The Psychological Assessment of Political Leadersromance and a fair fight... Two strong willed personalities"
(Maraniss 1995, 247). Hillary Rodham's "intellect, resilience, and
ambition were... equal to his" (426).
Hillary Rodham's approach to life, unlike her husband's, is
"focused, pragmatic, and aggressive" (Oakley 1994, 89). Clinton, on
the other hand, was, and in many respects remains, unfocused, with
an aversion to boundaries, preferring charm to conflict. While Bill
was somewhat sporadic in his attention to his studies, Hillary was
much more focused: "Her focused intellect was ... a perfect coun-
terpoint to his restless diffuse mind" (Maraniss 1995, 247). Interper-
sonally, too, both differed from and complemented each other:
"Hillary required less company than Clinton.... constant fellowship
was not her style" (Oakley 1994, 102).
The Clintons as Political Partners:
Two Psychologies, One Presidency
The Clintons are two highly intelligent people who want to make
their mark and who share some definite ideas about how to do so.
Each has a distinctive psychology. Bill Clinton is smart, charming,
and unfocused. Hillary Rodham Clinton is smart, very focused, but
less able and willing than her husband to move toward others.^7 In
these ways, each provides more of what the other might benefit from
having.
In addition to their shared high intelligence, both are very ambi-
tious and display high levels of confidence in both themselves and
the policies and approaches they propose. A critical issue, however, is
not in what ways they are alike and different, but how these similar-
ities and differences affected the Clinton presidency.
Hillary Rodham Clinton's ambition trumps her husband's. Senior
presidential advisers have suggested that it was Hillary Clinton who
came to Washington with a very ambitious view of the administra-
tion's goals (Drew 1994). At a meeting of the entire cabinet and
senior White House staff at Camp David on January 30-31, 1993,
the discussion turned to what items should be in the president's
agenda. Some cabinet officials suggested limiting the large agenda
because many of the items were difficult issues. However, Hillary
Clinton "then gave a ringing speech in favor of just the opposite—