Unlikeable: The Problem With Hillary (19 page)

“Even the famous Clinton gall and lack of shame will make explaining some of this with a straight face impossible.”

In the course of researching this book, I spoke with many people who were ardent Hillary defenders. As far as I could tell, their arguments in her favor boiled down to three main points.

         
•
    
As one supporter put it,
Hillary's “magnitude of experience . . . dwarfs any of her potential opponents in 2016.”

         
•
    
The time is long overdue for a woman to be president.

         
•
    
Buy one (Hillary) and get one free (Bill).

Each of these arguments was seriously flawed.

         
•
    
Hillary's sum total of “experience” can be tweeted in 140 characters or less: HillaryCare, Monica cover-up, Iraq war vote, bungled 2008 campaign, Russian reset, Benghazi, deleted e-mails, selling favors at State.

         
•
    
“Becoming the first female president is a worthy goal,” writes a
Washington Post
columnist. Perhaps. But becoming a
great
president is a far worthier goal. The essential point is this: Americans should not hire a president on the basis of affirmative action.

         
•
    
Buy Hillary and get a free Willy? We tried that once before. It ended with a president whose license to practice law was suspended by the Arkansas Bar, and who was impeached by the House of Representatives—only the second president in history to suffer that ignominy. Do we really want the Clinton circus back to town?

And so, the fundamental question Americans will face when they go to the polls to pick their next president is this: Have our standards and morals declined to the point that we will elect someone who is so shameless that she lies without a tinge of guilt, and so untrustworthy that she engages in massive cover-ups?

How we answer that question on November 8, 2016, will determine our nation's future.

What difference does it make?

Plenty.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
AUTHOR'S NOTE

I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.

—Margaret Thatcher

L
ike all my previous books dealing with Hillary Clinton—
The Truth about Hillary
(2005),
The Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House
(2012), and
Blood Feud: The Clintons vs. the Obamas
(2014)
—
this is a reporter's book.

It is based largely on interviews with people who were present at events they describe or with friends and confidants to whom they spoke while memories were still fresh.

Many of these people spoke to me on the condition of anonymity. They did so either because they were not authorized to speak on the record or, more commonly, because they feared that if their identities became known, they would become the target of revenge and retaliation.

All contemporary political books use information from anonymous sources to tell important stories that otherwise would go unreported. Bob Woodward, an icon of American journalism, uses unnamed sources both in his reporting for the
Washington Post
and in his books. So do John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, who have used
only
anonymous sources in their
Game Change
books.

In gauging the trustworthiness of an anonymous source, readers are asked to rely on the character and reputation of the reporter who quotes or paraphrases the source. Everything depends on the reporter's experience, judgment, and track record.

After nearly six decades as a journalist, including seven years as foreign editor of
Newsweek
, ten years as the editor in chief of the
New York Times Magazine
(during which time the magazine won its first Pulitzer Prize), and twenty-six years as a contributing editor for
Vanity Fair
, I take this burden of trust seriously.

Whenever possible, I have tried to use more than one source to reconstruct a scene or dialogue. Several of my sources were interviewed multiple times (in one case, twenty-four times) to check for accuracy and consistency.

I'm often asked by readers, “How come your books contain so much provocative material that no other authors have? How do you get your stuff?”

There are several answers to that question.

For one thing, over the past decade my talented researchers and I have cultivated unique sources inside the Clinton and Obama camps. Unlike authors who base their information on interviews with “official” sources—press secretaries, campaign
advisers, paid political operatives, elected representatives, government appointees, bureaucrats, retired officials—my sources can more properly be classified as “private.”

These longtime personal friends and associates hang out with the Clintons and Obamas and are privy to information that is unavailable to official sources. These private sources are invited to intimate gatherings; they share meals and family time together with the Clintons and Obamas; and they speak frequently to the Clintons and Obamas on the phone. They are part of discussions that take place beyond the ken of official sources.

For their own sometimes-complicated reasons, these private sources want to speak with my researchers and me in order to make certain things known. They share the common human desire to brag about their connections to the high and mighty. It makes them feel important and powerful. They have what amounts almost to a compulsion to tell someone that they are in the know. Over many years they have become comfortable talking anonymously to me, knowing that I will never betray their trust and make their identities known.

Virtually all of these private sources have an agenda. Among the Clintons' friends, there are those who are closer to Bill than to Hillary, or vice versa. Among the Obamas' friends, some favor Michelle over Barack. These people try to shape the narrative of my books in ways that benefit their favorites—sometimes even at the expense of their favorite's spouse.

Finally, many people jump at the chance to settle scores. Speaking to an author anonymously gives them the opportunity
to aggrandize themselves at the expense of others without jeopardizing their standing in the corridors of power. They often try to make a point
against
someone as well as
for
someone by describing conflicts and confrontations that take place behind the scenes.

It's my job as a reporter to weigh the accuracy of the testimony I'm given, test it where possible, and then present it to you, the reader, for your judgment.

—Edward Klein

New York City

August 2015

NOTES
NOTES

PROLOGUE: “CALL OFF YOUR DOGS”

she was being persecuted
:
Interviews with people who spoke directly with Hillary about her meeting with the president. All sources requested anonymity.

“He has a visceral dislike of me”
:
Ibid.

Obama dreaded the prospect
:
Interviews with people who spoke directly with Valerie Jarrett and who requested anonymity.

“One way or another”
:
Ibid.

“At first, Hillary pretended not to care”
:
Ibid.

“He was almost being deliberately dense”
:
Interview with an anonymous source who spoke about the Oval Office meeting with Hillary.

“What I want for you to do is call off your fucking dogs”
:
Interviews with several anonymous sources who spoke directly to Hillary and Jarrett about the meeting.

“There is nothing I can do”
:
Ibid.

PART I: A HELL OF A MESS

CHAPTER 1: “MORE GOLDA THAN MAGGIE”

One evening while they were having drinks with friends
:
Interview with a friend of the Clintons who requested anonymity.

Spielberg let her use his corporate apartment
:
Branden Keil, “Is Spielberg Pad Now ‘Hillary Hilton'?,”
New York Post
, October 1, 2000,
http://nypost.com/2000/10/01/is-spielberg-pad-now-hillary-hilton/
.

CHAPTER 2: #GRANDMOTHERSKNOWBEST

“dream house”
:
John Heilemann and Mark Halperin,
Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime
(New York: Harper Perennial, 2010).

“fortress of solitude”
:
Amie Parnes, “Where Does Hillary 2016 Begin? In This Washington Home,”
Hill
, February 20, 2015,
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/233274-hillarys-whitehaven-home-is-heart-of-nascent-campaign
.

The Barbara Lee Family Foundation
:
Barbara Lee Family Foundation/Lake Research Partners, “Pitch Perfect: Winning Strategies for Women Candidates,” November 8, 2012,
http://www.barbaraleefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/BLFF-Lake-Pitch-Perfect-Wining-Strategies-for-Women-Candidates-11.08.12.pdf
.

“Speech practice”
:
Interview with a close Hillary friend who requested anonymity.

Like the Underwoods
:
Ibid.

CHAPTER 3: THE KING OF LITTLE ROCK

Sometimes, Hillary told friends
:
Interviews with several of Hillary's friends, who requested anonymity.

“The worst case scenario for the foundation”
:
Kenneth P. Vogel, “Clinton Foundation in Campaign Tailspin,”
Politico
, April 30, 2015,
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/clinton-foundation-bill-hillary-chelsea-117505.html
.

“a media whack-fest”
:
Ibid.

“I gotta pay our bills”
:
Daniel Henninger, “I Gotta Pay Our Bills,”
Wall Street Journal
, May 6, 2015,
http://www.wsj.com/articles/i-gotta-pay-our-bills-1430953025
.

The Clintons failed to report
:
Josh Gerstein, “Hillary's Speech Disclosures Come under Fire,”
Politico
, May 20, 2015,
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillarys-speech-disclosures-come-under-fire-118147.html
.

The other nine dollars
:
Kyle Smith, “Would a Clinton Lie to You?,”
New York Post
, May 3, 2015.

“This data”
:
Jonathan S. Tobin, “Is the Clinton Foundation Really a Charity?,”
Commentary
, April 30, 2015,
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/2015/04/30/is-the-clinton-foundation-really-a-charity/
.

“Bill told me that if Hillary is elected president”
:
Interview with one of Bill Clinton's closest advisers who requested anonymity.

“There is a social function to the first lady's role”
:
Francesca Chambers, “Chelsea Clinton Could Take on Role of First Lady If Hillary Wins, White House Expert Says,”
Daily Mail
(UK), May 12, 2015,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3078415/Chelsea-Clinton-role-lady-Hillary-wins-White-House-expert-says.html
.

CHAPTER 4: INTIMATIONS OF MORTALITY

Instead of getting a bounce from her road trip
:
Michael Barone, “Clinton Defenders Advance an Unpersuasive Argument,”
Washington Examiner
, April 30, 2015,
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/clinton-defenders-advance-an-unpersuasive-argument/article/2563730
.

“Everybody thinks I'm about to die”
:
Interview with a close Clinton source who requested anonymity.

“The recent stuff in the papers”
:
Ibid.

According to Doctor Bardack
:
Brianna Keilar and Dan Merica, “Clean Bill of Health: Hillary Clinton's Doctor Says 2012 Health Scare Resolved,” CNN Politics, July 31, 2015,
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/31/politics/hillary-clinton-health-tax-release/
.

“She is exhausted and depressed”
:
Ibid.

Bill was so concerned
:
Interview with a cardiologist who requested anonymity.

“Most politicians are reluctant”
:
Ibid.

Hillary admitted to one of her best friends
:
Interview with a close Clinton friend who requested anonymity.

“But she told me that there was no need”
:
Ibid.

“Bill told me that he tiptoed”
:
Interview with a close friend of Bill Clinton who requested anonymity.

“Donna was one of Hillary's closest friends”
:
Interview with a close Clinton friend who requested anonymity.

“His attention seemed to wander”
:
Ibid.

PART II: THE GREAT PRETENDER

CHAPTER 5: THE MISANTHROPE

“without her husband's connections”
:
Camille Paglia, “Hillary Clinton's Candidacy Has Done Feminism No Favours,”
Telegraph
(UK), May 24, 2008,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3558713/Hillary-Clintons-candidacy-has-done-feminism-no-favours.html
.

She also profited from the
votes Bill bought
:
Michael Goodwin, “The Kevlar Clintons,”
New York Post
, May 31, 2015.

She was appointed secretary of state
:
Betsy McCaughey, “Hill's Coattail Career,”
New York Post
, March 23, 2015.

“Some visitors to the Rodham home”
:
Edward Klein,
The Truth about Hillary
(New York: Sentinel, 2005).

“Among both relatives and friends”
:
Roger Morris,
Partners in Power
(Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 1996).

Hillary suggested that her father was a sadist
:
Hillary Rodham Clinton,
Living History
, reprint ed. (New York: Scribner, 2004).

In all cases of narcissism
:
Henry Sussman,
Psyche and Text
, SUNY Series in Psychoanalysis and Culture (State University of New York Press, 1993).

“Can you be a misanthrope”
:
Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta,
Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton
(New York: Little, Brown, 2007).

“When the stress”
:
Ibid.

“the archetypal . . . progressive intellectual”
:
Andrew Roberts, “Among the Hagiographers,”
Wall Street Journal
, updated March 26, 2011,
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703529004576160371482469358
.

“You can argue”
:
Interview with Doctor Robert Cancro, January 29, 2015.

“In her personal life”
:
George Packer, “The Choice,”
New Yorker
, January 28, 2008,
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/29/the-choice-8
.

“subterfuge and eliding”
:
Carl Bernstein,
A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton
(New York: Vintage, 2008).

“When she's alone”
:
Interview with an anonymous source.

“She freely admits”
:
Interview with an anonymous source.