Henrietta Hay's Column

I'd like to have lunch with Hillary Rodham Clinton. I admire the kind of woman she is. We could talk about what it is like to be a young idealist hitting the wall of political reality. We could talk about government and values and human rights and women in power.

Since I write a couple of weeks ahead of publication, by the time this appears she may have been tried, convicted, drawn and quartered-- or at the very least kicked out of the White House and sent back to Little Rock.

The Time magazine cover story about her in its May 10, 1993 issue said, "A Republican consultant told a network newscaster that his job was to make sure Hillary Clinton is discredited before the 1996 campaign. Each day anti-Hillary talking points go out to talk show hosts. The rumor machine is cranking out bogus stories about her face (lifted), her sex life (either non-existent or all too active), and her marriage (a sham)." I think she is getting a raw deal

Nobody knows for sure what she is being tried for. At first she was guilty simply of being a new kind of Presidential wife, which was and still is a major threat to the Washington Establishment. But now Whitewater has given focus to the attack. She is caught up in the nasty political battles, which have replaced statesmanship in our capitol.

If she has committed a crime she should be punished. If the health plan she has studied and worked on is not the right one, Congress will change it. Congress will change it anyway. But if her only offense is being the first "sixties generation" Presidential wife, smart, well educated, fluent, politically involved and, yes (that dirty word for women) assertive, that is not grounds for the kind of vicious personal abuse she is receiving.

I would like to know her personally. I really think I would like her. She has a warm smile, goes to Chelsea's soccer games, likes crossword puzzles and is good to Socks. And she stands by her man, far better than Tammy Wynette did by her six. But who knows, maybe she squeezes the toothpaste tube in the wrong place or wears a ratty old bathrobe around the house.

The habit of tearing down political figures is not new. John Quincy Adams was accused of obtaining the presidency through a "corrupt bargain" with Clay. Andrew Jackson was painted as a decadent aristocrat who had procured prostitutes for the Czar while serving as minister to Russia. Thomas Jefferson was attacked as an anti-Christian deist slaveholder, among a lot of other things.

The attacks have reached new highs in the nineties, however. The traditional political assaults by the opposing party are getting much harsher. But now the attacks are becoming personally vicious. The talk shows are feeding this frenzy of hatred, which I find very scary. I never thought I would have a kind word to say about Rush Limbaugh, but he is the voice of reason compared to some of the others I hear now and then. And Hillary is their favorite target. Nothing short of complete personal destruction will satisfy them.

She is standing up and taking the personal abuse in silence. She is starting to fight back when it is politically necessary. But whatever she does, it will be wrong to her enemies. She is in a position no First Lady has ever experienced before. To quote Time again, "She is on a cultural seesaw held to a schizophrenic standard: everything she does that is soft is a calculated cover-up of the careerist inside; everything she does that is not is a put-down of women who stay home." She is that awful woman who "does not know her place."

If you have a tiny baby in your arms today and hope that some day he/she will become President or a Presidential spouse, train that baby carefully. If he/she forgets to return a borrowed crayon in kindergarten "the other side" will use it for ammunition in 2040.

Meanwhile, I wonder whether Hillary is free for lunch.