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Ideas and the presidency flirt with each other, but can they really get along? President Clinton had a romance with big ideas. He cultivated intellectuals intently, seducing them with his characteristic charm and the promise of real influence on the political stage. My Affair with Clinton captures how Clinton's seductive charisma and the high hopes of the '60s generation came together in an exhilarating and disappointing "affair." Drawing on his six years of experience as an informal adviser to the president, Benjamin R. Barber reflects on the relationship between power and ideals, visionary leadership and pragmatic politics. Should ideas have a claim on presidential power, or is leadership by polling actually more in tune with the demands of democracy? What happens to intellectuals seduced by presidential attention? And will the future grant Clinton a substantial legacy? A lively personal portrait of a president in action on the field of ideas, My Affair with Clinton is an important contribution to the history and the philosophy of the presidency.

"Despite a penchant for airy rhetoric and self-important asides, [Barber] offers a revealing look at the court philosophers of the Clinton era--the intellectuals who came to dinner."

Alexander Star, New York Times Book Review, 09/30/2001

The Truth of Power: Intellectual Affairs in the Clinton White House: Search Results