And, you know, theres a great deal of antisemitism, theres discrimination across the line, and that is demonstrated in how we treat our veterans when they return back to this country and homelessness, children and women and men are hungry. And so many people in America Today, i think, are really afraid of whats happening. And part of that, i think, that mr. Trump has been able to hit on is the kind of fear that people are dealing with, but they are unable to deal with realities of what we all have to deal with. And i was wondering if you could speak about that a bit. Well, quite i think that was a very eloquent statement, and i dont feel as though i have anything to add to that. [laughter] yeah. So let me ask one sorry, did you want what does ghetto mean . Whats the definition of the word . Well [inaudible] she asked what does ghetto mean literally. I mean, ghetto basically has meant Different Things in different eras. And in the book i actually talk about the way that the word also gets taken up by gays during the 1970s. And, you know, in different moments, in different times it has had different significance. Right. Different connotations from a social point of view, but literally the word, the original word the original word comes from the copper foundry. It was a copper foundly. Oh. So it means copper foundry. Originally, yes. [laughter] thank you. Im particularly intrigued about the transformation of the word you talked about from the association with the jews to the blacks and also how culture, general culture affects pop culture and how pop culture affects general culture. I remember in my formative years one of the songs that had a great impact on me, okay, was elvis song about in the ghetto. And im wondering at that point in terms of studying pop culture whether that term was already flipped into thinking of it as black ghetto or whether that song had any role. What year was that . I think it was 1969. Yeah, it had already flipped, because it flipped in 65. Okay. So that would have if anything, it would have solidified whether yes. The consciousness of being associated. Because it seemed to me it was clearly about the black ghetto and not the jewish ghetto. Yeah. Thats a really thats very interesting. Okay. Well, thank you all very much for coming today. I really appreciate it. [applause] [inaudible conversations] heres a look at some books that are being published this week. Journalist Judith Schwartz looks at ways to improve water availability and fight acidification in water in plain sight. In the new trail of tears, New York Post columnist Naomi Schaefer riley puts forth policies she says will help American Indians from increased access to education to Legal Protections and entry into the free market. University at buffalo Political Science Professor James campbell looks at the causes of americas political divisions in polarized. In the grid, anthropology professor gretchen backy reports on americas aging infrastructure or and how to mod personize it. Modernize it. Dean burnett examines why brains work the way they do and why people remember faces, not names, search for things in plain sight and lie awake at night in idiot brain. 9 and in see no evil, joel pollack says there are 19 truths that liberals cant handle. Look for these titles in bookstores this coming week and watch for many of the authors in the near future on booktv on cspan2. There has been no experience more challenging, more rewarding and more humbling than raising our daughter. And we have learned that to raise a happy, healthy and hopeful child, it takes a family, it takes teachers, it takes clergy, it takes business people, it takes community leaders, it takes those who protect our health and safety [applause] it takes all of us. [cheers and applause] yes, it takes a village. [cheers and applause] host carlos lozada, when Hillary Clinton uses the term it takes a village, what do you think she means . Guest ing she means, she starts with the family, right . She quickly moves beyond the family. She talks about a network of people, of institutions, of values. So teachers, neighbors, businesses, employers. Even, of course, politicians. As you see here in the clip, shes saying that to raise a village, you dont just need the family, each other, community, you also need a president , you need bill clinton. Host amie parnes, what do you hear . Guest well, im hearing, actually, a very strong message of what shes trying to put out today which is stronger together. This is her Newest Campaign message. Shes had wife of them. But quite a few of them. But this is something where shes trying to sort of reach out and send her populist message and say were all in this together kind of thing. And its interesting to hear what she had to say back then and compare it to where she is today. Host has it been consistent . Guest it has had its inconsistencies along the way, i think. I think when you read this book its consistent on one level, but its actually a little bit archaic and very much of the 90s in another sense. [laughter] host gil troy, what does Hillary Clinton mean when she says it takes a village . Guest shes saying im not the crazy leftist you think i am. [laughter] shes coming in in the 1990s, and bill clinton has made very clear im a centrist. Im a democrat, but im trying to update the Democratic Party after the challenges of the reagan years, and they dont quite know where hillary fits in. And this is 1996, its after the fail failure of the Health Care Reform, and shes coming in and saying im one of you. Im part of that mainstream. Im part of that 90s conversation, and, yes, i have liberal ideas, but i also have cultural sensitivities. And she goes to davos in switzerland and gives a speech about three pillars. She talks about capitalism and the free market, not a leftist, she talks about government and family at home. And for 60s liberals to talk about family, and capitalism was revolutionary at the time. [inaudible] guest just two or three weeks after book was published was when bill clinton gave his famous the era of Big Government is over speech. It was a big moment right then to declare, as she did in this book, im a moderate. We all have some conservative values, some liberal values, and were mostly moderates. And that was, that was the message in it takes a village where, surprising lu, you see surprisingly, you see a streak of real conservativism in the story. Guest and she did kind of have to reintroduce herself because as gil said, you know, she was in the thick of this health care fight. People had strong opinions of her. This was her tale about who she really, who she is and who she wanted to portray it to the American People, i think. Host she was traumatized. Shed been so rejected over the health care debacle, and she wants to show she can really be a first lady. Whats amazing is you see a cliche in the process of being born. [laughter] 1993, 1994, no one knew what people were talking about. It was hillarys branding, and its her attempt to say im important, but also we can have the conversation together. Guest and its become a touchstone for her. It comes up, i mean, the clip you showed is the 96 convention speech. She brought up which was nine months after the book was published. She came back to it takes a village when she launched her await president ial campaign, she came back 08 president ial campaign, she came back to it a few weeks ago after her brooklyn speech. People sort of finish the phrase for her now. Guest shes better than bill clinton. Shes created all these cliches. Bill clinton has that warmth, that touch, but he doesnt have the same wordsmithing that she does. Host lets take a look at her june 16, 2015, president ial announcement. Fundamentally, they reject what it takes to build an inclusive economy. It takes an inclusive society. [cheers and applause] what i once could a village. [cheers and applause] that has a place for everyone. No, my values and a lifetime of experiences have given me a different vision for america. I believe that success isnt measured by how much the wealthiest americans have, but by how many children climb out of poverty. Carlos lozada, in a recent review of it takes a village, you wrote that it takes a village often becomes code for it takes washington. Guest yes. She spends a lot of time talking about the experiences and successes, the successes of the small nonprofit groups, of local initiatives, but she very much comes back to so you need the family medical leave act, the crime bill, you know, the vaccination initiatives the federal government has undertaken. Its shes trying to to thread the needle because shes not going to give up or cease to praise the successes as she sees them that the Clinton Administration has had or was pushing at the time. But at the same time, she tries to localize them when possible. But throughout the book you see a lot of praise for what people would conventionally call Big Government, big washington initiatives including some that have come back to bite her during this campaign, in particular the crime bill. Guest i think what shes doing though is very clintonesque in a way because shes sort of inviting academia, the private sector in. This is something that the clintons do all the time. We see it, you know, in everything theyve done throughout history. This is snag they do with the foundation something they do with the foundation. They believe in bringing everyone together. They dont think that government can solve everything. They think that everyone can sort of come together and form these solutions. So i think this is sort of a very interesting idea that shes putting forward, something a continuation of what they believe in. Guest and theres an element of almost a radical rewrite of the rhetoricking of the 1960s, because shes saying families are good, divorce is bad, drug abuse, sexual promiscuity is a problem here. And for a long time in the 60s and 70s, and 80s, that was conservative talk. And shes trying to say i as a liberal can take back that language. We can talk about family values because we value family. One of the things you also see in this clip is the difficulty of being hillary. Shes trying to assert herself, trying to define her identity, and in many ways its a problem because, first of all, people are saying, who are you . On the one hand, shes the most famous woman in the world. Shes hillary. She doesnt even need a last name. But on the other hand, shes constantly adjusting, constantly changing, and people dont trust that. Its a very strange thing because when bill clinton reinvents himself, its like, okay, you do that all the time. When Hillary Clinton does, its a problem, and i think theres sexism in there too. Guest and then it becomes the likability question which ive written about countless times, you know, why isnt she likable . She kind of hit on that last week in a speech where she said that people dont trust her, she acknowledged, shes aiming to gain that trust back. But i think its probably one of the biggest questions that looms over her candidacy, why cant she quite get there . Why isnt she likable enough . And thats something she constantly has to sort of work toward. Guest and theres likability and trustworthiness. I think if you did a soul scan of bill clinton and of Hillary Clinton, youd probably find a purer soul in Hillary Clinton. I think she has a harder time lying, i think shes more of a good methodist. That makes it difficult for her to be a politician, and as a result shes always conveying this discomfort with being that politician. And with bill clinton, when hes in the moment, hes making that eye contact with you, and hes living it so completely that he can live any lie. So her honesty makes her seem less trustworthy. Guest yeah. Shes always quoting john wesley, you know, and i think donald trump questioned her faith last week. This is a woman who strongly believes in the wesleyan principles and she is a public servant, and shes in this to do good. Thats something when donald trump kind of questions her faith, you dont have to look very far to sort of see where the origins of that are. Guest church is a big deal in the book and also in her subsequent memoirses, especially in living history. But there is this defensiveness in the book and this constant attempt at drink in addition. Redefinition. In the 92 campaign there was that famous incident where people, you know, she was the first first lady who was, i think who had a graduate degree, if im not mistaken, yale law degree, and shes talking about being a professional. And she says, well, i could have stayed home and made cookies and had tea parties, but i chose to exercise my rollsal capabilities my professional capabilities long before hi husband was in public life. She made this statement. In it takes a village, she sort of apologizes for it. Not entirely, but she says she calls it the teacup in a tempest or Something Like that. And she says, yes, ive made my share of cookies, and ive served hundreds of cups of tea, but i shouldnt be judged by my cookiemaking or teaserving abilityings. And she says what she didnt realize at the time when she made those statements is that people would interpret them as judgments on their own life choices. And throughout that you see this effort at reinvention which sometimes comes across a little defensive. Guest she has that fear of making trouble, right . She has that first ladies fear, because the hippocratic oath of first ladies is, first, do no harm. And he had done harm in the 92 campaign. You can even see only her signature stories are sanitized in that book. He loves to tell the story about being a kid in the neighborhood, and there were some bullies, and. She same running many to mama, and she said, get out, im not letting you back in until you deal with this. If it takes a village, she wants to be safe hillary, and as a result, theres a certain tragedy in that book. Who she really is isnt there, and i think you also see that in her memoirs. Her first memoir is much more honest. Her second memoir was deadly because she didnt want to offend or rock the boat. Host amie parnes, if somebody picked up the 1996 it takes a village, would they recognize and know Hillary Clinton . Guest parts of it. I think, you know, a lot of it is very much a touchstone of who she is and the pillars are there, but parts of it are a little bit murkier, you know . And i think a lot of that is just society has changed. So some of what shes saying applies to the 1990s in a very big way. But there are things, you know, her faith a big pillar of the, obviously, she mentions it a lot. She mentions family, she mentions but you see little glimpses, she talks about divorce and how she had to bite her lip a little bit, you know, to sort of keep their marriage together. You know . And that might strike people reading it today, you know, if youre in an uncomfortable situation, why not leave it . You know, there are all these other things that seem very 20 years ago. And maybe she might have a different take now on that sort of societal kind of pressure. [laughter] guest and she judges people who get divorced in this very direct way. She says sometimes til death do us part just means til the going gets rough, you know . And so she and she holds up the relationship that she and bill have. This is, of course, before the big scandals of the late 90s as saying we found ways to sometimes bite your lip, but to Work Together in an atmosphere of respect. And the fact that we had, we have chelsea deepened that commitment. Guest she has an intense cultural critique of what americas become, right . Theres a strong sense of nostalgia for the 1950s, for the father knows best world in which she grew up with, and shes looking at america, and she tried this in 1993. Shed given a series of speeches, you know, talking about the politics of meaning which ended up having her mocked st. Hillary. And now shes trying to make it a little bit calmer, a little bit more domesticated. But theres a sense of theres something deeply going on in the country thats wrong. And she even quotes, talk about unfashionable, tipper gore. And she talks about the backlash against the music videos and the recording industry, and shes fighting crime, and is shes for welfare reform. And i think we have to be sensitive to that and actually sympathetic to her. Because you have to look at whats going on in the 1990s, you have to understand context. In the 1990s bill clinton says americans are feeling like theyre live anything a funhouse, and theyre unnerved by it. Theres a sense of insecurity. Crime off the charts. Welfare is a problem not just for whites, but africanamericans. Twothirds of africanamericans support the welfare reform bill, twothirds support crime bill. Theyre saying theres something wrong in this country, weve got to fix it. The Reagan Administration didnt do enough, weve got to take Democratic Values and synthesize them with sensitivity to the culture and fix this world. Host it is not surprising, Hillary Clinton wrote in 1996, then that there is a yearning for the good old day as refuge from the the problems of the present. But by turning away, we blind ousts to the continuing ourselves to the continuing evolving presence of the village in our lives and its critical importance for how we live together. Guest she talks about the nostalgia merchants, very dismissive, saying, look, were not going to go back to this world. First of all, it wasnt all that and, second, the world has changed. But at the same time, she criticizes the kids today, right, whoever the kids were in the 1990s for not recognizing sacrifices and the advancements of their elders. Of Hillary Clinton, of her generation that entered the work force, that transformed the role of women. And she feels a little hurt, it seems, in the book that people dont remember that. They take these advances for granted. So she dings the nostalgia merchants, but at the same time, she wishes there were a little more nostalgia for what shes accomplished. Guest she talks about this idea of a nuclear family, and then you pause that for a minute, and you look at her announcement video last year, and its this very progressive look at, you know, a single mom who has to do her best, and, you know, a gay couple. And, you know, if you would have talked to Hillary Clinton about what she wrote back then about a nuclear family, i speak as a single mom too, you know, weve moved a lot, you know . There are gay families and single parents, and, you know, that doesnt mean that your kid is going to be any less successful. Id like to know looking back if, you know, she has any ideas and if shes evolved in the way that politicians do about her views back then. Host in reality, she writes, our past was not so picture perfect. Ask africanamerican children who grew up in a segregated society or immigrants who struggled to survive in sweatshops and tenements or women whose life choices were circumscribed and whose work was underpaid. Ask those who grew up in the pictureperfect houses about the secrets and desperations they sometimes concealed. Guest this is the tension, right . Shes trying to say we miss that period, but we also have to act knowledge the sins of that period. One of the things thats always next to Hillary Clinton is that picture of Hillary Clinton from the 1970s with the big, heavy glasses. You know, shes a brunette, shes not a blond. She hasnt gone from being Hillary Rodham to Hillary Rodham clinton even, let alone Hillary Clinton. And shes trying to say im not that hippie, that radical, but at the same time, we did some good stuff. So its a very complicated message, a very subtle message. And its actually something i respect because all too often in politics its redblue, rightleft x in this book shes trying to have a little bit of a synthesis. And i think one of the challenges shes asking right now, in 2008 she saw she could reach out to white males, frankly, because she was running against a black male. Not nice to say, but theres racism in America Today and there was racism then. Right now i think shes trying to say like when she wins super tuesday, she gives a speech and talks about reaching out to women, africanamericans, hispanics, gays, but how is she also reaching out to the donald trump voters . I think thats going to be a challenge in the general election because if the elections in play, shes got to win in pennsylvania, michigan, new jersey. Shes got to win those white male voters too, and thats always been her weak spot. It was problematic when she was first lady, and then only through the clinton trauma of the Monica Lewinsky scandal was she able to reach out to them by being the injured wife. In 2008 she was the white, but what happens now . How does she articulate that . And i think there are some secrets in this book that might help her define that cultural conservativism that trump is playing to. Host what is one of those secrets . Guest with unof those secrets one of those scents is families count. One of those secrets is there were some good times back then. This whole time donald trump gets up and says im going to make america everybody goes great again. And you say Hillary Clinton says theres silence, right . And now shes trying to play with, well, were till great. That doesnt work. I think what she wants to do is find some of the power from the past, show that she also appreciates that, but also come forward with a synthesis of the goodness of the present because donald trump is all about rejecting today, and she wants to say, no be, theres some good. And the challenge for a politician is to sing a new song that says this is going to resonate. A little bit from the past and a little bit from the present to create a new future. Host if you were donald trump, would you read it takes a village . Guest i would. I would. I dont think he will. [laughter] you know, it gives you a sense of where she was and how far she has come and maybe some inconsistencies in between. But i think it gives you a pretty good portrayal of, you know, who she was back then and the pillars of who she is. Host if the art of the deal is Donald Trumps foundational document, it takes a village is absolutely Hillary Clintons. Except unlike art of the deal in it takes a village you see, you see tension, you see grappling, you see her groping for this synthesis of herself. In the art of the deal, trump is trump. Hes just sort of a trumpier version of himself. [laughter] in this book hillarys wrestling. In this campaign she had this famous moment when shes asked are you a progressive, and the answer is, yes, im a progressive. But a progressive who likes to get things done, right . What does that suggest . That suggests a mix of ideology and pragmatism. And thats what you see in this book. Guest and she talks about that. She talks about the saul alinsky message, the famous community organize freres the 19650s and 70s. I should say infamous. She wasnt going to be his protege. He learned from him, but she said im going to go to yale law school. But real tragedy about donald trump and his advisers reading that book, theyll read it for gotcha, how can we embarrass. Your question was really a more important one of how can anyone pull lessons from this which canning help us move forward . I think our major challenge in america right now is were good at knocking each other down, at denigrating, at gotcha, but what do we want . Make America Great enough is not enough. We need a deep answer. We need to know who we stand for. Guest i think one of the biggest lessons you can pull about her, she talks about this shovel and what it means. And when we were writing our book, hrc, i originally wanted to call it the phoenix because shes had these rises and falls and dips and falls and, you know, here she is again. She loses 2008, how does she make her comeback . You know, this sort of gives her a window into her thinking. Her father always said, you know, how are you going to dig yourself out of this one, hillary . She uses that pointblank, you know . This sort of speaks to who she is. Shes, you know, she wants to sort of make her way back up, and she wants to portray herself as this real tough fighter. So that, in that sense i feel like this is a very sort of rare insight into who she is. Host and she goes on to say that she gets this image of needing a shovel and using a shovel to dig herself out and sometimes has to use a backhoe. Guest right. And shes not one to, you know, what we learned when we were writing our book, shes not one who will hole herself up in her bathroom and cry. Shes very much a woman who says, okay, thats over, looking on. How are we going to move on to the next thing. Shes very much she doesnt wallow, as one aide put it. Shes very much, like, looking to the future. So when people around her wallow, she tries to actually pick them up. Host amie parnes and gil troy, youve both written books about Hillary Clinton, a couple for you and youre working on your second. Whats that process like . [laughter] she has been in the spotlight for so long and this was sort of her way of keeping herself intact and not revealing that. Shes almost afraid to show that side of her. Everyone has a story about how she so funny and warm and her aides talk about how if an uncle was dying, she was the first to call the uncle or grieve with the aid. You seldom see that side of her publicly. You see it behind the scenes but she is so afraid show that Hillary Clinton on the public stage. The question im often asked is did you interview her and my journalist friends, i dont need to interview her. I want to see the age of clinton in the 1990s in america. Where does she fit into the story of that era . Easy and for the easy part is you have so much information. She is such a central character. Shes a colorful character and larger than life. Its fun to write about her. Shes lively and thoughtful and insightful and controversial. Words difficult is there so much hatred around Hillary Clinton. She is so polarizing in there so much tension around her that you have to kind of cut through all the negativity and start looking at what has she actually done and whats the impact shes had on the American People. This is a woman who has been in the public eye for decades and has been a powerful force in the shift. The questions are can you be tough enough, as a woman would you press that Nuclear Button if necessary. She has pulverized those questions by being tough. We dont even ask those questions. We know theyre condescending part of her grit and intensity that we know she can handle that that was part of the challenge in 2008. They wanted to pro trade her and didnt want to expose gender embrace it in a big way and the nature that candidacy. I think she has sort of done the opposite this time around. You hear her talk about it so much more and embrace the fact that she would be the first female president. I think this is a big moment for her. I think up until the end of the 2008 campaign she struggled with that. She was sitting at her dining room table wrestling about why she needed to thank all these people and embrace the gender thing in here she is, hes done the opposite. Shes done a 180 and thats been fascinating to watch. It was such a hit and now when she clinched the nomination after california, she had this Video Montage introduction to her speech in brooklyn and it was all about stork gender driven aspect of the campaign. She has come to terms with that very much so in this election. I wanted to pick up on what gail mentioned about this polarizing controversial nature. Remembering when the book came out, it takes a village was in the middle of this mess during her book tour, all people wanted to ask her about where the billing records from her law firm because that was a big controversy at the time. E had to testify before a grand jury. The book kind of got lost. In the first memoir she tells a story that after she testifies before a grand jury on the billing records, one of the jurors approached her with a copy to sign if he would autographed his copy of it takes edge village and the juror was then dismissed. The first thing Barbara Walters asked her why is there always this mess going around you . Whats going on. It was a struggle because she was trying to redefine herself from all of that in the book just got lost. Shes a serious person and a moralist and she loves to play the role of the for less but yet she and bill have these moral blind spots and they fall into these messes. You can always blame everybody else but at some point have to take responsibility and say whats going on you that you cannot see how your being perceived and indeed during the book tour, there was this backandforth but the irony is that with Hillary Clinton and with bill clinton, theyre also able to take that negativity and turn it into something positive. It becomes a cliche in windsor grammy. As youre getting all this negativity. Has that grit that shows shes going to survive. Get that sense of survival but you also have that sense of mystery of whats going on, theyre still convinced of their righteousness that they miss the fact that people dont see that all the time and she falls into these moral messes. I have to hold her and bill accountable for some of that. Is a book critic and reviewer, whats it like to review books on Hillary Clinton. Its hard to choose. They dont know what book is going to be worth reading. Your books are awesome. There is so much. Its both his blessing to have all this material but its also this dilution and its the same thing about the books of obama. At least hillary has been in the public for a long time. When obama came in, there were so many books that came out. With hillary its a longer time horizon. Im a sucker for this kind of stuff. I love reading political books. Does Hillary Clinton take on gender in this book . She does and she does it. She does and that shes pushing ideas shes pushing today with eco pay and child care which is a huge issue for her right now. You read her material on this and its pretty insightful. Most people are paying a crazy amount of money on childcare. Im one of them so i can relate to it. People often have to decide whether, she uses an example of a woman woman who had to leave her child in a car all day and thats an extreme example in the book but decisions that women have to make particular and she focuses on women a lot in the book that women need the support network around them. I think that translates into items shes trying to push today like childcare and equal pay so youre seeing the beginnings of hers, if shes thinking about politics there, the thoughts shes dropping along the way to make that tree grow but i do think she embraces women in a big way in that book. She is carefully avoiding the f word, feminist. Right. This is both as a first lady, she has to once again that dance because she wants to show shes sensitive to women and she is a modern woman but she doesnt want to be handcuffed as a feminist. She had run into a lot of static that in the 1970s when she was first lady of arkansas. She ran that in the 1992 Campaign Part of the backlash against her, was you have contempt for anyone whos not in the work world and here in it takes a village, she wants to show love and support for women are at home and love and support for women in the workforce and it makes it somewhat difficult,. She does it in such sort of a one to way. Its not this feminist theory argument, its more about Health Insurance and childcare and she acknowledges its controversial, she says you want to open the floodgates of guilt and disagreement in america just Start Talking about childcare. She sticks to, its a statement of values this book, but its very much through the prism of actionable policy. Its a values book. Something i found interesting is that as a woman youre thinking about your children when youre at work and when youre at home or thinking about the work you left behind and so your heart is always for rent. She goes on to say she doesnt use the term juggle anymore because when you drug all youre going to drop something. She uses a different word now despite antigovernment in surges him its clear that most americans do not favor a radical dismantling of government shes singing the song of yes we learned some lessons by overdoing it thinking that every single problem has a governmental solution, but we cannot go the way, the Rush Limbaugh way. You can feel his presence in the book. She wants to say were not Rush Limbaugh. Thats where she keeps putting in these Government Solutions in the context of Civil Society and in the market. She identifies these competing strands in american thought about government. She says theres collective gratitude for the things government has done for the common good along with this longstanding deep skepticism of government and she tries to place herself in the center. She said most of us would say we are middle of the road. She embraces being a moderate in this book which is fascinating reading it now during a campaign where she has been pushed hard to the left. She writes in here that she supports capitalism thats something shes had to walk a fine line this election cycle, particularly in the primary where people were trying to peg her as pro wall street. Its something that she will still have to work on. I think less so in the general election but its another question that looms over here. How pro wall street is she and how to she plan to cater to these Bernie Sanders supporters. I think theyll be something they want to hear before they endorse or. In times of profound and overwhelming social change like the present, however extreme views hold out the engine appeal of simplicity. By ignoring the complexity of the forces that shape our personal and collective circumstances they offer a scapegoat but failed to provide a viable pathway from the cold war to the viable village. Is that pertinent today . Very much so. We see the moderates dilemma. We see her trouble in how i not come across as a prick who knows everything, someone someone whos not just lecturing everyone. You talk about her attitude toward government. Hillary clinton cannot court against Bernie Sanders or, trump. You want to show that your moderation is not simply from juggling. Its not from balancing but it comes from a deep place in a passionate commitment to the American People in the american way that requires some complexity but is also deeply committed to core values. What is she ultimately willing to go to the mat for that leads to that trustworthiness question do you find her core in this book . I think she views it that way. She says very deliberately, this is a book that reflects my values. She wanted to write it. She said she wrote i take a village because i wanted people to see what i truly believe helping mischaracterized misquoted. This is it. She is telling telling us, this is the set for values. Whats in part or her soul, i would love love to see the sole xray. I think this is as close as we are likely to get of a real lori clinton political core. I dont know about her moral human core but this is as close to a manifesto as she has ever produced and is likely to produce. I think she wrote it in the form of their be because it is after the Health Care Reform debacle. It is after this whitewater problem starts emerging. It is after she was told its not too for the price of one. Are going to run healthcare and then bill clinton essentially fires are and she goes back to the drawing board as a good well education engine educated person doesnt writes this term paper about she is. She has to make it a little bit, but fundamentally i think this is who she wants to be. Of course then theres the other question of what it stent is her and what extent is it a ghostwriter. Theres always that cloud of controversy around the clintons. What is this cloud of controversy with barbara . Will give the most benign interpretation. When you are first lady in your day is scheduled from start to finish and you have the resources to hire someone, youre going to hire a helper. She hires this lady for a hundred 20000. Often you read Nancy Reagans autobiography and she acknowledges that thats kind of accepted. What happens though in the acknowledgment page she wrote it takes a village to write it takes a village. The fact that she doesnt specify this woman who worked on it so intensely shows a clinton insecurity and insensitivity and sloppiness. Its so important for her to show that this is my book that she wont even share the spotlight. A little bit of gratitude wouldve gone a long way but instead theres a controversy that pops up in the Washington Post and the New York Times and other areas and it says shes plagiarizing but to what extent was it her moral culpability because she didnt anticipate what it would look like for someone to pay someone hundred 20000 enjoy the book in the grammy. A great line in the acknowledgments. Many people have helped complete this without even knowing it. They are so numerous that i wont attempt to acknowledge them individually for fear that i might leave someone else out. She let someone else out. She left someone really important out. Barbara is still a professor at georgetown and she has collaborated with many notable figures on books in this manner so it wouldnt of been a very unusual thing to do and i dont think in the historical memory wouldve been anyway diminish this as a Hillary Clinton statement. Thats what politicians do. Every politician, shes had ghostwriters in the next couple books, speechwriters, her speechwriter helped her write last book hard choices so shes kind of gone out of her way to sort of recognize people who helped in that endeavor and as an author i can say its quite an endeavor. Was a great moment with all politicians, many politicians do this, some give perhaps way to much freedom and power to the speechwriters or to the ghostwriters and dont do much of the book themselves. This may be, there was a reagan story and he said i hear its great. It was a memoir. From what i i understand, the way it works it was someone almost interviewing her and she would draft material and then she would edit it which, for a politician, thats writing a book and thats legitimate. So it gets to the question of whats the missing gene. Why is need to come across as ms. Perfect . Why this need to sit was totally my project and why this inability to acknowledge others . That leads to all these deeper questions about who she really is and what kind of white house she might run. One thing i will say is shes very much a student. We learned a lot about that. When she was at the state department he sat with career people who could sort of explained to her, she wants wants to learn more. Shes not a politician who just needs talking points and thats basically it. She wants to know ab cde and possibly after. For aids know that they need to come prepared to meetings because she will want answers and she was one who will spend the day on a sunday reading and clipping out newspapers and often giving them to aids and say look into this and report back. They know shes not just saying that that she will actually follow up. She takes these little issues and follows up on them. Thats something, at at the state department there was someone who came to her and complained about a shower issue that theyd like to work and really wanted to shower at the state department. This seemed like a really small detailed insignificant thing but she followed up for months like how are we looking on that shower issue. Are we going to put in the showers . This is something she does. She follows up on the smallest little thing that would seem in consequential. Is that a plus or minus . In the calendar days they made fun that he was such an engineer and he was in charge of the White House Tennis Court schedule. He was micromanaging and that a politician has to know what to Pay Attention to and what not to Pay Attention to. One person we havent spoken much about is a guy name bill clinton who looms large. Hes also not mentioned in the acknowledgment and he looms large in every conversation. Bill clintons genius is the ability to be the one in be the policy guy and have that touch. Hillary clinton who was raised by her mother with the hope that she would be the First Female Supreme Court justice, not the first female president who is known in the 1950s in high school as sister frigidaire. She has that holder side but she also has a more intellectual side and shes now in the biggest political game of all running for president. Bill clinton was ali and jan always able to balance those two. Her inability to balance that warm, fuzzy, human side is a challenge for her in her campaign. She admits it in one of the town halls are one of the primary Campaign Events she said look, im not not a natural politician like my husband. It was this great human moment where she said something that everyone knows the just or acknowledgment of it to suggest that there is some imperfection or almost vulnerability or selfawareness was a wonderful moment. But how do you win the presidency and run the country if youre not a good politician . Heres an appearance by bill clinton. She writes my strong feelings about divorce in the effects on children have called engine caused me to bite my tongue more than a few times in my marriage. My husband has done the same. We have worked hard at our marriage with a great deal of Mutual Respect and deepening love with each other and that we are blessed with chelsea enhances our commitment. Theres little stories about bill, not so much as president but as father in the book. From the very beginning she talks about how bill went to lamaze class and was lost. She talks about bill reading stories to chelsea at night. She talks about this really funny story when they were living in the Governors Mansion that little chelsea loved Curious George and hes always eating coconut or something so she wanted coconut and they go out and buy coconut but they have no idea how to open open a coconut. Finally they take it outside may start beating it on the driveway of the Governors Mansion and the security people were just staring at them. There are all of these humanizing personal touch kind of stories about bill in the book. Its bill the father, bill the caring husband and then immediately, thats why bill signed a medical family leave act. They connect personal anecdotes to big policy initiatives is a way to humanize. A little glimpse at chelsea because at the time she had been so hidden and protected by them that this coconut anecdote, if you go back and read it again, it was kind of interesting to me to see them build out, to portray chelsea as a child and how she grew up and realistically who she was, and that something, im about her age but i never knew her or understood her at the time so going back and reading that you can see part of a glimpse of their family dynamic in who they are. Theres also a revealing story about her mother who had an impact on her growing up and she and her younger sister, when she was nine and her younger sister were three, they were sent costs country alone by the mother and they were trained, they were living with grandmother who hated them and them mother that Dorothy Rodham drove home that family is essential and you dont get divorced but i think one of the things that Hillary Clinton has said throughout her career is that yes weve had ups and downs but first of all both bill and Hillary Clinton do not say this is an arrangement. They continue to say they are in love with each other and they might hurt each other in some moments but they continue to love each other. They talk about their shared incompetence about a young mother, not knowing how to breastfeed and i know the learning curve, that first year of life, another the nonetheless theres something about the way she tells those stories, i was raised to be intellectual and a feminist and i wasnt sure how to make this leap into this great beyond and now i want to help others do this. But its all learned, its not instinctive. Going back to the mother lay across country on the train, he also talks about the fact that relatives out there, a great encore cousin helped her mother step in and help and that goes to the village. I joked earlier about it coming a cliche but to create a cliche is an amazing thing. Think about it. Think about the power and the insight it requires where societies at. Think about the platform that she has she takes it and uses it in a really powerful way. In the 1990s, its answering a question that question that americans didnt even know they needed to ask. Now where do we go. Anything it takes a village. It takes a village is way more popular in polls better than a third way because it showed americans didnt want to be so lonely. They didnt want to be hyper individual as per they wanted to be part of a community. Whats more welcoming than a village . The village speaks not only about people but also about values and life and tradition while also being in the real world. Before you wrote your book on Hillary Clinton, as you read it takes a village . We Read Everything on Hillary Clinton that you might imagine. What did you learn from it takes a village that that helped you in your writing . I think just getting a sense of the family dynamic. The fact that she struggles. We talked about how she had to make choices and she was a young lawyer and had a go to trial in chelsea was sick and bill was away traveling and what did she do. These are situations people can identify with, certainly today, i can definitely identify with that sort of thing. It does give you more of a glimpse. I would say this is the most real book of all the clinton books. I read it with interest. Ive read it again to find that connection to today and the cohesive part of that and how it comes together. Do you agree this is the most real of the clinton books . Yes i would and thats a statement on the quality of it takes a village and what i think is drop off in the subsequent two books, especially hard choices. Living history was interesting, it had a lot of detail and people wanted to know how she responded to the Monica Lewinsky scandal and she really tells the whole story, the hard choices is even, its hard to read. It takes a village is not. Its interesting. She moves through a lot of different material and so i would say the other books suffer greatly in comparison. She talks about the lewinsky thing and living history and we all tried to get at that and what did she do. She expressed getting angry. We wanted to see that side of her. We didnt want to see the buttoned up, pantsuit Hillary Clinton. Every woman wanted to relate that feeling of you did this, what did you do . I think she has realtor moments in living history. I stick to my First Response that this is the most real portrayal. I read it takes a village back in the 90s with a critical eye. I was working on a book and i had a stack of her speeches, of her interviews in real time and comparing that stack to what i thought i was reading a knife it takes a village was disconcerting because i thought she took a lot of her ideas and thoughts and passions and emotions and put them through a blender to make them more palatable to the american public. It felt like she wanted to be this much more multidimensional policy person and she came up with this book that was much more first lady book. There was something very safe and cautious about the book. In her third book, hard choices, she replicated a book that bill clinton had written. This is a review of it takes a village from march 1996. Ninetysix. It takes like a village, looks like a book and feels like a book but in important respects it is in a book. Its an election pamphlet or a stump speech. Its a 300 page page press release. First we have to imagine hillary in the old executive building with 15 women and one man plus other helpers, so numerous that it will not even attempt to acknowledge them individually. Marshaling her manuscripts, their object is to reduce it. Being offended are now the twin addictions the culture. I think what hes saying there, sadly applies to most any book by a politician with continued political aspirations. All of these books should be regarded in the extreme as propaganda. They are what we ask, is this that Hillary Clintons core . It reveals what Hillary Clinton wants us to see as her core but unless were her, that might be as close as we get. I completely understand what that particular review said. I think its broadly applicable to most political books. If you measure it in that universe, i suspect this may be more revealing. Is an interesting, 2020 years later it reads more honest. At least when i read it. I thought wow, theres more substance. I think thats partially due to the fact that weve gotten more cautious. Weve gotten even more into this gotcha mode. Generally, i think using the context that has shifted and some of the things that were problem men are so much more controversial now. We feel like were seeing more of a threedimensional. As an author, trying to get people to talk about themes and talked about how things came together, its like pulling teeth, just to, just to admit that something was said in a room. Were encountering that this time as well. Its just a very interesting, it is a very real, i think if she had written the book today it wouldnt have been as revealing. We now live in the age of twitter and we have a republican candidate who has emerged through twitter. A tweet is 140 character and it reveals so little that now when you have pages of a press release it is going to show a little bit more of who you are. You are coauthor of hrc state secrets in the rebirth of Hillary Clinton which came out in 2014. You mentioned that youre working on a sequel. We are. It picks up where we left off so we left off and she is running, well shes not quite running, we believe shes running. We wrote the book always thinking that she was going to run. She is running and we pick up there and sort of tell the story as she figure out what went wrong in 2008 . How did how did you learn from 2008, what lessons are plied to this campaign and we tell the rest of the story from there. The big question is does she win. Course we will know the answer when the book comes out but how did she get there if she did win and if she lost where did it all go wrong . When is the book scheduled to come out . Who was he with when he cowrote that first book with you . He was with political. Ill try you written the age of clinton, Hillary Rodham clinton and mr. And mrs. Clinton, why did you say that you should not use the word polarizing. When the Hillary Clinton Campaign First started they had a list of terms that they deemed nonfeminists and polarizing is one of them. I think thats kind of a complement. I think polarizing is not genderbased. Is there a socalled dog whistle . May be a little bit. I think in this sort of, weve come so far and yet i feel like weve regressed. I think it is seen as one of those words, like a taboo almost. Its interesting though because i dont see it that way but i think in the broader scheme yes. In the book i talk about the complexity of being a woman leader. You are trying to step in their. I think weve talked about the art of Hillary Clintons books and in hindsight i was probably too harsh on living history which i think is a much better book but what i would say is the one thing hasnt written about, and its really the only thing i want to read about her now is the 08 campaign. It takes a village was published in 1996. Living history covers a more conventional men more gets us through her time as first lady and when she either has just one or is running for senate. Then hard choices picks up after the great unpleasantness of 2008 and it picks up when she becomes secretary of state. The one thing i want i want her to grapple with. Its revealing of how she comes to term with things. What i would love to read,. Even if she loses or wins the campaign, theres probably a next book, that will deal with it. I would love to read about oh eight. And how she thought about that campaign and how she thought about herself in that campaign. It was her time. It was supposed to happen. Whos this obama guy. Shame on you barack obama, that famous clip. Thats what what i would love to read. Thats what is missing so far in the Hillary Clinton auto bibliography. Carlos, we did this with donald trump the art of the deal last week or two weeks ago. In your participating in this program as well. Is there a different dynamic to this discussion then there was with donald trump . Analysis in real time i think in both cases we are mining these books that were written decades ago for insight into a human being a candidate today. I think with it takes a village we are more inclined and it may be a function of the panel, were more inclined to look for the and the utes and the contradictions in Hillary Clinton and to kind of wallow in in the art of the deal, inc. Its much more of this is who donald trump is this is how, the way that he presents himself is potentially going to translate into both his campaign and how he would govern. We seem more inclined to draw a Straight Line donald trump. Maybe that suggests greater simplicity. I dont know what that suggest. With Hillary Clinton, it all seems like its digging in sagging and meandering. That makes it perhaps. Thats also the mystery of Hillary Clinton. Who is she the people believe we cannot guarantee health care to all because of cost. In fact a sensible universal system would come a as in other countries and up costing us less and until we are willing to take a long hard look at our Healthcare System and commit ourselves to making Affordable Care available to every american, the village will continue to burn house by house. 1996. Healthcare is always going to be seen as Hillary Clintons baby i think, and it was her issue as first lady and something that she talks about now, she fully embraced obamas plan in 2009 and was sort of the cheerleader but scenes in the summer of 2009 and other cabinet secretaries had their priorities , she sort of says this is our time and we control those houses and lets seize this moment. Then theres that phone and chan famous portrait her hugging the president on the day that passes for the day after it passes. Its always going to be seen as her issue. In 94 she failed and it raises questions about what kind of leadership can she bring. Whats fascinating is, it was that huge failure and yet now she likes to bring it up. She brings it up in the campaign to say basically i was into that before was cool. She says, the line she always says is i thought for healthcare and i have the scars to prove it this book is when there were no scars yet the wounds were very fresh. Thats why she brings that up in such vivid language. But now the fact that she fought and failed is held up as this but badge of honor, and that shows something about her judgment and her vision even if it was at the time a huge failure that completely shook her. In 1995 when shes writing it , bill clinton doesnt even break 50 of of the popular vote. This is a moment thats a real downer. I think the 94 loss is one of the reasons, she runs into the nunnery of writing this book because of the healthcare failure. I shared my husbands belief that nothing in the First Amendment converts our Public Schools into religion free zones or requires all religious expression to be left behind at the School House Door and that indeed religion is too important in our history and heritage for us to keep it out of our schools. This is part of hillarys conservatism that im talking about. Bill clinton and brock obama and Hillary Clinton understood that the only way a democratics president could be elected is if you believe in family, faith and sweat. Tried very hard not to get upstaged on questions of patriotism to the flag, on questions of faith showing that they are good . People and with family they tried to emphasize the children. With all of bill clintons speeches about family and faith, and his weakness with women becomes a democracy. Hillary clinton bought the radical critique of American Society that she was now libertarian. She was still that good girl from illinois in the 70s. For her, faith, church, family are important values that she didnt want to jeopardize even if she was excited by these other revolution. At the end of the day this election, donald trump and Hillary Clinton is a fight over who was the baby boomer. Visit the George W Bush mitt romney is that the anti vietnam bill clinton baby boomer. Ultimately what schools need most our high standards to live up to. Some people disagree claiming that even voluntary standards interfere with local control permitting outsiders to determine what children are taught. I strongly favor promoting choice among Public Schools. Its an interesting thought, something that seems a little, i dont know if she would say the same thing today. If you had been Bernie Sanders would you have read this book. Probably. And he probably did, as opposed to trump. I think he probably wouldve picked it up. Here he is fighting for one of their biggest discrepancies or fights right now is basically over free public college. He really wants to make this a thing, even Going Forward i think thats one of the reasons he hasnt endorsed her yet and is Still Holding on and she and her people think of it as a pipe dream. She knocks teachers and administrators for caring about their budgets. She almost sounds like george w. Bush. She says the biggest obstacle is low expectations. Thats george ws line. It reoccurs in this book. Its just interesting to see where some placed her is very much out of step with where her party is today and where shes had to go in this campaign whats scarier, a politician who has changed everything in 20 years or a politician that has changed nothing in 20 years. You want that. But thats an argument she has to make. Hillary clinton has to get up and explain that by being in the public eye for decades she is going to have certain things that dont match in the 2016 campaign that matched in the other campaign. She has to explain whats the rationale that has kept her going. What have been her Core Principles and why shes changed. Are their Core Principles in this book in your view question. Absolutely. I think they go back to the three ideally ideas that were articulated. She believes in free market and family and government. She wants to figure out how to make those three work and match. I do believe if she does become president , that will be her challenge. I think if she were to write, we could probably write now use that book as a tech text for writing inauguration address that she used in 2009 and is and is probably already writing in 2017. Fundamentals are there. The norms might change but the basic formula which is understanding the power and the beauty of the 1950s in understanding the racism and sexism of the 1950s. Trying to find a way to build upon an ally their lessons of the 70s and 80s is the formula that the clintons used rather successfully in the 1990s. That is is what they would want to apply in a steel world today which she will be able to do this is Hillary Clinton on book tour in 1996 for it for it takes a village. She appeared on cspan old book notes program. The stakes have been raised on the partisanship. There are so many people who shoot before the game. They dont get the facts, they are quick to make outrageous statements and judgments about other people and i think the press has such a vested interest in trying to stay ahead of whatever it is thats going on so they get out there and nobody can say they were behind the curve even though a week or two turns out to be not very important at all. Both the nature of press coverage plus the meanspiritedness of the partisanship, i understand why its occurred, its been a mutual relationship. Its not one side or the others fault. I just dont think its good. I dont think its good for the country that people scream at each other and accuse each other of things. You look at that clip and all you can think of is where we are now and how that applies today and donald trump and man, if she could have watched that, im curious to see what she would say today because we have changed in such a crazy way and you have donald trump whos probably the most unconventional candidate to oppose her and throw everything at her. I know theyre prepared for it. They were prepared for from the beginning because they thought any candidate would do that but hes taken it to a whole new level and so watching her say that right now is humorous. Doesnt it also say, thats 20 years old, doesnt it say that the press hasnt changed, the changed, the press wants to be the first the story and wants to be out there and look for the ticktock of the campaign. Its true and its one of the reasons, i think she admitted it a few weeks ago that she doesnt really care for the National Press for that travels with her. She wants the local press to care about the issues and i think thats something that president obama does as well. He invites in the pull local press to talk about their specific issues but doesnt want to talk about the larger issue or the story of the day, if you will. Theres something very real there about, so much has been said about Donald Trumps relationship with the press. Hillary clinton here puts her finger on something that people talk about a liberal bias liberal bias or conservative bias in the media. The real i bias is identifying the conflict. Whatever side happens beyond her thats not gratuitous. Some of the most interesting things that political reporters can focus on is where the conflicts are within an administration. Thats where the policy debates flushed out and i think its not to say that the media survives uncovering conflict is both true and not always bad. Sometimes thats the job. I think with what youre seeing in this campaign is is the magnitude worse than what she was dealing with then. At the time she probably thought it was horrific. The 1990s, there was a shift. There was a historical line going back to andy jackson and lincoln and you really see it in the 90s with the power of talk radio and the blogosphere. Theres the collapse of the Mainstream Press corps and things get uglier. Things seem to get out of control and you can see the template being built are only making it worse and worse. The other thing thats interesting from this is that we forget. The clintons came in and their generation of reporters, they run into whitewater in the Health Care Debate and really negative coverage in their furious. I call Clinton Administration the angriest Administration Since nixon. Rather than schmoozing the reporters they declare war on them. Despite the fact that theres a generational, its playing out right then. You. Guest clinton and she says they were jealous of us and there is southern bias, every has their theory in the same way that the george w. Bush people safe because he was conservative and obama people say its racism. People who work in the Clinton Administration and Obama Administration each one will tell you their president was bashed more than any other president in american history. Theres a sense on the part of people that the level of criticism is out of control. In a sense, often in the bleachers people watching, there is a new level of power that the press has post watergate that has people really unnerved. They have to get a handle on that in the same way that we have to get a handle on a vision for america that i dont think Hillary Clinton or donald trump are articulating. We will start with gil troy and go back where we started. In the few minutes we have remaining, if you picked up it takes a village today, would you learn about Hillary Clinton and would you learn what her politics in 2016 are like question. I think if you picked it up today you would learn that shes much more trust worthy and likable than she is given credit for and i think you would learn that heres a person who thinks, the struggles, which is a good thing for politician and is really trying to understand how modern america can learn from the past and forge a new future. She is someone who understands many of the challenges and believes that a dose of liberalism with some cultural sensitivity can do the job. Is that how she was campaigning in 2016 fresh mark. Thats the way shes campaigning on sundays. I have a very hard set time getting a sense of it because i feel like she goes back and forth. I think we will start seeing in the general election, a move toward that. My guess is that more we get closer to november 8, the more we will hear it in her speech the less we will hear it because i do believe when they do the numbers they will see they need to play to middle america. They need to play two White American males and play to ohio, pennsylvania michigan and those swing voters. That vote, that book today has a potential to appeal to them in a way the Bernie Sanders brought tybalt doesnt. I think you do learn more about Hillary Clinton reading this book. I didnt read it back when it came out. I only read it over the past year. I got a sense of her that i hadnt seen in her memoirs or even in her public appearances. As we mentioned earlier she is someone who grapples with things im less optimistic about it becoming a big force or this hillary emerging so much in the general Election Campaign because i think so much of this campaign is going to be less about Hillary Clinton, who she really is and more about her not being donald trump.
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