When President Bush's post-presidency plans were revealed in Robert Draper's Dead Certain, there was no mention of him writing a book of his own. It suggests he might follow his father by not penning a memoir of his time in office, the only former President in recent memory not to have done so. But, to avoid a gap one the bookshelves between Blair (Tony and Cherie both have books in the offing) and Clinton (Hillary and Bill have two books apiece), George W's daughter, Jenna, has just published her first book (inspired by her work with Unicef in Latin America), and is working on a second with her mother.
There's something of a tradition among junior members of political families to make their way into print. Doro Bush Koch, a woman with a name that looks like an anagram, wrote a hagiography of her father, Bush Sr. Nauseatingly gushing, it is memorable only for an anecdote about dog excrement. Indeed, dogs loom large in the story of the elder Bush's presidency; Barbara Bush's cocker spaniel Millie wrote a book on her experiences in the White House.
Jenna Bush's book has scarcely been better received than Millie's. The 13th President's daughter in print, her title, Ana's Story, details the true story of a 17-year-old Panamanian infected with HIV at birth. Aimed at teenagers, its earnest, simplistic style has been sniffed at by the media, who preferred Jenna when she was drinking underage. Jenna has also frustrated interviewers by refusing to be drawn into tricky questions about her father's policies and the war in Iraq. As a result little has been made of the fact that, in this book about sexual health, abstinence is seen as only one answer - a view at odds with President Bush's international Aids prevention programs.
Almost-first-daughters Kristin and Karenna Gore have also written about their experiences of politics at one remove. Following in the footsteps of Reagan's daughter Patti Smith, Kristin has fictionalised Washington DC, penning a couple of frothy romances featuring dashing senators, eager policy advisers and presidential hopefuls, with the odd barbed sideswipe to the Republicans. A movie version has already been announced, with Drew Barrymore and Kirstin Dunst rumoured to be interested.
Meanwhile, sister Karenna may have higher hopes for her book than a Hollywood adaptation. Entitled Lighting the Way, it's a look at nine women who have changed America, including Mother Jones and Alice Hamilton. The book seems to be intended as a female companion to JFK's famous Profiles in Courage, the book that cemented Kennedy's position as a credible presidential candidate. It's fuelled rumours that Gore could herself venture into politics, started when she told Newsweek, "Being a political candidate myself is something that I have thought was a possibility ever since I was a little girl."
Writing a book to further your political career is an established and potent tactic. Much of the early buzz surrounding Barack Obama came from his first book, written in preparation for his senatorial run, which detailed his discovery of his African roots as well as his political awakening. Reprinted following his barnstorming 2004 Democratic convention speech, Obama then started work on a follow-up - The Audacity of Hope - outlining his political vision, two months before declaring his bid for presidency.
Telling your story before you go for the big job is an astute way of addressing your transgressions head on before your opponents use them as a weapon. Obama used his first book to admit to dalliances with drugs while at college, while Hillary Clinton has already written of her husband's infidelities in her autobiography Living History. Of course you have to be prepared for the material to be used against you. In light of recent events, perhaps Courage wasn't the wisest choice of title for Gordon Brown's book. Luckily for Hillary, few people noticed her rather insensitive comparison of the Lewinsky affair to the Omagh bombing. Let's hope Chelsea does better when she joins the club.
