ABSTRACT

This chapter analyzes President Bill Clinton's political style—that is, his outward manner and habitual mode of action. It provides an alternation in Clinton's leadership style rather than an evolution because there is a striking similarity between the course of Clinton's political actions in the state of Arkansas and his actions during his first year in the White House. The account that follows of the components erf Bill Clinton's oscillating political style takes the form of a series of observations and clusters of observations, set forth in a somewhat arbitrary sequence. Related to Clinton's energy, enthusiasm, intelligence, and devotion to policy is a cluster of more problematic traits—absence of self-discipline, hubristic confidence in his own views and abilities, and difficulty in narrowing his goals, ordering his efforts, and devising strategies for advancing and communicating the ends he seeks to achieve.