LEBANON -- Leaving behind the Whitewater affair and presidential campaigning, First Lady Hillary Clinton spent yesterday afternoon with about 30 local girl scouts at Lebanon Junior High School.
Clinton, who was once a girl scout herself, spoke to Swiftwater Girl Scout Troops 456 and 659 of Lebanon in the school library for about an hour before departing in her motorcade.
She spoke about her experiences as first lady, White House family life, her role models and the importance of reading.
Her only reference to the re-election campaign of her husband, President Bill Clinton, was a joke about his driving skills.
"Anyone who knows how my husband drives," she said, "will know one of the reasons to re-elect Bill Clinton to public office is so other people can keep driving him around, to keep the roads safer," she joked.
She did not take questions from the media, though when one reporter asked her if she was nervous about her upcoming appearance before a grand jury, the first lady simply smiled and answered, "no."
Clinton was subpoenaed by Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr to testify before a grand jury investigating the Whitewater affair earlier this week, and she is scheduled to appear before the grand jury in Washington D.C. at 2 p.m. today.
If she is concerned about her grand jury appearance, the first lady certainly did not show it yesterday, as she was in extremely good spirits while talking to the girl scouts.
Troop leader Suzi Madison invited Clinton to speak to the girl scouts. Madison wrote a letter to the first lady about a year ago inviting her to come to Lebanon to speak "about leadership roles for women in the future."
The letter Madison wrote to Clinton said the girl scouts "would be inspired by such a positive female role model" as the first lady.
Clinton led the girl scouts in the pledge of allegiance before answering about a dozen questions, most referring to her husband and daughter, and her role as the first lady.
Asked how it felt being the first lady, Clinton said on some days it is exciting and on other days quite challenging.
Clinton said she would like to be remembered as the first lady who tried to make health care available to all Americans.
She said even though her and the president's efforts to reform health care failed, "you've got to try things if you believe in them."
Clinton said in her time as first lady, she has been struck by the importance of speaking out when an issue is meaningful.
Personally, Clinton said she never dreamed of becoming the president or first lady.
"There's no way you can plan for being the president or being married to the president," she said. "Life's too unpredictable for that."
She talked about her daughter, Chelsea, and the first lady said she and her husband have tried to keep their daughter's life as normal as possible, even going so far as giving Chelsea her own phone line so her intimidated friends would not have to go through the White House operator when they wanted to talk to Chelsea.
Approximately 20 members of the Young Democrats and volunteer workers from the Clinton/Gore Hanover office traveled to Lebanon to see the first lady, though they were ultimately unable to see Clinton speak to the girl scouts.
Still, the Clinton supporters stood outside in the frigid cold and waved signs featuring slogans such as "Give 'Em Hell Hillary" and "Clinton in '96, 'Nuff Said."
