Radiant Bill Clinton
DUBLIN -- I spent the morning inside Eason's flagship bookshop on Dublin's O'Connell street awaiting the arrival of former President Bill Clinton. A press card got me inside but it meant buying My Life before I got a handshake. Not that they were difficult to get--Clinton works crowds like a grand master in centre ring. He looked 10 years older than the cover of his book. He wore a flourescent green polo shirt and told the shop staff he "loves Dublin." More than 1000 people stood outside next to the silent Luas tracks waiting patiently in light drizzle for the doors to open at 0800. No more than 750 would get their books signed. Eason's staff handed over a book and a receipt for €30 and customers showed the sales receipt to get a numbered card that allowed them to join a queue that snaked around the ground floor. I got #120 and the Tipperary Institute crew held onto #544 and #545. If those at the tail end of the queue had started listening to My Life, they would not have finished the Audible.com offering before entering the bookshop. Audible.com is offering its narrated version free at the moment.
Clinton arrived behind a Dublin Fire Brigade truck that continued with its blue lights flashing towards Parnell Square. The Clinton party swept onto the sidewalk with four black vehicles. The entourage included 14 Secret Service men (the ones I counted with distinctive lapel badges--I couldn't see markings on two blokes peering down from atop an building across the street), two chain-adorned Dublin politicians, 36 photographers, 24 video cameramen, and 31 other journalists carrying minidisc recorders or steno pads. This event felt bigger than Roy Keane's memoir. At least that is what one of the 12 Gardai walking around the building told me outside in Abbey Street.
Clinton's book is twice as fat as Roy Keane's. Like most who plopped down €30 to buy the 957 page tome (add another 43 pages for the appendix and you trump the Bible's page count), I will be hard pressed to read the thing. So I started with the pictures. It turns out that I stood in seven of the places photographed in the book. My perspective was much different than the President of the United States, which is why it's interesting to read about things seen through th eyes of others.
So I got the book signed and told the President, "It's headed to Tipperary." That met with Clinton's approval. "Fantastic! Thank you, sir." No President has ever called me "sir" before. It is eerie to hear that phrase because I spent more than 10 years working for the executive branch of the US Government.
I might have to read his book to find out what makes Clinton different from Ronald Reagan, the only other President who walked an arm's length away from me. Reagan's signed memoirs have more than doubled in value since his death. Once Clinton puts his mind to writing quality memoirs of his own, the same should be true for him.
Clinton provides a stark contrast to President George W. Bush. The Clinton Presidency reassured Ireland. The Bush Presidency has provided a radical unsettling force and it has undermined the ties between Ireland and the United States. What Bush considers a revolution in foreign policy plays out as revulsion in Ireland. The dramatic expansion of executive powers in the USA brings with it a need to trust the American President. Few things done by President Bush warrants trust.
Sales of memoirs provide a kind of approval rating for one's work. One thing for sure, Clinton's second title will sell well in Ireland. They love him here.
Bill Clinton -- My Life ISDN 0091795273
Dave Maher -- "Bill Clinton signs my book"
See a 5-sec video of Clinton answering a question from Tipperary.
Sent mail2blog using Nokia Communicator O2 Typepad service down the street in Burger King because Bill Clinton loves burgers.
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