Thursday, September 15, 2005

First Ladies

In my copious spare time, I've been reading The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House by John F. Harris. It's been quite enjoyable, as Harris doesn't bring a particular agenda to the saga, just a very straight-forward approach and plenty of research.

On page 256, Harris discusses Hillary Clinton's attempts to Get Along with the Washington media after the 1996 election. Speaking in Australia, Clinton commented:

There really is no way to escape the politics of one's time if you're in that position, other than to just totally withdraw - perhaps, I don't know, have a bag over your head when you come out into public - or in some way to make it clear you have no opinions and no ideas about anything and will never express them publicly or privately.

I think HRC prophesied the future with this remark. Apart from a picture in People magazine when she lost weight, I haven't seen a thing of Laura Bush all year, other than occasionally smiling and waving as she gets into a helicopter.

Bush must be a strong woman; I admire her ultimatum that George either becme sober or file for divorce. I hope someday to read a Harris book about the Bush years and find out her views and feelings on the events of the last five years.

Words Written: two hundred and nine
Lessons Graded: fourteen

3 comments:

Joe said...

I was going to make a point, and then I remembered who I'm dealing with, so I'll ask a respectful question instead. How many First Ladies have been publicly active on policy matters? My guess is that Hilary is, and will remain for some time, the exception...

tommyspoon said...

I too admire Laura Bush. But I wish that her ultimatum to George included some followup therapy. He's got that "dry drunk" vibe goin' on...

torporindy said...

I think Laura is pretty nice looking. Is that so wrong?