That Jimmy Carter — a man with whom he has strained relations — won a Nobel Prize makes Bill Clinton “want one all the more”; and when Al Gore won his in 2007, “Clinton’s need for one grew exponentially.”
| AP |
So writes Carol Felsenthal in “Exile in Chief,” her new book on President Clinton’s post-presidential years.
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Some of his political allies think his day will come. “[The Clinton Global Initiative] is going to win him a Nobel Peace Prize one of these days,” said former Rep. Tom Downey, D-N.Y.
But Hofstra history professor Stanislao Pugliese told Felsenthal that Clinton’s motives are upside down, saying that his efforts in Africa are geared toward “angling for the Nobel Peace Prize.”
But columnist Michael Barone thinks Clinton has another factor on his side: “If the … Norwegians think that they could give a poke in the eye to a Republican administration by giving Bill Clinton a prize, I’m sure they’d be happy to do it. That’s why Carter got his.”
Felsenthal also writes that after Clinton’s memoirs got a lukewarm reception, he’s been eager to revisit his story. Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley suggests he seek out a “left-of-center kind of scholar, who could really do a nice job explaining the president to people. But nobody would want to enter that if President Clinton is going to whitewash all the warts out of his biography.”
