Pakistan prez Musharraf’s tour of duty: Promoting his book
By Beth Teitell
Boston Herald Columnist
Thursday, September 28, 2006 - Updated: 01:28 PM EST
Did you see Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on “The Daily Show” Tuesday night? He killed.
Oh, not killed, killed, although he is an actual general, but he was too funny during the “Seat of Heat” segment, when Jon Stewart asked whether Bush or bin Laden would win a popular vote among Pakistan’s citizens.
“I think they’d both lose miserably,” Musharraf quipped, as the crowd lost it.
Wow, what a week the man is having. A White House press conference, a “60 Minutes” interview, a spot on “The Daily Show.” No biggie for a head of state, maybe, but for a first-time author? He’s on fire.
Whether you’re a presidential wannabe, a former president or a sitting one, book promotion’s what it’s all about these days. Any question about that was put to rest when Musharraf refused last week to discuss an allegation that the United States threatened to bomb Pakistan “back to the Stone Age” unless it cooperated with the U.S. war on terror. A cagy politician? Nope - a writer whose contract with Simon & Schuster forbid him to talk about his memoir, “Line of Fire,” until its Sept. 25 publication date.
It’s tempting to criticize him for keeping quiet on matters of international importance just because of a book deal, but to give the man a break, book publicists are notoriously tough. Tick them off, and they stop returning your calls and e-mails, or they don’t do squat about booking you decent radio interviews or off-the-book-page features (the holy grail in book promo world). In fact, all the “how to promote your own book” manuals counsel authors to kiss up to these people, 25 years old though they may be.
Musharraf was scheduled to have dinner last night with President Bush and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. I’m sure they’d all have a lot to talk about, what with militants who train in Pakistan before crossing the Afghan border to threaten U.S. and Afghan troops. But how’s he going to keep his mind on the conversation when it’s taking precious time away from checking his Amazon ranking - No. 3 at press time - and e-mailing friends begging them to write nice Amazon reviews?
As the dinner loomed, tension between the two foreign leaders grew, with Karzai alleging that Pakistani religious schools are fanning terrorism, and Musharraf responding angrily, “The sooner that President Karzai understands his own country, the better.”
Uh-oh. Seems like a boys’ night out might be kind of tense. Unless . . . Karzai makes it up to Musharraf by throwing him a book-launch party. As a first-time author, you’ll forgive anyone anything if he helps sell copies.
