Books on Clintons hardly a hot topic
WASHINGTON – As Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., campaigned across Iowa this weekend, she was asked about the war in Iraq, illegal immigration and even whether her husband, former President Bill Clinton, might serve as secretary of state if she makes it to the White House.
But at no time during events in Algona, Mason City, Charles City or Emmetsburg was she asked for her reaction to a pair of soon-to-be-released books that portray her and her husband in an unflattering light, and that recount in illuminating detail the stormy history of their days together in Arkansas and later in the White House.
Clinton advisers say the early reaction confirms their belief that Americans long ago digested those controversies, drew whatever conclusions they wanted and moved on.
“This is not the first time we’ve had books written about the senator that were less than favorable,” campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said. “Our experience is that there is some initial media interest in them and then they don’t have any impact on the race.”
Neither book has been officially released. When they are in early June, both will be backed by major publicity tours and advertising. As such, even without new bombshells, the books threaten to plunge candidate Clinton back into the soap opera that so often was the Clinton administration.
She remains one of the most divisive figures in American politics, and a major challenge for her campaign is to turn someone whose history is so familiar and controversial into a future-oriented candidate seen as capable of changing a country racked by partisanship and political polarization.
“HRC’s deadly problem,” Republican strategist Mike Murphy said in an e-mail message, “is that, while she’s running in a change election, most of her identity is about the past, which is a very bad position to be in.”
Even some Republicans agreed with Clinton’s team that the books will have minimal effect on Clinton’s campaign. For Clinton haters, one strategist said, the books will reinforce what they believe already, but they will change no minds.
The story told in the new volumes – “A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton,” by Carl Bernstein; and “Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton,” by Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr. – is, in its broadest outlines, familiar to most Americans.
The books recount the roller-coaster ride through the Clinton presidency and his tenure as governor of Arkansas, raising anew issues of marital strife and infidelity, Clinton’s strong and sometimes controlling personality, the scandals that ultimately led to impeachment, the failed effort to reform health care and much more.
The books may not radically change the public’s image of Hillary Clinton, but they could once again remind voters of episodes that may have faded from public memory while adding fresh details that could provide ammunition for her political adversaries.
Aside from details of their marriage, the Gerth-Van Natta book portrays the Clintons calculating their rise to power even before getting married. The book reports that the Clintons formulated a 20-year plan in the 1970s to reach the White House, citing a former Bill Clinton girlfriend who said she saw a letter written by Hillary and former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta, who said the president described their long-term plan to him.
Mark Penn, Clinton’s chief strategist, said Saturday the topic of the Clintons’ marriage is “a closed case” for most Americans. “I think people are respecting the privacy of their relationship,” he said. “It’s a long time now from 1998. We’re eight years later. She’s been a spectacular senator. I think that to bring up something that is from almost a decade ago now – this is not where the public is.”