It looked as if half the White House had turned up at the Irish Embassy in Washington on Monday for the launch of Peter King's controversial IRA novel A Terrible Beauty. But then President Clinton owes the Republican congressman for his courage in defying his party line and voting against impeachment last December.
Listening to Ambassador Sean O hUiginn were chief of staff, John Podesta, press secretary, Joe Lockhart, media adviser, Sidney Blumenthal, and Northern Ireland adviser, Jim Steinberg, as well as influential columnists from Time and the Washington Post. That kind of turnout in Washington means real clout.