HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton.

• Author: Fischer, Raymond L.
• Position: Book review

HRC: STATE SECRETS AND THE REBIRTH OF HILLARY CLINTON

BY JONATHAN ALLEN AND AMIE PARNES

CROWN PUBLISHERS, N.Y.

2014, 405 pages, $26.00

Jonathan Allen, White House Bureau Chief for Politics, frequently serves as a political analyst on national TV new programs. Amie Parnes, White House correspondent for The Hill newspaper in Washington, D.C., appears on MSNBC and occasionally on Fox News and other networks.

HRC begins in June 2008, just after Hillary Clinton dropped her bid for the presidency and follows her activities as she campaigns for Barack Obama, gives an address at the Democratic National Convention, and return to the Senate where she had "established herself as a resourceful player." The authors meticulously examine her tenure as Secretary of State--including a detailed report on Benghazi in the final chapter--and they speculate on her probable 2016 presidential campaign.

In her 2012 convention speech, Clinton, always the loyal Democrat, heartily endorsed Obama and defined her place in history: she had failed to shatter the highest glass ceiling in her attempt to win the Democratic nomination for president, but she had managed to put "18 million cracks in it" Many in the liberal press acclaimed her speech "aspirational and inspirational." In critiquing her failed campaign, friends assessed she had employed the wrong people as major players; she had much to learn about managing any future political campaigns. She needed to be in control, as well as stop wrestling with the role of the former president, her husband Bill Clinton.

After the convention, Clinton resumed her seat in the Senate with every intention of pursuing a career as a serious legislator: "a political force in her own right," she planned to use her seat as a "power base far beyond the wall of the Senate." Then Obama informed her he wanted her as Secretary of State. He desired a "a star power diplomat to represent him across the globe." After refusing the position three times, Clinton consulted with former Secretary of State Madeline Albright (who served under Bill): Albright considered Clinton perfectly suited for the position.

Furthermore, Clinton's acceptance of Obama's offer would please Democratic voters "who wanted Hillary and Obama to join forces." Encouraged by Albright's advice, Clinton accepted Obama's fourth invitation. Obama allowed Clinton to staff the State Department with her own loyalists, with one exception: he wanted Jim Steinberg as deputy secretary...