May 3, 2004
BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ME?:
BILL CLINTON'S VERY LONG LIFE (Cindy Adams, May 3, 2004, NY Post)
BILL Clinton's bio. Out next month, it's still - if you can believe it - in the tinkering stage. At last week's in- house exclusive chat - a surprise visit - with 250 Random House executives and sales force, he said: "I'm just about finished."These hardcore booksellers have seen it all. Still, he electrified them. It was a 15-minute off-the-cuff talk. Not a note in front of him.
"My Life" is so lengthy that, as long as it took him to live it, it could take the rest of us to read it. Longhand, the thing was 4,000 pages. Weighs more than Rosie.
One exec high up in the publisher's food chain asked, "Mr. President, you intending to run for office again some day?" Clinton said, "No." Said the person: "Then, maybe you really do not have to list absolutely every single human being you ever met in Arkansas."
It does obviate the need for a Sears catalogue. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 3, 2004 1:33 PM
Make it 8,000 pages if it will keep him busy.
How soon before he "Carter-izes" and becomes the new best ex-President?!
Posted by: Jack Sheet at May 3, 2004 2:06 PMI think it's a good bet that when Bush leaves office (hopefully in 2009) he will follow his father's and other previous president's example of becoming scarce. Which will leave the self-promoting-can't-get-rid-of-them ex-president club to Carter and Clinton.
Posted by: AWW at May 3, 2004 2:52 PMAs long as they don't print it on shiny paper.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at May 3, 2004 3:51 PMI can't wait for the movie when Bubba plays himself. Jackson will do it as a trilogy over three years. Sharon Stone will play Hilary. Rosie O'donnell will play Monica and Madonna will play Jennifer Flowers. Al gore will play Janet Reno. Bill Clinton will play with them all ... except Al and Rosie. But he'll give Rosie a shot out of curiosity.
Posted by: genecis at May 3, 2004 5:30 PMThis book's going to clear out more trees than a range fire after five years of drought...
Posted by: John at May 3, 2004 10:22 PMDoes it get shelved under history or fiction?
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at May 3, 2004 10:40 PMAutobiographies generally fall under both.
Anyway Clinton will not be regarded as well as Carter. Carter's a hard worker who does a heap of unglamorous work away from the TV cameras while Clinton is too much of a glory-hound to knuckle down.
Does anyone know anything of significance he's done since leaving office other than collect hefty fees for speaking engagements?
Posted by: M Ali Choudhury at May 4, 2004 8:51 AMM Choudhury;
At least Clinton's not sucking up to dictators, which seems to be Carter's primary hobby. I don't want to be toting up sins as if for indulgences, but how much of his good works are required to cancel out what he did to the people of North Korea via his support for Kim Il Sung?
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at May 4, 2004 9:09 AMAnd who cares what Carter's done since--he can't make up for what he failed to do as president.
Posted by: oj at May 4, 2004 9:54 AMI was in college during the Carter years. I remember hearing talk of joining the Communist Party "to be on the winning side."
These days, I'm keeping my ears open for talk of going Islamic for the same reason.
Posted by: Ken at May 4, 2004 12:21 PMAOG:
My views on Clinton vs Carter were informed by this article here.
http://www.nationalreview.com/11mar02/york031102.shtml
oj: He was a crap president but did he really foul anything up long-term like Hoover did or disgrace himself and his party like Nixon? The man did kick off arming the Afghans and US rearmament after all.
Posted by: M Ali Choudhury at May 4, 2004 12:49 PMAli:
Hoover didn't foul up anything long term. Carter failed to comprehend what toppling the Shah and Somoza meant, consistently attacked our friends and succored our enemies, and was overwhelmed by the economy. Both can be said to be victims of circumstance, but that's not acceptable in presidents.
Posted by: oj at May 4, 2004 2:24 PMClinton Mosaics:
http://www.freewebs.com/junk03/index.htm
Posted by: Clinton Mosaic at May 11, 2004 1:09 PM