The Case for Hillary Clinton

October 3, 2005
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.