What <em>Her Way</em> Shows Us About Hillary

Here are a few things that I hope readers will take away from reading our book, Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton:

For all her criticism of George Bush and Dick Cheney for secrecy and incompetence, she has exhibited both traits on occasion.

Our book shows how she, like the president and vice president, exaggerated the pre-war intelligence on Iraq prior to her October 2002 vote authorizing the war. She also didn't do her homework before the vote. In 2006, Hillary consulted a secretive energy task force of her own, just as Cheney did five years earlier. Like the president, she has spoken naively about one of the ways to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil supplies (she said better sources of electricity could reduce dependence). She pretends to have been somewhat against the war before she was for it, by mischaracterizing her own record.

Nor has Hillary's training as a lawyer or her reputation for being Washington's smartest, most diligent senator, prevented her from making mistakes or defying Senate rules -- whether it is writing her own book's narrative, promoting her environmental credentials or hiding parts of her Senate staff from proper disclosure.

She and her allies are working hard in their attempt to obfuscate the book's revelations. Their motive is clear: Her Way shines a spotlight on certain areas of Hillary's political and professional career that she hopes voters will ignore.