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Inside America

Bill Clinton is back in the limelight with his best-selling autobiography

RON CHEPESIUK
***As the book makes clear, Clinton still hasn't gotten over the campaign to impeach him. In writing about his 1998 impeachment, Clinton takes the high road. He says his enemies didn't try to punish him for his dishonesty or immoral conduct but because he had power.***
BiLL Clinton is back on centre-stage after leaving office more than three and a half years ago. For the legions of
Clinton-haters in America, the past several weeks have been hard to stomach. Much to their displeasure, Slick Willie, as many of them remember him, has been omnipresent in the media.
As for his legions of supporters and admirers, or those just curious about the titillating details of the personal life of a handsome, charismatic public figure who, for eight years, was the most powerful man on the planet, they have flocked to the book store in record numbers to buy his autobiography that's simply titled My Life.
i am in neither Clinton camp. As a staunch, unabashed liberal, i never thought the smooth operating, fence-straddling politico from Arkansas was one of us. But i did detest the sleazy campaign of the vicious pack of right-wing zealots who tried to chase him from office for reasons having nothing to do with how he ran the country.
i did get a review copy, though, of Clinton's autobiography, and this gives me the opportunity to share my thoughts on what has become one of the most amazing phenomena in publishing history.
Clinton got a $10 million advance to write his 957 page tome. He actually wanted to write two books: one about his childhood in Arkansas and his early political career and another about his White House years. After reading the book, i believe that was good idea.
Clinton apparently wrote the original draft of My Life in long-hand before noted editor Robert Gottlieb, who has worked with such illustrious authors as Nobel Prize winner Tony Morrison and noted presidential biographer Robert Caro, polished it up. The finished product is much like the character of the author -undisciplined and unfocused. The book is no page turner, even for a political junkie like me, and i wonder how many of the 2.5 million people who reportedly bought advanced copies will actually read Clinton's opus from cover to cover.
i found the early part of My Life, which focuses on the childhood and
early political career, to be the most interesting part of the book. Love him or hate him, Clinton's life, as much as that of any American in the country's history, embodies the so-called American Dream. Peruse the facts of Clinton's life and one can easily conclude that the odds were incredibly long that Clinton could have become President. He had few advantages starting out in life. His
father died in a car accident shortly after he was born and his mother remarried an alcoholic who frequently abused her and Bill's half brother, Roger.
The bad experiences of clinton's youth scarred him for life. As a product of an alcoholic home, he still has a tough time discussing his personal life with anyone. in My Life, clinton writes, "it took me a long time just to figure that out. it was even harder to learn what secrets to keep, which to let go, which to avoid in the first place. i am still not sure i understand that
completely. it looks like it is going to be a lifetime project."
in other words, Bill Clinton may have been a master when it came to the life of politics but he has been essentially clueless when it has come to dealing with many of the challenges he has faced in the game of life.
At age 57, Clinton still doesn't seem to get it. In an interview with
the popular American television program 60 Minutes, clinton was asked why he committed adultery. clinton said he had no rational explanation other than "i did something for the worst possible reason. Just because i could. i think that's about the most morally indefensible reason anybody could have for doing anything."
Yet despite what clinton describes as his "personal demons," he was able to escape his dysfunctional background and climb the political ladder from the governorship of Arkansas to the White House. But as someone once
said: "No matter where you go in life, you always meet yourself when you arrive." The demons never went away and almost did clinton in.
The infamous Monica Lewinsky affair tarnished a political legacy that could have put the clinton presidency on the near great level. clinton's description of how the sordid incident played out in his family life will form the basis of a great series of scenes, if the book is optioned as a movie.
Take 1-- the scandal breaks,
leading to public scrutiny and
months of adamant denials by
clinton. Finally he confesses to
Hillary and his daughter. Hillary is terribly upset and plays the part of aggrieved spouse. The couple goes to marriage counselling. There is reconciliation. The marriage survives. Happy ending.
This makes for great theatre and it will probably help Mrs. clinton's political career, but i don't buy it. The evidence shows Monica was just one of several paramours in clinton's life and one of the secrets he tried to keep.
i remember reading a magazine account during the 1992 political campaign when the Gennifer Flowers story broke. i believe the magazine article was in Newsweek. Buried in the article was this revealing nugget. Upon hearing that the alleged Flowers affair had become public, Hillary's first reaction was to wonder how the story would affect her husband's presidential run. Wouldn't a more appropriate response from a wife be: "Tell me it's not true, Bill"?
i believe Bill and Hillary are really political partners who long ago, for the sake of their ambitions, made peace with the demons.
As the book makes clear, clinton still hasn't gotten over the campaign to impeach him. in writing about his 1998 impeachment, clinton takes the high road. He says his enemies didn't try to punish him for his dishonesty or immoral conduct but because he had power. He explained to 60 Minutes that the battle "was a badge of honour. i didn't see it as a stain because it was illegitimate."
His relentless critics will argue that here he is again in a state of denial. But i believe clinton has a strong case that was a victim of a conspiracy.
Readers who don't flip through the book to get to the juicy details will find plenty of substantial information about clinton's views on the affairs of state, George Bush, Sr., and other major political figures, the War on Terrorism and his economic policy, which he considers his greatest accomplishment, for example.
i found clinton's account of his dealings with Yasser Arafat to be of special interest since i had once interviewed the chairman. clinton's assessment of Arafat is insightful: "A powerful presence that had become a shadow of himself. At times Arafat seemed confused, not wholly in command of the facts. i had for some time felt that he might not be any longer at the top of his game after spending the night in different places to dodge assassins' bullets."
clinton warned Arafat that he was single-handedly electing (Ariel) Sharon and that he would reap the whirlwind.
But Arafat remains the consummate survivor in Middle East politics, and the same can be said about clinton in American political life. Bill clinton didn't reap the political whirlwind that tried to destroy him, and now that his spin is out, he is basking in the limelight while smiling all the way to the bank
Daily Star columnist Ron Chepesiuk is a Visiting Professor of Journalism at Chittagong University and a Research Associate with the National Defense College in Dhaka.