As if there haven’t been enough anti-Clinton books, we have two more on the way.
Two new books on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York offer fresh and often critical portraits of the Democratic presidential candidate that depict a tortured relationship with her husband and her past and challenge the image she has presented on the campaign trail.
The Hillary Clinton who emerges from the pages of the books comes across as a complicated, sometimes compromised figure who tolerated Bill Clinton’s brazen infidelity, pursued her policy and political goals with methodical drive, and occasionally skirted along the edge of the truth along the way. The books portray her as alternately brilliant and controlling, ambitious and victimized.
Given the initial reports, there’s a qualitative difference between the two new books, though neither one appear to be on track to win a Pulitzer.
“Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton,” by Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr., is clearly the hit job of the two. For example, it quotes Taylor Branch, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and close Clinton friend, explaining that the Clintons “planned two terms in the White House for Bill and, later, two for Hillary.”
Contacted last night by the WaPo, Branch said that “the story is preposterous” and that “I never heard either Clinton talk about a ‘plan’ for them both to become president.”
When one of the central premises of a book is based on a false quote, it’s not a good sign. Given Gerth’s background, we probably shouldn’t be surprised.
Carl Bernstein’s “A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton” reportedly isn’t as sloppy as “Her Way,” but is nevertheless overly fascinated by — you guessed it — the Clintons’ personal lives.
The Clinton camp hopes to brush off the books as mainly rehashing old news. “Is it possible to be quoted yawning?” asked Philippe Reines, her Senate spokesman. If past books on Clinton were “cash for trash,” he added, “these books are nothing more than cash for rehash.”
Howard Wolfson, a campaign spokesman, pointed to previous reports on some of the elements in the books to make the point that there was nothing new. “The news here is that it took three reporters nearly a decade to find no news,” he said.
I keep thinking, “Haven’t we seen all of this before?” I don’t doubt that the books will get plenty of publicity, but it all seems rather pointless. National Journal’s Marc Ambinder said, “It’s hard to imagine we’ll be talking about these books in August,” adding:
Ooh — HRC is ambitious. And ruthless. Ambitious people can be ruthless.
Ooh — HRC fought to keep her family’s private life private.
Ooh — Bill Clinton had extramarital affairs.
Ooh — the Clintons were worried about Whitewater.
Riveting.
The only question I have is this: will these books end up on the overstock/remainder table in July or August?