And Bill Clinton didn’t really Confront his Abusive Step Father

The worst thing that has happened to news coverage is probably the rise of the pundit class, but with them came the psychological profiling of candidates and the navel gazing about whether they have a story about their youth correct. I remember when Bill Clinton told the story of confronting his abusive stepfather when he was still a boy and the press tried desperately to knock down the story saying it wasn’t clear he was accurate and so it must be a sign of a major character flaw.

Of course, most of us have memories of our youth that are far more dramatic than reality was for sure.  The crushing disappointment of being turned down for a date, really wasn’t that great.  The fight with parents that seems like daily occurrences with four year olds, seems like a life changing event.  The deep intellectual conversations with friends were,well silly.
All teenagers are drama queens and in our more objective moments we realize that. However, are memories make those very vivid and as such relevant to how we are formed as human beings.  Bill Clinton standing up to his abusive father-in-law even if it was through tears and not nearly as dramatic as he might remember it is one of those events a young man learns from and recounting it in his mind is certainly vivid.

It’s not some great character flaw to recount those events as you remember them as people know that one’s memories as a kid are not entirely accurate. In Obama’s case, he even told you that in the introduction to the book admitting it and even changing characters to make the narrative easier to follow.  IOW, trying to make it out as a big deal is silly hack journalism.
Finally, I hated high school and that’s not an exaggeration–I too laughed and posed for photos the day of my graduation even through a horrible hangover.