America’s saviour
Bill Clinton wasn’t the best president of the United States of America, nor was he the worst. Nor was he the most oversexed. John F. Kennedy had more pillow-mates by far. Yet Jackie Kennedy and Hillary Clinton didn’t make a fuss about it.
Hillary nearly made it to the Oval Office on her own and has been yelling “Foul” ever since. Their places in history have yet to be determined. Bill’s first novel, The President Is Missing, is a joint effort with top US author James Patterson.
If you think it’s his version of his darkest time in the White House, accused of an affair with an intern, guess again. Rather, the plot is about a dire threat to the country he is able to thwart by acting undercover. Highly improbable, but not inconceivable.
The threat is so extensive, I will not do it justice by paraphrasing it. So I’m taking the unusual step of quoting from the book: “[W]e foiled the most dangerous cyberattack ever launched against the United States or any nation.
“If fully successful, it would have crippled our military, erased all our financial records and backup, destroyed our electrical grid and transmissions networks, broken our water and water purification systems, disabled our cell phones, and more.
“The attack’s likely consequences would have included massive loss of life, damage to the health of millions of Americans of every age, an economic crash greater than the Depression. And violent anarchy in the streets of communities large and small through out our country. The effects would have reverberated across the world.”
None of which happened because the president of the United States and a few trusted friends left the business of running the country to the vice-president. They tracked down the dastardly plotters, who were rogue Saudi Arabian princes — not the king — and the Russians.
Bill Clinton devotes a chapter to the qualifications of the chief executive. Those who recall his administration may well believe he fell short of his own criteria. Be that as it may, The President Is Missing is a compelling page-turner.
Not least because of James Patterson’s outstanding ability to create suspense and an ever-moving pace. And, yes, there’s even a shootout.
Curiously, when he describes the hostile attitude of Congress for his mysterious disappearance, it brings to mind their animosity to President Trump for other reasons.