That former president Bill Clinton had signed with Knopf to do another book was a surprise to no one—in fact, the plans for book #2 were announced months ago. That the new one will not be another memoir along the lines of 2004’s My Life is hardly news, either: after 1,024 pages, even Mr. I-Feel-Your-Pain has surely run out of anecdotes to tell. Still, the formal announcement that Knopf will publish Clinton’s Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World the day after Labor Day was interesting and newsworthy—and not just because, once you strip out Harry Potter, it’s a slow book-news week and/or because the former president is, to put it mildly, kind of a rock star. No, what I found striking about the probably-not-quite-finished-yet book—which sounds like a 21st-century take on Clinton’s idol’s JFK’s Profiles in Courage—is the timing of its publication. Having originally scheduled the book for later this year, Knopf said it will publish the title earlier to coincide with the Clinton Global Initiative meeting, but that seems slightly disingenuous. While, according to Knopf’s Paul Bogaards, “the book has nothing to do with the campaign,” releasing the book just as the presidential election season begins means that the former president’s tireless touring will shore up more than just the image of Bill Clinton, humanitarian—it will also help remind readers (read: voters) about that Other Clinton.
This is the season of political books, after all, and savvy politicians are figuring out that they can do well publishing titles that don’t seem overtly political, but nonetheless have some sort of a political agenda. While, for example, Rodale insisted that Al Gore’s environmental sleeper hit, An Inconvenient Truth, was about the environment, not presidential politicking, it surely resurrected the former vice-president’s viability as a thinker, leader and—who knows?—potential candidate. Likewise, politics was surely part of the reason behind the publication and timing (right after Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy last year) of former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe’s memoir, What a Party!.
So, Clinton’s appearance with this book right now—so soon after Carl Bernstein’s not altogether flattering Hillary bio A Woman in Charge, also published by Knopf—makes perfect sense. Sure, Bill has been doing some campaigning for/with his wife, but he must fear the return of the two-for-the-price-of-one backlash. What better, more subtle way to get everybody thinking Clinton, Hill than by sending out Clinton, Bill—and mildly obfuscating the agenda?
Will the strategy work? We’ll have to wait and see. According to recent polls (in such places as the New York Post, no less) Hillary Clinton is now solidly the front runner for the Democratic nomination and Bill Clinton is one of history’s most popular ex-presidents. And surely, whatever else has gone on between them, the Clintons are totally together on their get-her-elected strategy. Still, as Betsy Burton, owner of the King’s English bookstore in Salt Lake City, told PW earlier this week, Bill Clinton’s book tour could have a downside for his wife. “He could conceivably suck up the limelight,” she said.
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