Newspaper Article

The Hillary enigma

Arnold, Gina

2003

Overview

Alas, terms like \"wife\" and \"feminist\" are often considered mutually exclusive, which may be why some Americans have problems with [Hillary Rodham Clinton]'s career. Hillary's womanliness is somewhat on the back burner (although she did lose 20 pounds during Bill's Presidential campaign, which is very much the action of a full-blooded female), but if anything should qualify her as a first-class wife, it's the way she Stood By Her Man during the degrading details of MonicaGate. Some people think that in itself was the action of a fool - but, hell, if she'd dumped the guy, she'd have been called a first-class bitch. Hillary won that race in part because [Rick Lazio] came off as your typically oily double-talking shyster: if there's one thing Hillary Clinton isn't, it's sleazy. By focusing on women's issues - education, health care, and abortion rights - she kept her fan base, so to speak, securely in her pocket, and, I should add, still does: since becoming New York State's senator, she's kept right on target on those issues in a way that is quite unusual among American politicians. She's also unique among First Ladies in that she has - and has always had - a real, respectable job. (Oh, supposedly Laura Bush was a librarian or something - one of those \"women-only\" professions that are considered acceptable by Texans to do before you have kids. But it hardly counts - and ever since she cancelled National Poetry Day for fear that someone might write an anti-war poem, it's been hard to take her commitment to education seriously.) If Hillary has a fatal flaw, however, it's that slightly inhuman air that she exudes, of being too good to be true. It's impossible to imagine her in an unpremeditated mode: uncoiffed, angry; sitting on the toilet, or having sex. She has never been known to utter an unscripted word in non-politico speak, and although this is certainly true of scores of politicians, it's possible that it's more off-putting - because more unusual - in a woman. Isn't she ever premenstrual? Does she ever have a bad hair day?

• Publisher: Scotsman Publications