https://books.google.com/books?id=O...&q=Clinton "daddy, you must stand up"&f=false
' . . . Bill grew to be more than six feet tall by the time he was fifteen, bigger than his stepfather, and once he confronted him when Roger [step father], in a drunken fit, was hitting his mother. "And Bill told him to stand up, and I thought, my goodness, he can't stand up. Then Bill said to him, 'Daddy, you must stand up to hear what I have to say. And if you can't, then I'll help you.' He helped him get to his feet. And Bill, he just said, 'Don't you ever lay a hand on my mother again.' I believe those were his exact words. Roger had some sort of fear of Bill. He never raised a hand at me again." She filed for divorce. . . '
Now, it's not always going to work out so well when a teenage son confronts the violent step dad. Sometimes the step dad will take great offense, take it personally, and later wage a variety of sub rosa and open warfare against the son.
My own dad was a drinker, but was more of a "happy" drunk. He committed his acts of violence and more commonly harsh emotional attacks when he was seething with anger and cold sober.
People talk about a three-fold cycle of build-up of tension, act of violence, honeymoon period (maybe from release of tension and the person being truly sorry). Well, I didn't really notice that much of a honeymoon period with my dad following his acts of violence.
* my dad has become a somewhat better man in his older years.
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This shit is common enough that it is well worth talking about.
Bill Clinton likely had months and months extending to years and years of a bad family environment. He also had the rare experience of successfully standing up to his step dad. And his mother left her husband. That is not the norm. For a variety of reasons, including immediate circumstances and lack of better alternatives, people generally stay in negative relationships.
And, any re-roll,
Well, many more ways of having an average political career than being president, right? At least it seems that way to me.