HOWARD AND HILLARY, PEAS IN A POD: What do Howard and Hillary have in common? I mean besides the impish grins and self-deprecating wits. They both pretend to be authors.
I've long found it troubling that Hillary Rodham Clinton insists on pretending to be the author of It Takes a Village and Personal History. Where is the harm in giving credit to those who did the actual work? People who refuse to give others credit when due are fundamentally suspect. John McCain's first book, Faith of My Fathers, openly credited Mark Salter as the true author; his second, Worth Fighting For, had Salter's name on the cover. People thought more of McCain for his sincerity. George W. Bush's campaign book, A Charge to Keep, openly credited Karen Hughes as the true author. Admitting who wrote the book you signed is called "being honest." Is Hillary's ego so beyond control that she actually believes people actually believe she is an author? Or is she incapable of self-honesty? Choose your unpalatable alternative.
Now comes word, via Susannah Meadows of Newsweek, that Howard Dean is pretending to be the author of his campaign book, Winning Back America. All Democratic contenders other than Carol Mosley-Braun have campaign volumes, and of them, Meadows reports, Dean is "the only candidate who doesn't acknowledge in his book that he got help with it. His ghostwriter, Ian Jackman, says he likes Dean and doesn't care about getting credit, but admits that a mention would have been nice."
Maybe Dean tells himself that all politicians lie about being writers, but as the McCain example shows, they do not. Besides, Dean's central claim is that he is not just another political faker. Is Dean's problem so much ego that he actually believes people actually believe he is an author, or is his problem that he is incapable of self-honesty? Choose your unpalatable alternative.
At some level this business of people in the limelight pretending to be authors is just another synthetic vanity for the celebrity, who wants the respect that comes with literary accomplishment but wants it the easy way: Pose for the cameras with a yellow legal pad as if deep in authorial contemplation; attend book signings surrounded by publicists; receive the rewards but skip the talent and lonely effort parts.
But set what all this says about contemporary culture aside and return to the man of the moment, Dean. His taking credit for someone else's work is not just a character flaw, though that is bad enough--it would get Dean thrown out of the University of Vermont. Why does Dean think that behavior that would get him thrown out of the University of Vermont is acceptable for someone who seeks to lead the nation?
There is a hero in Susannah Meadows's saga, and he is John Edwards. Senator Edwards put the name of his ghostwriter, John Auchard, on the cover of his book Four Trials. This shows truthfulness, and speaks well for Edwards as a person of integrity. No wonder he's trailing in the polls.
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