My Review of Terry McAuliffe's Book
Wed Feb 14, 2007 at 07:08:24 PM PDT
Last month, Terry McAuliffe had the kind of sendoff the rest of us scribblers can only dream of: a party at a fancy New York City hotel with Champagne flowing, media celebrities in attendance, and a glowing review by none other than Bill Clinton.
But this was no ordinary book launch, and McAuliffe is no ordinary author. His book, What a Party!, was part of a carefully orchestrated kickoff for Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign. A campaign that McAuliffe happens to be running.
McAuliffe earned the campaign gig on merit. He's a born salesman whose charm, brass, and willingness to put in long hours made him the Democratic Party's leading rainmaker. He headed up finance operations for the Clinton/Gore re-election campaign, saved the 2000 Democratic Convention from turning into a financial train wreck, and pulled the Democratic National Committee out of a sea of red ink.
McAuliffe is a throwback to the politics of long ago. Even though he just turned 50, he's a product of the urban, ethnic Catholic background that's more in tune with Tip O'Neill--who, by the way, is one of many Democrats who turns up in the book. Unfortunately, he's is a throwback in another way. McAuliffe is a product of the top-down, fat-wallet politics of the 1990s, and he's damn proud of it.
Three quotes from What a Party! speak volumes. One comes from his father, who told him as a six-year-old, "Terry, if they don't give you the money, they don't get in the door." Which is how he ran the party. That business model has changed somewhat in recent years, but it changed despite McAuliffe, not because of him. When he took over as DNC head, campaign finance reform and fund-raising weren't on his radar screen. Neither was Howard Dean.
The second quote was an observation he made about the 2000 presidential race: "Al Gore had put in his time as Bill Clinton's hard-working second in command and it was his turn." As the leader of Team Hillary, he obviously feels that it's her turn.
And then we have the unintentionally ironic third quote. Immediately after denying that he'd been "installed" as DNC head, he told what happened when Bill Richardson told President Clinton that he intended to challenge McAuliffe for that post. Clinton replied, "we will clean your clock." Closed-door politics at its best.
In many ways, McAuliffe is larger than life. He has almost the energy level of Bill Clinton, which is saying a lot. Once he ran in the New York City Marathon after flying in from the West Coast. Called in by a Senate panel to testify about Clinton/Gore campaign finances, he swaggered in and vigorously defended himself and the president, nearly giving his lawyer a heart attack in the process. He also wrestled an alligator at a fund-raiser and waged a beer-soaked defense of a friend before the local justice of the peace. And won a not-guilty verdict. At three in the morning.
To his credit, McAuliffe took a hard line toward George W. Bush, and he isn't shy about chiding fellow Democrats who failed to do the same. He flatly declared the 2000 election stolen, and faulted the Gore team for caving in during the Florida recount. He was justifiably aghast at the Kerry campaign's refusal to attack the president at the 2004 convention and for not responding to the Swift Boat smears.
Sometimes, however, his legendary confidence degenerates into bursts of macho chest-pounding. (You might remember his appearance on Meet the Press shortly before the 2002 election, in which he pronounced Jeb Bush "gone.") He's also a serial name dropper, a trait noted with glee by Rick Perlstein in his biting review in the February 4 New York Times book section. And Terry, could you please stop using using "rock star" as a term of approval? Rock stars aren't exactly models of deportment.
McAuliffe's political analysis also leaves something to be desired. He chalked up John Kerry's defeat to abortion and same-sex marriage, ignoring poll numbers that blamed defections by "security moms." Speaking of security, he parrots Team Hillary's talking points on Iraq: the Iraq Resolution wasn't a vote for war; and the administration hoodwinked lawmakers.
McAuliffe is also prone to take credit for successes and blame failures on others. The worst example was complaining that he "took the heat" for the 2002 midterm disaster, then pointing the finger at the House and Senate campaign committees. It reminded me of the Jim Bouton book, I Managed Good, But Boy Did They Play Bad.
What a Party! could have been a first-rate book had McAuliffe, a self-styled Irish storyteller, spent more time actually telling stories. At one point, he tells us, "I've endured screaming matches...in working toward my goal of getting the Democratic Party out of debt." Okay, but who did he butt heads with, and what was said in the heat of battle? Those are the stories that make good memoirs.
It's obvious why McAuliffe pulled his punches. This book is part campaign bio for Senator Clinton, and campaign bios are among the blandest works in all of non-fiction. Which is why, even if you love the Clintons and appreciate McAuliffe's brand of politics, your reaction to What a Party! might be "what a disappointment!"
