Hillary Watch 2016: First comes the book

By Richard K. Barry

Last month, Hillary Clinton announced that she planned to write another memoir. This would be a third book added to It Takes a Village (1996) and Living History (2003). Much of the speculation in the publishing world has been about the potential size of the advance -- the money the author gets before a book goes on the shelves.

Yes, that's very interesting. She's very popular. She'll make a lot of money, not that I have been concerned about the financial security of the Clintons. 

Oh, okay, if you must know, estimates range from $5 million to $14 million.

What is more interesting is contained in this bit of speculation by BuzzFeed about what she might write:

Of course, as several industry sources pointed out, no one tells Clinton what to write, and she may ultimately be more interested in using the book to cement her legacy and position her political career than in scoring a giant check.

Well, that's all true, but then the same piece gets into some pretty odd speculation that seems to contradict this:

But what editors would hope for is an account of her bitter primary race against Barack Obama in 2008; about her relationship with her husband; and about the State Department — particularly, her handling of last year's attack in Benghazi, which became the defining scandal of her last several months at Foggy Bottom.

And then this brilliant observation by Jason Boog, editor of Mediabistro's publishing blog, GalleyCat:

She will definitely look at 2008 and use it as a platform to talk about her relationship with Barack Obama. There is some score-settling to be done.

Yes, she will certainly write about her time at the State Department and Benghazi. And of course she will say some things about Bill, but she'll be careful. But let's also say that if she writes critically of her relationship with President Obama, we will know for sure she is not running for his job.

Even if she doesn't run, I cannot imagine that she would crap on one of the most productive relationships between a president and secretary of state in the history of the country.

Perhaps you haven't noticed, but Hillary Clinton is no fool, and her legacy matters to her, as does potential political positioning.