Why Is it Hillary Clinton's Turn?
By Barbara J. Stock
January 29, 2007
Is it possible for Hillary Clinton to separate herself from her infamous husband and now claim center stage for herself? America was told it was getting "two for the price of one," when Bill Clinton won the presidency in 1993. If Bill and Hillary were truly co-presidents for eight years, why then, does Hillary even deserve her own personal presidency?
The question is whether anyone knows the real Hillary Rodham Clinton. Is she the feminist who refused to take her husband's name until it became apparent the down-to-earth folks in Arkansas wouldn't understand if she didn't?
In a conversation with Susan McDougal, Hillary related that she once had to show her disappointed parents where Arkansas was on the map. She then bitterly told Susan, "They thought I would end up in Washington, D.C. doing something with my life." Instead, she was stuck in what she considered to be a backwards hick state - full of chauvinistic, red-necked, uneducated, sod-kickers. There was never any love between Hillary and Arkansas. Hillary had no intention of ever returning to the home of the Razorbacks which is why she headed for suave and sophisticated New York when she decided to run for the Senate.
Hillary was married to the attorney general of Arkansas, Bill Clinton, and Bill's pay was about $26,000 a year. It was hardly the wealth and fame that Hillary Rodham was seeking. While she worked at the Rose Law Firm, Hillary tried to ignore the rumors of her husband's womanizing. As Bill walked around without a single dollar on him, allowing his aides to pay the tabs, Hillary had to worry about the bills.
Hillary Rodham was the woman who had been featured in Life magazine as the commencement speaker of Wellesley College. She was a graduate of Yale Law School and a staff member of the House Judiciary Committee that forced a president to resign. Her friends were taking prestigious law clerking jobs in some of the most famous and important law firms all over the country. The woman, who had declared that corporate America's greed was the cause of all of America's problems, was now making $24,000 as a token female associate in an Arkansas law firm and was looking for ways to make more money.
When Bill Clinton was elected governor of Arkansas, becoming the First Lady of Arkansas should have raised Hillary's status considerably. What actually happened was her roving husband had more opportunities for one-night-stands. Hillary had to suffer the embarrassment of watching the new governor, her husband, sneak off from his own inauguration party with an attractive blonde. Many at the party saw the departure and tried to be discrete when they whispered and giggled, but by that time, Hillary had apparently learned how to look the other way in public and just act like none of it ever happened. In short, Hillary had learned early on as Mrs. Bill Clinton, how to lie. She not only lied to herself, but she lied to the public to protect her husband's political image. This talent would serve her well when she and Bill appeared on "60 Minutes" a few years later and conned Americans into believing that Bill Clinton's womanizing days were over.
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