My foray into nostalgia was prompted by an article on the Bookbaby web site that the recent BEA had advice for authors wanting to self-publish. One of the ways in which the publishing industry seems to be modeling the music industry (for better or worse) is that they want to bet on a sure thing. So they’re keeping an eye on the indies and waiting to see what self-publishers can accomplish on their own.

Over and over I find that successful people have declared for themselves what they want. Bill Clinton said that when he was a young man just out of law school he put aside for a time the novels he loved reading in favor of How-to books. This one he remembers vividly:

 How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life, by Alan Lakein.

 

Lakein recommended prioritizing with lists. Clinton says he doesn’t remember all the lists he made, but he remembers his “A List.”

 “I wanted to be a good man, have a good marriage and children, have good friends, make a successful political life, and write a great book."

  

 

 

“I learned a lot from the stories my uncle, aunts, and grandparents told me: that no one is perfect but most people are good; that people can’t be judged only by their worst or weakest moments; that harsh judgments can make hypocrites of us all; that a lot of life is just showing up and hanging on; that laughter is often the best, and sometimes the only, response to pain. Perhaps most important, I learned that everyone has a story—of dreams and nightmares, hope and heartache, love and loss, courage and fear, sacrifice and selfishness. All my life I’ve been interested in other people’s stories. I’ve wanted to know them, understand them, feel them. When I grew up and got into politics, I always felt the main point of my work was to give people a chance to have better stories.”—Bill Clinton

 

It's incredible to read about people such as Clinton, who achieved lofty status in life, talk about their childhood. Clinton talks about feeling chubby and uncoordinated, how he had a problem with food, how he got A's in school subjects, but C's in citizenship because he talked too much, how he developed a life-long love for dogs, how he was almost butted to death by a goat, and how he learned his numbers from the playing cards his grandmother stacked on the window sill.

 

Clinton says that only God can judge his life, but that he has been graced beyond measure by Hilary and Chelsea. His life in politics was always a pure joy. He always wanted to give people a chance to live their dreams, to lift people their spirits, and to bring them together. That’s the way, he said, that he kept score.