Their Lives an Open Book, Clintons Enter a New Phase

[世岩 최삼송]

Their Lives an Open Book, Clintons Enter a New Phase

Paul Hosefros/The New York Times

With the publication of her book about her years in the White House, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton provided new fodder for reporters and put the Clintons back in the tabloids.

Reuters

Former U.S. first lady Hillary Clinton with her husband, President Bill Clinton, following an address he gave in 1999. According to Mrs. Clinton's associates, the senator is now preparing for her own run in 2008.

By ADAM NAGOURNEY and RAYMOND HERNANDEZ

ASHINGTON, June 4 ?With the tabloid headlines about her marriage, the Sunday prime-time interview with Barbara Walters and the promise of a cover story in Time magazine, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today rode the wave of an extravagant publicity campaign that befits the publication of a book for which she was paid $8 million.

But in many ways, the Clintons' friends said today, it is not only a memoir by a former first lady that is being rolled out.

It is also the Clintons themselves, embarking on the latest chapter in a public life that has made them an object of admiration, scorn and puzzlement since the former governor of Arkansas ran for president in 1992, and sold them as a "buy one get one free" team of public servants.

Mrs. Clinton is dealing with an issue, her husband's infidelity, which she has until now rarely addressed in public, and which her own advisers viewed as a hindrance to a public career that they would like to see end back in the White House. And by design or not, her book arrives at a time when her husband appears to be ending a self-imposed moratorium and taking more of a hand in national Democratic politics.

The Clintons spent much of the first 30 months of the Bush presidency keeping a low profile and trying to avoid the storms that engulfed Mr. Clinton's presidency, his friends said today. But that period is now coming to an end, as they try in different ways to assert their presence in American politics, and embark on promoting books for which they were paid advances totaling close to $20 million. Mr. Clinton's memoir is to be published in 2004.

Not incidentally, the personal nature of Mrs. Clinton's book suggests they are about to define a new period in a relationship that has long been a source of gossipy speculation and that even their closest friends describe as enigmatic.

In addressing her husband's infidelities in her book, "Living History," Mrs. Clinton publicly addressed a subject she steadfastly refused to discuss by invoking what she had called a zone of privacy.

"I am a private person ?it was difficult to write this book," Mrs. Clinton said in a telephone interview today. "First ladies in recent times have all taken the opportunity at the end of their husband's terms to write about their experiences. So when I decided to follow in those footsteps, I wanted to give as complete an account of my eight years with my husband in the White House as I could."

"I thought I had to write not only about the many high points and good times ?but also the difficult times, in order to render an accurate accounting of those times," Mrs. Clinton added.

As Mrs. Clinton was in the final steps of preparing her book, the former president was aggressively providing advice to Democrats running for the job he once held, offering his view on various issues in interviews and speeches.

"He's probably bucking around in the stall a little bit," said James Carville, a friend who was Mr. Clinton's campaign manager in 1992.

Mr. Clinton declined a request for an interview today.

The extent to which these two campaigns by the Clintons are being coordinated is a matter of conjecture among the couple's friends ?as was the question of whether there might be a quiet competition going on between these two Democrats for a piece of the public stage.

"I think he feels that it's her turn and that she needs space to operate,' a friend of Mr. Clinton's said. "This guy was president for eight years and she was a supportive spouse. So he's kind of already gotten his gold watch for public service."

Yet neither of the Clintons seems particularly interested in moving down the political ladder these days, especially at a time when both regularly tell associates they consider the Democratic Party to be in deep distress. Mr. Clinton, 57, suffers what his friends view as the burden of being a former president before he is anywhere near ready to retire.

By contrast, Mrs. Clinton is said by associates to be preparing to run for president in 2008, assuming the Democrats do not win the White House next year. By design or not, she has with this book addressed an issue, her husband's affair with an intern, that she was criticized for ignoring when she ran for Senate in 2000.

Beyond that, people who have read the book ?not to mention the person who wrote it ?said today that it covers a lot more ground than the Clintons' marital difficulties. Mrs. Clinton's advisers argued that by presenting a fuller picture of Mrs. Clinton and her views, it would help promote her as a Democratic leader.

"She's grown much more sure of herself, much more confident in how she can function," Harold Ickes, a longtime friend and adviser of both Clintons, said today."She is going to be more of a public person, if that's possible."

For much of the last two years the Clintons have been acting as independent operators. They have a home in Chappaqua, N.Y., and a home in Washington. Mrs. Clinton spends every weekend in New York, where Mr. Clinton spends most of his time when not traveling.

They are much more apt to be seen traveling individually, rather than as a couple. Sylvia Woods, owner of Sylvia's Restaurant, near Mr. Clinton's office in Harlem, said the former president rarely came to her restaurant, though Mrs. Clinton regularly turned up. "I need to talk to them about that," Ms. Woods said. "They need to come in together sometime."

Similarly, in Chappaqua, solo appearances by the two Clintons appear to be the norm. Residents said they often saw Mr. Clinton walking around town with his dog, chatting with neighbors or dining in delis and restaurants.

"I see him quite a bit," said Kirk Sprenger, who owns a wine shop in Chappaqua. "He walks through downtown with his dog, stops in at Starbucks for coffee." Asked if he ever saw the Clintons together, Mr. Sprenger quickly said: "Never. Oh no, I have never seen them together."

But John Crabtree, owner of Crabtree's Kittle House, said that the couple came in together frequently, often with distinguished guests.

Associates of the Clintons said today that Mrs. Clinton had spent much of the Congressional recess in Westchester writing the book, and that Mr. Clinton was there much of that time. Two friends of the former president said that Mr. Clinton had raved about what he had read as she was preparing it.

"He talks about her all the time, and he talks about the book," Mr. Carville said. `I would be surprised if he hadn't read all of it or most of it. He said it was good."

In the interview, Mrs. Clinton declined to say how much involvement Mr. Clinton had in preparing the manuscript, or whether he had even read it.

"He and I always talk about everything," she said. "I'm not going to comment on the process. Anyone who knows us knows that we work together on everything."

Asked if Mr. Clinton would now join her on the promotional tour for the book, Mrs. Clinton burst out laughing. That was one question, Mrs. Clinton said, that she had not considered.