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The Funnies
Reviewed by Alexander Chee
A new novel ferrets out the torment behind the funny little drawings in a family comic strip

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Remembering Andre Dubus
By Richard Ravin
A friend recalls the generosity of a big writer and a big man
(03/18/99)

The case of the brokenhearted father
By David Bowman
The real-life tragedy that haunted Ross Macdonald
(03/16/99)

The big baby
Reviewed by Joan Walsh
Forget "The Death of Outrage." If the right really wants to win the Culture War, it should pass out copies of "Monica's Story"
(03/12/99)

Monica's nightmare
Reviewed by Charles Taylor
There's nothing balanced or objective about Andrew Morton's book. That's why it rings so true
(03/12/99)

Starring Monica Lewinsky, as herself
Reviewed by Liesl Schillinger
She was universally reviled -- until the public got a chance to hear her speak and, now, to read her version of events
(03/12/99)

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Spurious George: A geek tragedy

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ALL TOO HUMAN: A POLITICAL EDUCATION
BY GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
LITTLE BROWN AND COMPANY
NONFICTION, 456 PAGES

BY JAKE TAPPER | The dish immediately takes on the tone of a spurned lover: "It was how I felt around him: uniquely known and needed ... Clinton spoke to the me yearning to be singled out." Soon, however, the president turns out to be a cad, so his confidences are betrayed, on page after page, with an air of righteousness. The betrayer comes across as shallow, deluded, naive, appallingly star struck and disgustingly ambitious -- qualities that, combined with all the stress the roguish Clinton causes, eventually necessitate therapy and psychotropic drugs.

No, this isn't "Monica's Story" -- it's former presidential aide George Stephanopoulos' 456-page, $27.95 tour de force of self-loathing and self-promotion, "All Too Human: A Political Education." A poorly written fable about an arrogant young Greek who flies too close to the sun and crashes to the ground -- call it the tragedy of Prickarus -- it's recommended mainly to those who already loathe Stephanopoulos and desire more evidence to back their feelings up.

If only the Clintons had provided as much documentation on Whitewater! Exhibit A relates, obviously, to the inevitable question of whether Stephanopoulos should have written the book at all -- especially while his former boss still sits in the "Oval," as he smugly refers to the Oval Office. His treachery would be more forgivable if his gossip were interesting or insightful or even well-rendered. But most of the back-room scenes Stephanopoulos offers have been divulged before, and better, by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and David Maraniss, and the qualities that make Clinton a fascinating psychological study were conjured far more vividly by Joe Klein in the first half of "Primary Colors." Oddly, instead of the ultimate insider's look at a president who was last seen in the Starr Report masturbating into a sink, we're treated to only a few new details. There's little actual news in the book beyond its having been written at all.

Why not? Well, the tone suggests that even though "All Too Human" disses the president, Stephanopoulos believes, or at least hopes, that he may someday return to Clinton's forgiving arms. Not unlike Monica Lewinsky, he seems to bear more than a touch of unrequited love for the man who now refuses to let aides mention his name in his presence. However pathetic that seems, it's actually one of Stephanopoulos' more endearing qualities.

According to the flap copy, the book offers "a candid, sometimes merciless self-portrait of the author, whose drives, vanities, and insecurities, along with everyone else's, peppered the playing field of the biggest game in town." That's not inaccurate, though I wonder if he realizes what a little shit he comes across as. Yes, he heartily 'fesses up to some foibles of his own -- he condemns himself for craving "power and celebrity," yet he does so in the pursuit of power and celebrity. It'd be a neat trick if he could pull it off, but the flaws he acknowledges get in the way of his story.

His greatest curse is his short-sightedness. It isn't his fault that he became a star-fucking Machiavelli: "The power and celebrity I had craved were ... exacting their price." Those damn gods of Power and Celebrity! Even while he's calling himself on his ambition, he's still excusing his misdeeds. "My motive may have been unassailable, but my judgment was dead wrong," he says about his horrendous advice that the president refrain from taking responsibility for the carnage in Waco.

His cluelessness is captured in a passage describing a TelePrompTer mishap during Clinton's health-care address to Congress: "The thought of the president trying to concentrate on his delivery as gobbledygook whirred by his eyes made me sick with worry -- for him and me. This screwup might not have been my fault, but it was my responsibility. 'This is the worst thing that's ever happened,' I muttered. 'I dunno,' replied Mike Feldman, the vice president's aide, 'the Holocaust was pretty bad.' Very funny."

I know how Feldman must have felt. Even after Stephanopoulos has downed his weight in Zoloft, a haze of self-aggrandizement continues to cloud his view of the White House and of the world. He had no perspective then, and he still doesn't. Another revealing tic is his fixation on the stature of others -- the "little" Ross Perot, the "short" Klein, the "small" Dick Morris. I've seen Stephanopoulos in the gym, and he has no business pointing out the homunculoid status of others. And his attempts to settle scores by lambasting the back-stabbing loathsomeness of Morris, former Rep. Dave McCurdy, Al Gore and Leon Panetta are really calling the kettle black. Nice try, shorty.

N E X T+P A G E+| White House-damaging egotism and political tone-deafness

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