Is anyone out there trying to pay as little attention to Whitewater as possible? For those concerned about the First Lady's role, disregard of the matter might be the most worthwhile position to take.
Americans should be uncomfortable, to put it mildly, with the way the media, campaign handlers, politicians and the general public have treated Hillary Clinton from the very beginning. The start of her treatment in public life sheds light on her current troubles over Whitewater.
The transformation Hillary was forced to undergo in order for her husband to win the election was ridiculous. Move over, hard-edged lawyer; make room for the kinder, gentler mommy. Call her "Mrs. Clinton" instead of the Hillary Rodham which she obviously prefers and has been using for years.
Get rid of the headbands and add some nice, face-framing layers. Don't let her talk so much. Have her appear on the Home Show to display the White House Christmas decorations. Make sure we see her with daughter Chelsea, holding hands with husband Bill, attending church, doing something "womanly" as often as possible.
Trying to make Hillary into what she isn't is ridiculous. Many women like myself absolutely cringed at the uproar over Hillary's "I could have stayed home, baked cookies and had teas" remark. Oh no! A woman who doesn't stay at home?! What a rarity in this day and age.
Hillary isn't so out of the ordinary. It is disheartening for a woman of the twentysomething generation to witness what a firestorm Hillary has provoked. For those of our generation, the transformation she has been forced to undergo to make her more palatable is sickening. What is most shocking is that many commentators and people in general have acted as if Hillary represents some new phenomenon which has just fallen from the sky. She is not such a rarity. Working mothers are becoming more the rule than the exception these days, and even affluent professional mothers like Hillary are not hard to find. She is one of the many "pioneers" to whom women of our generation should be grateful.
Next is the power issue - Hillary as Health Care Czarina and policymaker. Once again, the American public would do well to wake up and realize that powerful First Ladies are nothing new. Does anyone remember Nancy Reagan? One wonders if she didn't function more as a president than Ronald Reagan during the end of his second term.
First ladies, by virtue of their close relationship to the president, have for many years had an effect on policy. At least what Hillary does is out in the open. We may never know what Nancy Reagan and other former first ladies were doing behind the scenes.
Hillary is an accomplished attorney and an obviously intelligent, motivated person. She is doing a thankless job; one that no politician would touch with a ten-foot pole.
She is accountable to Congress; what is the harm in having her in charge of health care? Unelected people are appointed to positions of power all the time; they are known as bureaucrats. The national security apparatus is full of these individuals. They do not seem to cause as much of a ruckus as Hillary. The public does not even know the budgets of the Central Intelligence Agency or National Security Council. Again, at least Hillary's job is very much out in the open.
Which brings us to the point: why refuse to pay attention to Whitewater? Granted, Hillary may have done something illegal (though this is unlikely), unethical or simply unusual. The reason I tend not to pay much attention to the growing scandal is because it is so unbecoming to see a bunch of white, middle-aged, often Republican men gang up on Hillary.
The Clintons do not live like kings. They are obviously well-off, but do not strike me as the type to steal or cheat their way to financial success. Perhaps some of the most vocal individuals chasing Hillary around the mulberry bush are a wee bit miffed by the fact that she made a killing in the commodities futures markets, in which so many investors lose their shirts?
Hillary has made it in a man's world, and all this talk of how she cheated in order to get there is a bit sour. Perhaps Hillary is guilty of some indiscretion. But what she may have done is no worse than what many men in positions of power in Washington might have committed in their pasts - whose indiscretions did not make national headlines.
This may sound like a knee-jerk reaction, but gut instincts are often right on target. The Whitewater debacle sounds like yet another "nanny problem" like that of Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood, the first two Clinton choices for attorney general. Whitewater is only another transparent attempt to discredit a successful female professional. Smart, articulate women make this country very nervous, and Hillary is only the latest to trigger a heated response.
