Michael Waldman worked closely with President Clinton to write or edit nearly 2,000 speeches--including four State of the Unions & two Inaugurals. More than rhetoric, these speeches are where policy, politics, & presidential personality come together. With four competing twenty-four-hour cable news channels, every word a president says is instantly transmitted around the world. When Bill Clinton speaks in the Rose Garden it will likely be broadcast live nationwide. This has changed the very way the White House works. Waldman took the lead in composing the president's speeches on campaign finance reform, the fight for NAFTA, & his attack on GOP budget cuts. He tells the story of real life inside the White House gates--the dramatic, often funny struggles to shape the message, control policy, find the right words, & win the battle of public opinion. Readers will meet the players, from a president deeply involved in the process of crafting his speeches, to the young policy aides who guided the government.

Waldman describes the challenges of trying to govern in the pressure cooker of the White House, & he shows how the relentless use of the bully pulpit has become a defining part of the modern presidency. The debate about Clinton's legacy has begun & Waldman's account suggests that Clinton was in unexpected ways an effective & important president.