When the Plame leak scandal broke, and Americans first began to learn that the White House has outed an undercover CIA agent during a war, it was then-press secretary Scott McClellan who had to lie. He told reporters (and the nation) that leaks of classified information just wasn’t “how this White House operates,” and more specifically, that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby “were not involved.”
We now know, of course, that McClellan’s assurances were completely wrong. We don’t, however, know the details of why McClellan said what he did. In a new book, to be published in April, the former press secretary will reportedly offer his personal take on his White House experiences, including what transpired during the Bush gang’s Plame scandal.
Yesterday, McClellan’s publisher released a three-paragraph teaser from “What happened.”
The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.
There was one problem. It was not true.
I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President’s chief of staff, and the president himself.
It’s hard to know, in just six sentences, exactly where McClellan is going with this. Was he outraged about having been lied to? Did Bush and Cheney approve of the lies? Why didn’t McClellan resign after realizing how the Bush White House operates included leaking classified information for political gain?
I suppose we’re expected to buy the book to find out.
For what it’s worth, in its promotional material posted at Amazon.com and elsewhere, the publisher describes the book like this:
“In this refreshingly clear-eyed book, written with no agenda other than to record his experiences and insights for the benefit of history, McClellan provides unique perspective on what happened and why it happened the way it did, including the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina, Washington’s bitter partisanship, and two hotly-contested presidential campaigns. He gives readers a candid look into who George W. Bush is and what he believes, and into the personalities, strengths, and liabilities of his top aides.
“Finally, McClellan looks to the future, exploring the lessons this presidency offers the American people as we prepare to elect a new leader.”
Given McClellan’s track record, I find it rather hard to believe he simply cares about “the benefit of history.” He was one of Bush’s longest-serving aides, and a blind loyalist. I hope no one’s expecting a provocative tell-all that makes the White House or the president look bad.
I have a hunch his book will be a lot like his press briefings — shallow and oblique, with a healthy dose of self-serving spin.