So what are we to make of the Washington Post story today about the two, soon-to-be-published tomes on Hillary Rodham Clinton? Based on the story, neither book is very flattering. But again, based on the WashPo story (because we haven’t scored copies of the books yet), the revelations contained in the books are not of the bombshell variety. The idea that Bill and Hillary had a long-term “plan” for them both to serve as president is, even if true, not very exceptional. People who run for president are, as a rule, wildly ambitious, even megalomaniacal. To put youself through the process, to have “what it takes”, requires a firm (if, in some cases, misguided) conviction that the country needs you. High self-regard comes with the territory. Kerry, Gore, (Bill) Clinton, Reagan, even Carter and Bush Sr. — they all had it. Certainly Nixon and LBJ did. Telling me that a front-running candidate for president of the United States has actually been thinking about running for president for several decades is liking telling me flowers bloom in the spring. Yawn.
It is news, I think, that Hillary had a “serious fear” that she might be indicted for perjury or obstruction during the Whitewater investigation. Covering the Clinton White House at the time, I never got the sense that Starr and his team were close to indicting her. Or that the White House was worried she might be indicted. But Mark Fabiani certainly would know. The question, of course, is whether the fear was irrational or well-founded.
Still, the specifics will probably seem like ancient history to most people. What worries the Clinton campaign about these books is not the details but the general rehashing of unpleasant memories — for the Clintons, and for voters. The message the books convey is that the Clintons, for all their stengths, come with a lot of complicated baggage. And the biggest obstacle between Hillary and the Democratic nomination is the possibility that primary voters will decide they’ve had enough of all the baggage, and even the ancient history, and want to vote instead for someone new — i.e., Obama (or Edwards). I’m not saying that will happen, only that it could. It is certainly what concerns one campaign, and motivates the others.