Government Girl: Young and Female in the White House [Paperback]

Stacy Parker Aab (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 19, 2010

A memoir of being young and female in the clinton White House

Stacy Parker Aab was born in Detroit in 1974, the only daughter of a white Kansas farm girl and a young black Detroiter fresh from two tours of Vietnam. An excellent student, Aab gravitated toward public service and moved to Washington, D.C., for college in the hopeful days of 1992.

Not only would Aab study political communication at The George Washington University, but she would also intern at the White House. For three years, she worked for George Stephanopoulos. In 1997 she became White House staff, serving as Paul Begala's special assistant.

At first, life was charmed, with nurturing mentors, superstar politicos, and handsome Secret Service agents. In January 1998, the world of the Clinton White House changed radically. Monica Lewinsky became a household name, and Aab learned quickly that in Washington, protectors can become predators, investigators will chase you like prey, and if you make mistakes with a powerful man, the world will turn your name into mud.

Government Girl is a window into the culture of the Clinton White House, as seen through the eyes of an idealistic young female aide. Stacy Parker Aab's intimate memoir tells of her coming-of-age in the lion's den. Her story provides a searing look at the dynamics between smart young women and the influential older men who often hold the keys to their dreams.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A young staffer in the Clinton White House when the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke, Parker Aab effectively re-creates the heady excitement of working among powerful personages in the upper echelons of government. A native of suburban Detroit and then an 18-year-old scholarship student at George Washington University, Aab née Parker possessed sterling credentials in civil and community service when she was selected to intern during the summer of 1993 for George Stephanopoulos's press office in the Old Executive Office Building. She answered the reams of fan mail that poured in and trained the other interns; her job eventually led to a staff position, as well as work doing presidential advance planning, which entailed traveling with Clinton's team and booking overnight accommodations. Tall and attractive, Parker soon learned where the power resided, e.g., with men such as Vernon Jordan, who offered professional advice freely over meals. When the Lewinsky details erupted in January 1998, Parker and her office under Paul Begala felt betrayed, though somehow unsurprised. Her memoir is well polished, and despite a few suggestive anecdotes about Vernon and Clinton, is mercifully free of salacious revelations. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Stacy Parker Aab has written political and social commentary for The Huffington Post and Salon.com, and served as the primary contributor to Voices from the Storm: The People of New Orleans on Hurricane Katrina and Its Aftermath. She continues to work on Katrina-related research projects.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Ecco; Original edition (January 19, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006167222X
• ISBN-13: 978-0061672224
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,263,875 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Memoir, January 22, 2010

By 

2Gr8KidsMom "Cat" (Minnesota, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Government Girl: Young and Female in the White House (Paperback)

Much to my complete surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I'm not much for memoirs. In fact, most of the time I'm lucky to get 2/3s of the way through a memoir before becoming bored and moving on to something else. Not so with Stacy Parker Aab's "Government Girl."

I thought this book might focus extensively on the Monica Lewinsky scandal, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that Lewinsky was only one of many characters introduced in this book, and certainly didn't play a particularly prominent role.

The book was exactly as it should've been; the experiences of a young woman coming of age while working directly with White House staff during the Clinton Administration, and how that young woman learned to juggle the personalities and politics within the politics.

Truly an excellent read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Government Girl Rocks!, February 19, 2010

By 

mamacita "mamacita" (Iowa USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Government Girl: Young and Female in the White House (Paperback)

For all political junkies, or anyone just plain curious about what it means to work in the White House, Stacy provides a vivid look behind the scenes of the Clinton White House. She offers a candid look at the players of the day, including George Stephanopoulos and Paul Begala, both of whom she worked for, and Clinton himself.

Thankfully this is not a steamy, slimy, shock-value tell all. Instead this is an interesting, fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable read. No dry telling of day-to-day tasks here, Stacy share interesting accounts from her several years in the White House--from intern to paid staffer to volunter RON (coordinating travel for the President)--with insights on the major players of the day. It is most interesting to learn how the various staffers relate to one another, especially those on different levels. At heart this is a story of a young woman who made the most of the opportunities before her,in all the right ways, and as she might say, if only Monica had made the same choices, for it is always about choices...

I really loved this book! How wonderful that Stacy shared so much of herself in this book--it adds depth as we read and "watch" Stacy come of age through the pages and root for her all the way watching her make the right choices and becoming the wonderful young woman we feel we know by the end of the book. I look forward to reading more by Stacy Park Aab.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Inside Scoop on the Clinton White House, February 13, 2010

By 

Amy Steele (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Government Girl: Young and Female in the White House (Paperback)

In the open and thoughtful Government Girl, author Stacy Parker Aab describes her years working in the Clinton White House--first as an intern for George Stephanopoulos while studying at George Washington University-- then as staff when she became Special Assistant to Paul Begala. The memoir reads exactly as one imagines Stacy's experience to be: first a fresh, young wide-eyed 18-year-old becomes a White House intern. Powerful men [not many women about unfortunately] like President Clinton. George Stephanopoulos, Rahm Emanuel, Vernon Jordan are all in her midst. She ends up asking Jordan for a recommendation and has some interaction with the others. Nine years later, by the end of her experience, she doesn't particularly enjoy her job which is more administrative than using her skills as a writer [been there/ done that] and the sparkle and luster have fallen off The White House after the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Although she doesn't speak of sexism, there aren't very many women in positions of power at all. Although in some of her stories on the road, she gets hit on by married Secret Service men and has an awkward encounter with the President in 2000 in Japan. She doesn't speak of any contact with any women in particular besides some lower level staff members. This makes me sad and I hope that young women in the Obama White House aren't experiencing the same thing but guess what? Many of the young guys [Rahm Emanuel from the Clinton White House] now work the Obama White House. It most likely is just that she worked in communications with George. She spoke of Dee Dee Meyers but Meyers did not stay very long. As an African-American, she also says that she faced no racism, which is fairly easy to believe for the Clinton White House.

Most of her challenges were due to her age and experience. How can a young woman be expected to take on these responsibilities? Stacy proved herself to the right people and had numerous unique and challenging experiences especially when she worked on the Advance Team and traveled with the President and his staff. She would go ahead to make sure the accommodations were just right: she traveled to Africa, Japan, and several other places including Steven Spielberg's home in the Hamptons.

I wish Stacy had touched more on what she learned while in The White House instead of the day to day. After finishing the memoir, I was jealous of her experience and knew she did a lot of constituent outreach [which I've done on a local level]--by answering letters. She did say she was excited to be part of anything to do with The White House and its administration. And I know that many of her responsibilities allowed her to take on greater challenges later on. However, I still didn't have enough of a grasp on her learning curve during her nine years there. But she chose Government Girl to be about her experience as a woman learning to navigate the intricacies and dangers of power and privilege. She entered The White House perhaps naïve and awe-struck at 18 and left at 26 with a completely different attitude. For anyone interested in politics or the inner sanctum of The White House, Government Girl is the ideal memoir.