Clinton Book Due in June

I voted for Bill Clinton twice and was happy to do so – he did a lot of things right (NAFTA, welfare reform, race relations) and was lucky as well (the economy). As we all know, it is better to be lucky than to be good. But by the time he left office the shadow of impropriety and a bizarre penchant for risk and skanky women hung over him, and by the time of 9/11 severe questions as to his handling of terrorism, and in particular al Qaeda, had been raised.

All of these issues make the publication of Clinton’s presidential memoirs big news:

Former President Clinton’s memoirs will be published in late June, and promotion will begin a few weeks earlier with a speech at BookExpo America, the industry’s annual convention.

“It is the fullest and most nuanced account of a presidency ever written, and one of the most revealing and remarkable memoirs I have ever had the honor of publishing,” Sonny Mehta, president and editor-in-chief of Alfred A. Knopf, said in a statement Monday.

“He talks with candor about his successes, as well as his setbacks, looking at both his career in public service and his life.”

The book, for which Clinton received a reported $10 million to $12 million, will be called “My Life.” Knopf is planning a first printing of 1.5 million, a realistic number given the success of “Living History,” the memoirs of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Nearly 1.7 million copies of the hardcover of “Living History” are in print and a 525,000 first printing was announced for the paperback, which just came out.

If the former president should fail to sell more books than the first lady, he won’t be alone. Memoirs by Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan (news) both proved less popular than those written by their wives.

No precise date has been set for the book, which Clinton is still completing. Details on the book’s length, cover and promotional tour are also being worked out. One event has been scheduled: Clinton will speak at BookExpo America, which takes place in Chicago from June 3-6. Then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke at BookExpo in 1995.

….Like Bob Woodward’s “Plan of Attack” and Richard Clarke’s “Against All Enemies,” Clinton’s book will likely make its way into the presidential campaign, especially if the former president defends his record on fighting terrorism.

….If Bill Clinton (news – web sites) turns out a first-rate memoir, especially about his presidential years, he will be a true path breaker. The only highly regarded presidential memoir is by Ulysses Grant, who devoted the vast majority of the book to his triumphant Civil War military leadership and wrote virtually nothing about his often disastrous presidency.

Most presidential works have the dull, self-serving tone of a prepared speech. They suffer from the impersonal hand of a ghost writer or from the impersonal tastes of the president. The memoirs of Herbert Hoover, for example, include balance sheets on food assistance to Armenia and Lithuania and estimated totals of dried fruit exports. [AP]

It will be worthwhile if Clinton shows how he thinks. How could he be so intelligent and erudite and also be such a fool? Why the skanks? Why risk everything on an ongoing basis?