Linda Chavez
http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- WE'VE BEEN HOLDING our collective breath for a very long time, 'til the red and white had practically drained from our national colors. But now finally, we can breathe a deep sigh of relief. Hillary has made up her mind: She wants to be New York's next senator.
Not since Dolley Madison fled the White House with the British in pursuit has a first lady prepared to make such a spectacular exit from Washington. And we're not quite sure what to make of it. New York will gain a senatorial candidate, but the country will lose a first lady.
It's been a long time since the country lacked a first lady, not since the presidency of James Buchanan just before the Civil War. As Hillary herself describes the role on the official White House website (www.whitehouse.gov), "The American people have made the role of the first lady one of the most important jobs in the country."
But despite her words, it's never been clear Hillary really believed being first lady was worthy of her talents. In the 1992 presidential campaign, both Bill and Hillary Clinton talked about the co-presidency they would establish if Bill was elected. When voters responded cooly, the Clintons dropped their rhetoric of delivering "two for the price of one," but explored other options.
At one point during the campaign, Hillary suggested the president might appoint her to his Cabinet. After she learned that a federal anti-nepotism law barred her from a Cabinet post, Hillary briefly floated the idea she might become White House chief of staff, instead. Only when the president's other advisors explained to her that the president needed to be able to fire his chief of staff if the need ever arose -- and no one could imagine the president firing the first lady -- did she back down.
But not for long. Within months of assuming the role of first lady, Hillary was on to more important things, like trying to take over the country's health-care industry. Of course, her role in drafting health-care legislation became very controversial and may ultimately have helped doom the ill-conceived measure.
Despite her preferences for a policy position over the more traditional role of first lady, over time Hillary more or less accepted her responsibilities to run White House social functions, in her own inimitable style. According to a new biography by historian Joyce Milton, The First Partner: Hillary Rodham Clinton "," Hillary often waited until the last minute to prepare for traditional holidays and White House celebrations. "I've never been anyone who planned for Christmas much before mid-December," the first lady admitted to a reporter -- with sometimes embarrassing results.
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Nervous giggles broke out as volunteers retrieved some rather unorthodox ornaments, among them five greasy onion rings glued to a Styrofoam plate and a gingerbread man decked with five rings, including a nipple ring and one attached to his groin area. (Pictures of the latter ornament hanging from a tree in the White House Blue Room appear in the second edition of Aldrich's book, "Unlimited Access.)
Hillary Rodham Clinton may believe the role of first lady was beneath her, but she learned some important campaign skills on the job nonetheless. No first lady in history has raised more political campaign contributions using the White House for social functions than Hillary Clinton has. From selling the Lincoln Bedroom to offering cups of White House coffee for $100,000 apiece, Hillary certainly picked up some valuable fund-raising gimmicks whil e official hostess at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
That's one role the country
certainly won't miss when it loses its first lady.
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