Politics on the Hudson

Journalist Carl Bernstein, author of the new Hillary Clinton biography, “A Woman in Charge,â€? appeared on CNN’s “The Situation Room” today and described the senator/presidential candidate as someone who’s not comfortable letting anyone else tell her story.

“She is very much a camouflaged woman,” Bernstein said, according to a partial transcript provided by CNN. “She is hidden behind that camouflage. Her own biography, as she sees it, and has written it, is far from what really is a full account. And I think as we got closer to a full account here, she decided she—the last thing she wanted was to have anything to do with it.”

Bernstein did give Clinton high marks for her work on behalf of New Yorkers in the Senate, “in terms of bringing home the bacon, in terms of getting money for New York and performing for her constituents.” But, he added:

“She has gone from being a great advocate on the national stage for controversial issues that she really believes in, into someone who hides from those issues, to a large extent, in the Senate. She took no leadership, during her six years in the Senate, to speak of, on the
great issues of the day confronting the country, with the possible exception of a woman’s right to choose, which she’s always been consistent about.”