‘All Too Human’ Faces ‘My Life’

So while Barack Obama, who did his first Sunday show since taking office last week, heads over to ‘Face’ Bob Scheiffer in a second warm-up to the no-longer-as-critical- as-it-once-was-but-still-important Tim Russert Primary, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos faces a historic showdown this Sunday. While former President Clinton goes on a publicity tour for his new “King of the World” global initiative, the “This Week” host will sit down with his former boss for the first time mano-a-mano.

The question on everyone’s mind: As an interviewer, will George be softer or harder on Clinton than Leonardo DiCaprio was?

The relationship between George and Bill has always been a complicated one–they each owe at least some of their 1990s success to each other, although the former owes the latter much more. Since their parting, though, George wrote a book none-too-flattering about his former boss and Clinton has managed to go on to even more success.

As Businessweek wrote, “In serving Clinton, Stephanopoulos paid a personal price: He got hives, fell into a depression, suffered intense burnout. But he never seriously considered leaving until it was clear he had fallen out of favor with the Clintons. Over time, they came to think of him as a ‘leaker’ and depended on him less and less. So he cashed in his chips at the top–right after Clinton’s reelection.”

Stephanopoulos’ ties to the Clintons will probably always be a cause for pause. It’s still the type of thing that a June encounter with The Other Woman led to a Page Six item, and despite rumors about the level of discord between the two (specifically of “betrayal” by both sides), George did show up President Clinton’s book party.

So what George will show up to interview the former President? There’s the potential that Clinton will never face a tougher media interview than George, but there’s also the potential that Stephanopoulos will not ask the questions the journalist in him knows he should ask.

> For a little flashback, if you’re interested this Friday afternoon, read Jake Tapper‘s review of “George Stephanopoulos’ 456-page, $27.95 tour de force of self-loathing and self-promotion, ‘All Too Human: A Political Education.’ A poorly written fable about an arrogant young Greek who flies too close to the sun and crashes to the ground — call it the tragedy of Prickarus — it’s recommended mainly to those who already loathe Stephanopoulos and desire more evidence to back their feelings up.”

Amusing that they’re now both colleagues on Desales Street, huh?

UPDATE: Tapper writes to clarify that the review was written early on in his career and it’s the story “I most regret having written…. It’s one that reflects poorly on me, and I apologized to George for having written a long time ago.”

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.