Book Description

With the Bush era now in lame–duck mode in Washington, all eyes are turning to the 2008 political season–especially those of Democratic voters and machers, who were disappointed in John Kerry's uninspired performance and are casting about for a more galvanizing leader to help them win back the White House.

And in that role, argues longtime Democratic strategist Susan Estrich, no candidate even touches Hillary Rodham Clinton, the senator from New York. As Estrich demonstrates, there is no one in the Democratic Party who is as popular as Hillary. There is no one Democrats, and some independents, would trust more in the White House. Both a passionate spokesperson for liberal values and a strong advocate for our troops overseas, she has used her time in the Senate to establish herself successfully as a genuine political powerhouse. And she offers Democrats a once–in–a–lifetime chance to break the White House glass ceiling and be the first party ever to elect a female president of the United States. In an atmosphere where conservative Hillary–bashing is still as virulent as ever, Estrich argues that there's a reason that this principled Democrat still blows away any other potential contender in the early polls for 2008–and that if she should succeed it would be a very good thing for America and the world.

From Publishers Weekly

A political strategist who's worked with Michael Dukakis, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, Estrich (Sex and Power) doesn't make any bones about her political beliefs. She's for education, choice, gay rights, the environment, accessible health care and balanced budgets, and she expects that her readers will be, too. So it's the members of her own party, and the moderates of the Republican party, that Estrich aims to persuade with this lively book on why Hillary Clinton should be elected president in 2008. "The reality is that Hillary isn't running yet, but her opponents are already running against her," Estrich writes. The recent slew of anti-Hillary books, she argues, is designed to undermine Clinton's candidacy because Republicans, who have elected such divisive presidents as Ronald Reagan and Bush 43, understand that just because a candidate is polarizing doesn't mean than she can't win. Estrich takes on Ed Klein's, Peggy Noonan's and Dick Morris's books directly, but her main argument lies elsewhere. Clinton, she says, is the only woman in America capable of becoming president, and if she wins, her mere election will further the cause of mothers and daughters everywhere. "She has become a symbol of all of us, of our generation of women," Estrich writes. "She wins, we win. She loses, we lose. That's how it works." With its detailed analysis of past campaigns, its handling of both symbolic measures and policy points, and its juicy dish about past Democratic candidates, this is the most convincing-and most entertaining-argument for Hillary yet.

From AudioFile

It would be a grave mistake to dismiss a presidential campaign by Hillary Clinton in 2008, says Estrich. She presents a case for Clinton as a strong and viable candidate and answers typical arguments against the senator. Estrich is by no means a professional narrator. Her exaggerated sense of drama is at times overdone and comes across as heavy-handed. Nonetheless, she does add several dimensions to the narration of the book that would likely be lost if it had been narrated by another, particularly her sense of recent political history and the strength of her conviction that Clinton should be the next Democratic nominee for president. J.E.M.

Book Dimension

length: (cm)23.1 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)15.1