To my mother, who gave me a love of life
To Hillary, who gave me a life of love
To Chelsea, who gave joy and meaning to it all
And to the memory of my grandfather,
who taught me to look up to people others looked down on,
because we’re not so different after all
PROLOGUE
When I was a young man just out of law school and eager to get on with my life, on a whim
I briefly put aside my reading preference for fiction and history and bought one of those how-
to books:How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life, by Alan Lakein. The book’s main
point was the necessity of listing short-, medium-, and long-term life goals, then categorizing
them in order of their importance, with the A group being the most important, the B group
next, and the C the last, then listing under each goal specific activities designed to achieve
them. I still have that paperback book, now almost thirty years old. And I’m sure I have that
old list somewhere buried in my papers, though I can’t find it. However, I do remember the A
list. I wanted to be a good man, have a good marriage and children, have good friends, make a
successful political life, and write a great book.
Whether I’m a good man is, of course, for God to judge. I know that I am not as good as my
strongest supporters believe or as I hope to become, nor as bad as my harshest critics assert. I
have been graced beyond measure by my family life with Hillary and Chelsea. Like all
families’ lives, ours is not perfect, but it has been wonderful. Its flaws, as all the world knows,
are mostly mine, and its continuing promise is grounded in their love. No person I know ever
had more or better friends. Indeed, a strong case can be made that I rose to the presidency on
the shoulders of my personal friends, the now legendary FOBs.
My life in politics was a joy. I loved campaigns and I loved governing. I always tried to keep
things moving in the right direction, to give more people a chance to live their dreams, to lift
people’s spirits, and to bring them together. That’s the way I kept score.
As for the great book, who knows? It sure is a good story.
To Hillary, who gave me a life of love
To Chelsea, who gave joy and meaning to it all
And to the memory of my grandfather,
who taught me to look up to people others looked down on,
because we’re not so different after all
PROLOGUE
When I was a young man just out of law school and eager to get on with my life, on a whim
I briefly put aside my reading preference for fiction and history and bought one of those how-
to books:How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life, by Alan Lakein. The book’s main
point was the necessity of listing short-, medium-, and long-term life goals, then categorizing
them in order of their importance, with the A group being the most important, the B group
next, and the C the last, then listing under each goal specific activities designed to achieve
them. I still have that paperback book, now almost thirty years old. And I’m sure I have that
old list somewhere buried in my papers, though I can’t find it. However, I do remember the A
list. I wanted to be a good man, have a good marriage and children, have good friends, make a
successful political life, and write a great book.
Whether I’m a good man is, of course, for God to judge. I know that I am not as good as my
strongest supporters believe or as I hope to become, nor as bad as my harshest critics assert. I
have been graced beyond measure by my family life with Hillary and Chelsea. Like all
families’ lives, ours is not perfect, but it has been wonderful. Its flaws, as all the world knows,
are mostly mine, and its continuing promise is grounded in their love. No person I know ever
had more or better friends. Indeed, a strong case can be made that I rose to the presidency on
the shoulders of my personal friends, the now legendary FOBs.
My life in politics was a joy. I loved campaigns and I loved governing. I always tried to keep
things moving in the right direction, to give more people a chance to live their dreams, to lift
people’s spirits, and to bring them together. That’s the way I kept score.
As for the great book, who knows? It sure is a good story.
