Poor me. Even conservatives have to feel sorry for me. My new book, “Bush Must Go: The Top Ten Reasons Why George W. Bush Doesn’t Deserve A Second Term,” was published on June 15. But I had barely finished my first book signing before “that other Bill” came out with his blockbuster: “My Life.” I feel like the dark side of a solar eclipse.
There’s seldom been a publishing event like it. A whopping $10 million advance. Initial print run of 1.5 million copies. One full-hour interview on “60 Minutes.” Book party for over 1,200 adoring fans at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Five hundred thousand copies sold the first day. Instant No. 1 ranking on Amazon.com. Enough to make any other author green with envy.
And, as sure as sun follows rain, the return of Bill Clinton spawned the return of the Clinton-haters. In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, it was “deja vu all over again” – the shrill chorus of Rush Limbaugh, Joe Scarborough, Ann Coulter, Grover Norquist, Larry Klayman David Bossie and others, warning that the appearance of Clinton’s book was a major disaster.
Its publication, they insisted, would simply remind voters of why Clinton was impeached and would completely overshadow, and therefore seriously harm, the Kerry campaign. As usual, they are more loud than right. In fact, they are dead wrong.
True, Clinton’s book will remind Americans of his impeachment, but not in the sense his critics hope. Just the opposite. It will remind people of how silly, shallow and completely unnecessary the whole impeachment process was. The fact that congressional Republicans suspended the important business of this country for an entire year in order to focus on an act of oral sex, willingly given and willingly received, shows just how depraved they were – and still are.
Clinton also seizes the opportunity to even the score with Ken Starr, and rightfully so. Starr was no “independent” counsel. He was a partisan religious zealot who suddenly shifted from investigating a failed real estate deal into snooping into Clinton’s sex life. As Clinton concludes, Starr “did what he was hired to do” – everything he could to discredit and get rid of Clinton – but failed. Starr belongs in the National Hall of Shame.
Speaking of sex, in his “60 Minutes” interview with Dan Rather, Clinton was surprisingly candid about the Lewinsky affair. It was, he conceded, a huge mistake and “morally indefensible.” He did it, he admits in his book, “only because I could.” Scant justification, indeed, for his reckless behavior. On the other hand, George W. Bush went to war in Iraq “only because he could.” Take your pick. Most Americans would prefer a president who lied about sex to one who lied about why we had to go to war.
Clinton-haters are also wrong in saying that his book will overshadow the Kerry campaign. Except for political junkies, nobody’s going to be paying much attention to the presidential campaign until after the national conventions. By that time, Clinton will have finished stumping for his book. He will step out of the spotlight and Kerry will step back in.
Actually, the Clinton book could turn out to be a big plus for Kerry. It does, after all, bring back memories of the good old days – when America saw the creation of 22 million new jobs, a booming economy, a budget surplus, a cease-fire in Northern Ireland and the Middle East. The contrast between those golden days under Clinton and these gray days under Bush will help Kerry, not hurt him.
What’s getting most attention in the Clinton book, of course, is his frank talk about the impact of the Lewinsky scandal on his marriage. He describes the awful moment when he had to tell, first Hillary, and then Chelsea, the truth. He reveals for the first time how he and Hillary went to a marriage counselor once a week for an entire year – during which time he slept on the couch. (Isn’t there a spare bedroom in the White House?)
Unlike too many Americans, Bill and Hillary Clinton didn’t take the easy way out and seek a quick divorce. They worked hard at saving their marriage and keeping their family intact. Whatever you think of their politics, give them credit for that.
