All Americans should read

Before you vote this November, be informed by someone who spent decades protecting the President and others. No matter if you are Dem or Rep, read this!! ( )

While I hate liver, I eat it once a year, as homage to my mom, since she taught me ​to "suck it up", and eat it even if I don't like it, because it's good for me. Similarly, while I'm not fond of going to the dentist, I ​still ​make my annual visit because I recognize ​that, like it or not, ​it's something good for me. And during the election cycle, I ​try to ​read political books about ​the candidates and ​nominees for President because, as distasteful as ​the books (or the candidates) may be, I feel I need to know as much about the​m as possible in order to cast an informed vote.

So I recently picked up a copy of "The Making of Donald Trump" by investigative reporter David Cay Johnson, and a copy of "Crisis of Character", by former White House Security officer Gary Byrne, to see what each had to say about these candidates as we draw close to the 2016 presidential election. I started with Gary Byrne's book about Hillary Clinton, and ​for a book currently (as I read it) on the N.Y. Times best seller list, I have to say I expected a little more from it. I expected much more current information about the former Secretary of State, U.S. Senator and First Lady, but instead found mostly old stories from twenty years ago.

The book reminded my of ​term papers my daughter ​wrote when she was in college. She had one great paper, which she submitted and resubmitted ​several times for varous classes, simply changing the beginning and ending sections​ to suit the various class assignments. Whether she was taking a communications class, a current events class, or a class on government, etc., she was able to use her core paper, make some changes at the beginning and the end to suit the professors assignment, and her work was done.

Byrne's book gave me that same feeling. It was as if he had a core book, one about his career in the Federal Government, ​and then added beginning and ending chapters irrelevant to his core story, describing how the Clintons, both Bill and Hillary, lack the character needed to lead the country. After comparing the Clintons negatively to Barbara and George H.W. Bush​, the president in office when he started working in the White House, his book seems mostly about his career as a Federal employee, starting with his time ​in the Air Force, then ​as a Uniformed Security ​Officer ​in the White House ​in the early to mid 1990's, and then about his becoming a ​tour ​guide ​in the White House, then becoming a firearms instructor, and finally transferring to Homeland Security as an Air Marshall. Much of the book had little or nothing to do with the Clintons, other than referring to them negatively​ when the opportunity arose while he told his own ​personal ​story​. His own story is one of being dedicated to our Country and always wanting to do the right thing and help people, wherever he was​, and he tended to use that as a basis of comparison to the Clintons, whose character he disparages. His personal interactions with Bill Clinton and / or Hillary was limited to brief interactions while he was on duty on the White House grounds or in security stations within the White House in the mid 1990's.

While his description of his career in government service, and hearing his gripes about his supervisors and the higher-ups in these jobs ​had some interest, I wasn't sure what ​most of that had to do with the Clintons. ​Much of what he has to say about the Clinton's is based on limited first-hand interaction. M​ost of what he described about the Clintons seemed to be second-hand stories from earlier years and from others. He talks about Bill's actual or rumored affairs with various women throughout his political career, the suicide of Hillary's aide Vince Foster and theories of the Clinton's involvement, about the old Whitewater investigation of the Clintons, and about information from the Clinton's time in the Governor's mansion in Arkansas, little of which he was personally involved with. His insights of interest were limited to his seeing Hillary in the White House when angry, ​his observations of how she treated people in general, ​and having Monica Lewinsky pass his station numerous times to see Bill. ​He was called upon to testify about what he had seen during the Kenneth Starr investigation of the Lewinsky affair, ​but I had seen a separate account from an Associated Press report from the time of that testimony that Byrne "“felt compelled to remind the prosecutors that he was merely relaying gossip he had heard. ‘It was based on other, other innuendoes and accusations, little tidbit rumors, that kind of stuff.’”​ Yet in this book, where he's not giving testimony, he seems much more sure of himself in his accusations. Byrne also talks about the toll ​testifying about the Lewinsky affair took on him and his wife, even to the point ​sleeping with a loaded gun by his bed for fear of end​ing​ up like Vince Foster. A stretch in my mind, but I've never been much of a conspiracy theorist.

​When Byrne is not telling his own story, he paints Bill and Hillary in a negative light, but as I stated, I found the stories mostly old and out of date. He describes Dick Morris, a political campaign consultant, as being admitted to the White House only after then Chief-of-Staff Leon Panetta had gone home for the day, implying something nefarious about it, and referring to Morris as a secritive "alternate" Chief of Staff. Apparently Byrne either forgot or ignored the fact that after the Repubicans made gains in Congress following the 1994 mid-term election, and Clinton named Morris as his campaign manager for the 1996 election​. So his being a frequent visitor to the White House during this time hardly seemed suspicious or even worth mentioning, to me.

There were other unfavorable descriptions of the Clinton White House from 20 years ago, but I didn't feel he made a good connection to those situations and its relevance to Hillary the candidate today. Is the fact that Clinton staffers wore tee-shirts important? For exampe, Byren writes that ​​"... Unlike their predecessors (Bush I ), this Administration didn't focus, pace themselves, or even delegate. Staff wore jeans and tee-shirts, and faced each problem with grand ideological bull sessions. Rival Foreign Powers could influence the situation and change it before the Clinton Administration could mold a plan and implement it. Their helter-skelter approach had deadly consequences abroad.... Somehow, the Administration selected Somalia as a scene for international engagements. There were plenty of wars and genocides around the world. They ignored the Rawandan genocide, and let situation in Bosnia and Herzogovenia escelate. I guess Somalia seemed more marketable than the others - better for the Clinton Brand. The incident at Mogadishu resulted from their dithering and from their constant insistence that we, ​law enforcement officers, military, and so on, had to look like their perception of good guys.

​He referred to the Mogadishu (Black Hawk Down) situation as Clinton's doing, and the Somalia war as Clinton's war, forgetting or ignoring the fact that it was Clinton's predecessor (Bush 41), who sent troops to Somalia on a humanitarian mission prior to Clinton assuming the office. And the Mogadishu debacle was a special forces attempt to capture senior warlords who were perpetuating the killings of civilians and causing widespread starvation and deaths, not some cavalier caper to make himself look good.

​So I felt that "Crisis in Character", while painting Hillary (and Bill) Clinton in a very negative light, was somewhat dated in its information, and despite its heavy promotion and being a "best selling book, failed to make much of an impact on me. I'm hoping that my next read, "The Making of Donald Trump contains more relevant and timely insights into the GOP candidate. ( )

Another very good audio book. I am listening to 3 right now but this one just grabs your attention from beginning to end.
In general, I love the bio-memoirs from men/women who served and protect our country while this is my first book from a secret service perspective, it is jaw dropping of what goes on in the White House during the Clintons resided there. ( )

This was an interesting read. Going in I was concerned that this would lack relevancy as we're well beyond any possibility of Hillary Clinton becoming president. The title and summary give the impression that this is going to be all about the Clintons, but it really wasn't - and that's okay with me. I chalk that up to being a marketing ploy by the publisher, as this book was released during the 2016 election cycle. While there's a sizeable chunk devoted to the author's experiences protecting the Clintons, there's also plenty of material about his later experiences working for the Federal Air Marshal Service. Mr. Byrne doesn't shy away from calling out poor leadership and ineffective policies employed by the US Secret Service and the Air Marshals as well as the Clintons. This is a guy telling his story of the kinds of things he saw and experienced firsthand while serving his country. Even in his complaints about how things are in the USSS & FAMS, it always comes across as constructive criticism - I always got the feeling that Gary really cares about the mission and wants it to succeed.

Recommended for those who enjoy memoirs by those in government, and lovers of history. ( )

Too slanted for my taste. Not sure what I expected. It did give an interesting perspective on Hilary. ( )