August 9, 2001 - The New York Times

  A Man, a Plan, a Manuscript

  By CHRISTOPHER BUCKLEY

    To: William Jefferson Clinton
  From: Bob Gottlieb, Random House
    Re: The Manuscript

  Dear Mr. President,

  I read it straight through, which I almost never do. Since it
  is an important book, I read it more slowly than I usually
  read, and reached Page 2,826 this morning just before
  dawn, with the result that I have now been up for four
  nights without sleep and probably will make no sense, but
  I wanted to get some thoughts down on paper before I
  collapse of dehydration and exhaustion. But that's my problem, not yours.

  First, it's brilliant. More brilliant than I had any hope -
  or right - to expect. While I can't speak for Sonny Mehta,
  I know that he too will think it's brilliant.

  All right. Now you know I think it's brilliant. What didn't I
  like or "get," or what did I miss or want more of or less
  of? I've been asking myself those questions and still don't
  have any answers. So why don't I just plunge in?

  I think the idea of telling it from Monica's point of view
  has wonderful potential. Knopf is a literary house and
  shouldn't be afraid of taking risks. That said, we might run
  the risk of confusing some people. But then some people
  want to be confused. It's what makes them cute.

  I've seldom read a presidential memoir in which the
  female characters are so well developed. The chapters on
  Gennifer Flowers reminded me of Colette. Yet I wonder
  - and I'm only wondering here - if she deserves six
  chapters of her own. But again I could be wrong.

  What did I miss? I missed any mention of your brilliant
  stewardship of the Nafta legislation, of the way you
  brought everyone to the table when Mexico was about to
  default on its loans. My memory is hazy to be sure, but
  didn't you solve that situation? Didn't it go away? Aren't
  the Mexicans happy now? Aside from the trucks thing.

  While I'm on it, I missed Bob Rubin. I mean, I know Bob
  and think he's terrific, but I missed him in the book. He
  was your secretary of the Treasury for years, and yet I can
  only find one mention of him, on Page 786. Was he, after
  all, not that hands-on? If so - if not - shouldn't we say
  something about this?

  The chapters on Kathleen Willey, switching to her voice,
  were fascinating, but wouldn't 25 pages do for this instead of 246?

  I could be wrong. I want to talk to Sonny about this. I
  know that he's been talking to the Oprah people and they
  are looking for this sort of thing. Still, I feel we might
  want to leave some room - if only just a mention here
  and there - for the health care reform business, gays in
  the military, welfare reform, the Camp David Middle East
  summit and the creation of 30 million new jobs. While I
  agree with you that that's "boring," it doesn't have to be.
  Even so, I do feel that the reviewers might care.

  What readers surely would not find "boring" was the
  brilliant way you dealt with Newt Gingrich. I had to
  search for any mention of him, and finally found two, on
  Pages 1,433 and 1,599, where you briefly allude to
  wanting to slam Air Force One's door on his "chubby
  fingers." That's a great moment, and I missed seeing it more fully developed.

  In looking for some mention of other big players - Alan
  Greenspan, Al Gore (are they all named Al in Washington
  these days?) - I sometimes felt that I was playing that
  game "Where's Waldo?" Greenspan may be - I found him
  on Page 1,703 - as you say, "gaga" on the subject of Ayn
  Rand, but I at least wanted to hear much more about that,
  and I'll bet Sonny would, too.

  I'm rambling. The first thing I want to do - after they
  rehydrate me at the emergency room - is read it again,
  this time carefully. I don't know if I'll have any answers
  for you even then. What I do know is that this is going to
  be an incredible, original book - I want to say
  groundbreaking but I'm not sure I dare; no, I do dare -
  and that we got it dirt cheap. What can I say? It'll be huge.


  [Christopher Buckley is editor of Forbes FYI magazine.
His novel "Trial of the Millennium" will be published by
  Random House in 2003.]

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government." ---Patrick Henry

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