The Culture of Concealment Undone

0 Comments | Insight on the News, May 31, 1999 | by Tod Lindberg

Notwithstanding the familiarity of the story, Michael Isikoff's Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter's Story (Crown, 403 pp) is a ripping behind-the-scenes yarn. It reaches the stark conclusion that a "culture of concealment" had grown up around Bill Clinton, one that "infected his entire presidency."

This book is, to begin with, the story of the Paula Jones case. Isikoff, then a reporter for the Washington Post, began checking out her story and found enough corroborating evidence to take it seriously. In the course of his research, he found a White House routinely unwilling to be forthcoming in its answers to reporters' questions.

The "culture of concealment" Isikoff amply documents is not simply a defense mechanism developed against intrusive and inappropriate inquiry. On the contrary, it usually predates any inquiry. That's because the person who first and best knows what Clinton does is Clinton. His is likewise the first calculation of just how politically damaging his own conduct might be, should word of it get out. Measures to make sure the lid stays on the can of worms follow naturally.

There's more to the Clinton story than that, and much remains in dispute. But about this aspect of his presidency, we all know more than enough now to reach some unpleasant but unambiguously warranted conclusions. And that's thanks in no small part to Isikoff.