The White House Photographer on Princess Diana (And Hillary)

Ed Luce at FT writes:

 Another [photograph] shows Clinton, trailed by Diana, Princess of Wales; Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue; and Katharine Graham, the owner of the Washington Post; at a breast cancer awareness event in the White House. Ralph Lauren is just in the frame. [Hillary] Clinton was in her element, says [White House photographer Robert McNeely]. “She sensed Diana was a little tongue-tied and she just did all the talking,” he says. “If you’ll forgive me for saying so, Diana wasn’t the sharpest tool in the box. But she knew enough to know that it was better not to say too much.”

And McNeely on Hillary:

 I ask McNeely what Clinton’s years as first lady tell us about the kind of president she would be. McNeely evaluates what he sees as her core traits. “She is very quick to judge people,” he says. “If Bill senses someone doesn’t like him, he will spend hours trying to convert that person. Hillary doesn’t bother.” Second, her White House would be “highly feminised”. Her East Wing was a very female counterpoint to her husband’s overwhelmingly male West Wing. She has already pledged that half her cabinet will be female. McNeely says the calibre of her hires was generally higher. But she is also less Socratic. “She would spend a lot of time selecting the right people,” he says. “But my sense is that any aide who disagrees with her on the big subjects won’t last very long in the job.” Most importantly, she will always know more about her brief than anyone else. Grasp of detail will never be her weak point, though lack of an overarching vision has been. “There isn’t a person in the world who can outwork Hillary Clinton,” says McNeely.