False Hope: The Politics of Illusion in the Clinton Era

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Solomon, coauthor of two critiques of the media ( Adventures in Medialand and Unreliable Sources ), here offers an impassioned if somewhat meandering essay warning that progressives should not expect President Clinton and his cohorts to deliver the fundamental change the country needs. A product of 1960s activism, Solomon reflects on both the symbolic and political links between Clinton and JFK (to the detriment of both), and he recounts the failure of presidents over the past 30 years to deliver concrete change. He assails the narrow focus of the news media, including public broadcasting, and points out trenchantly that the current political emphasis on the middle class obscures the wide gap between rich and poor. Discounting rhetorical defenses of Clinton--such as ``we have to be realistic''--Solomon refuses to join the bandwagon, noting the administration's support for nuclear weapons and continuing aid forhuman-rights-abusing governments such as Turkey's. Our country, he suggests, is in denial, and activists must attack corporate power by organizing into both political and community coalitions. (Jan.)
Library Journal
Smith, the editor of the Progressive Review, presents a manifesto/attack from the left on President Clinton. Adopting some basic tenets from the Green Movement, the current Progressive Party advocates environmentalism, decentralized government, and the revitalizing of the cities by promoting a sense of community based on individual responsibility. In the progressive view, the ultimate political conflict is not between liberals and conservatives but between huge government, big business and the individual. Smith amplifies this thesis through case studies about NAFTA, healthcare, and welfare reform. President Clinton is seen as a political manipulator and a preserver of the Bush-Reagan status quo. William Greider's Who Will Tell the People: The Betrayal of American Democracy (LJ 5/1/92) was a more vivid expos about the growing chasm between the government and the people it is supposed to serve. However, Smith's update of Clinton's contribution to this unabated sense of alienation is frightening and warrants consideration. Solomon lobs stronger broadsides, viewing Clinton as a dupe of big business who is more concerned about invoking the myths of John F. Kennedy's Camelot than he is about actually working to end poverty. Solomon's essays include rambling attacks on the media as tools of corporate power and Clinton's failed environmental and economic policies. As a Progressive, the author repudiates the Republican and Democratic parties, claiming that neither is capable of confronting social problems. Unfortunately, he only mentions grass-roots protest as a means of changing the political agenda. This is ironic because Solomon devotes much of his book to describing the entrenched power of business and government that would probably overwhelm small community protests. Of the two books, Smith's is more appropriate for public libraries.-Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, Pa.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781567510256
  • Publisher: Common Courage Press
  • Publication date: 1/1/1994
  • Format: Library Binding
  • Pages: 256

Table of Contents

Introduction 9
1 And the Invisible Hand Plays On 25
2 '60s Memories, '90s Distress 31
3 JFK, Clinton and the Politics of Myth 39
4 Long Winding Road 63
5 The Politics of News Media 91
6 The White House of "the Middle Class" 113
7 Liberal Haze and the Centrist Dream 141
8 Enabling the Status Quo 163
9 "The Fierce Urgency of Now" 181
Notes 195
Acknowledgments 239
Index 242
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