Temporal Reviews: Primary Colors

I read this book, penned by "Anonymous" (aka Joe Klein currently of Time Magazine) when I went through 90s nostalgia after the election. I wanted to harken back to happier times....Clintons in the White House, Kurt Cobain was still alive, flannel shirts - in, goatees - in, etc. Good times.

This book is a roman a clef about the Clinton presidential campaign. It's quite a page turner, although not really great literature. It's hard to read a book like this and not think that all of the stories are true. I'm not one who expects my leaders to be perfect people. I don't believe something like infidelity in a relationship means that someone will therefore be a bad leader (or even a bad person).

I would much rather have a president that lies about his sex life than a president that lies about issues of national security. That issue makes Primary Colors a quaint trifle in these days of "yellow cake uranium" and "greated as liberators with flowers in the street" and "compassionate conservative" etc etc. I'd take a randy president who likes blow jobs and day of the week over a president that likes to blow things up.

An ok read, but more for nostaligia than anything.