I have a theory on the timing of the release of Hillary’s book. Perhaps you agree. Perhaps not.
She is releasing this book at a time when the rest of the country is moving ahead and leaving the salacious tidbits of the past administration behind. Also, there is a field of Democratic hopefule who wish to continue to distance themselves from the general nastiness of the Lewinsky matter.
The timing of her book release hurts Deomocratic candidates, by reminding the country of the pain we endured as we watched the Lewisky drama unfold, untimately leading, rightly or not, to Clinton’s impeachment.
The timing of her book is to:
a) Subtly undermine democratic hopes for the Presidency so that she can run in 2008 against a new Republican instead of trying to win the nomination from an incumbant Democrat
b) When she runs in 2008, she can simply refer people who question her actions and the actions of her husband to the book she wrote back in 2003. She will have already dealt with the embarassing issues years ago, and will have moved on. Anyone dwelling on them will simply be engaging in the politics of personal destruction.
She certainly had a say in when she would deliver the manuscript, because she had a contract. Had she wanted the thing to be published in some other year, she’s have negotiated it that way.
You obviously haven’t listened to much talk radio over the past 3 years or visited some of the conservative websites like lucianne.com or free republic.com
Seeing as how our junior Senator has publicly claimed she’s not interested in running for the presidency (at least in last night’s ABC interview), both points seem moot.
Let’s not kid ourselves. This is one step in the presidential campaign process for HRC. And I say, good for her. If the Dems complain too much, at least she didn’t release the book in late summer/early fall of 2004! Hillary is smart and knows how to make money when she needs to. Let’s see how far she can go.
I’ll bet that she won’t lose any sleep if Bush wins in '04. It’ll certainly leave her a strong openning for '08. I’d be pretty surprised if she actually got the Dem nomination, but then I didn’t expect her to win the Senate seat, either, so that show’s how much I know about her appearl. Of course the latter would have been a cleaner test if there hadn’t been a GOP candidate swap in mid-campaign. And the American general public is a lot different than the New York general public.
Look, the Clintons left the White House pretty deeply in debt. What with all their legal bills dealing with Bill’s shenanigans and such. So Bill hits the circuit giving speeches, and Hillary writes her book. She’s getting $8 million for it, right? $8,000,000 is reason enough. You don’t have to invent conspiracy theories to understand why someone would release a book when they are getting that kind of money for it. And Hillary was always the one who cared about money, Bill never cared. This is Hillary making money for Hillary.
The book is timed so that it doesn’t conflict with the 2004 election. But that is just Hillary being a good democratic party member. She was going to release the book, by doing it now instead of next year she doesn’t remind voters of the scandals. And let’s face it, that’s the only thing people are interested in with this book: what does Hillary have to say about the scandals?
I just love watching the righties fulminate about the very thought of their favorite whippee. They’re actually frustrated that she won’t be running for President any time soon, so they can have an outlet. They have to satisfy themselves with outrage over her actually publishing a book and getting some attention! No principled politician has ever even considered doing that before, right? Meanwhile, they’re absent from the real national discussion.
Grow the hell up, people. You’re being shown a bogeyman and you’re responding to that, instead of dealing the consequences of the real responsibilities you now shoulder after so much effort spent in gaining power. Try to live up to your responsibilities instead of pinata-bashing, okay?
She is trying to distance herself from the Clinton scandals, as has been mentioned.
That, and she needs the money.
She is positioning herself for 2008. None of the other Democratic candidates have generated much publicity or excitement. She is demonstrating that she can generate both at will, by releasing a book with her name on it. From here on in, any and all references to the Clinton White House scandals will be brushed off by saying, “I covered all that in my book” (even if she did not).
Bush can’t run in 2008, and Cheney’s health won’t allow him to run. Hilary allows the current crop of Democrats to destroy each other, lose in 2004, and (she hopes) waltzes into the nomination next cycle.
Wait. I’ve got a really wild theory about why she put the book out when she did. I don’t want this to get around, so I’m going to whisper it. Come real close.
When she signed the contract back in 2000, she said she’d have the book ready by early 2003. But the publisher didn’t want to compete with a war for media attention, so they delayed it a couple months to sell more books.
Hillary Clinton is a Democratic politician operating in a time when she can or will not openly oppose the president on important issues (such as war), lest she be further marginalized. In order to gain public support (be it for a future presidential run, clout in the senate, or merely more votes in NY for 2006) she must do something that will get attention without actually doing anything political, or embarassing.
Shodan nailed it. Every single action that Hillary performs, right down to her choice of breakfast cereal in the morning, is carefully chosen according to one criterion:
“What will most help me become president?”
And God help us all, I think eventually she’ll get it. shudder
Jeff
Maybe I’m blinded by my own preferences, but I cannot believe she could win in '08. I’d be floored if she even won the Dem nomination.
Anyone think she’d go a more conservative route (no pun inteneded) and end up as VP on the ticket first? Now, that I could see in the realm of possibilities, if she could bring herself to take that step down. I think that would be tough for her.
And this differs from any other politician how, exactly? Do you think W ever takes a non-political breath. He just lied about a justification for war so he could get himself re-elected. Politicians are politically calculating? Stop the freaking presses.
