Name- calling won't harm Sen. Clinton

[wyldwolf]

It was a remarkable preview of possible things to come. Former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Clinton stood side by side at the podium, taking turns eulogizing Coretta Scott King and inaugurating a revolution in the way presidential politics is played. We are accustomed to political spouses in subsidiary, supporting roles. But this scene sent a dramatically different message.

The junior New York senator appears to be embarking on a campaign for the Democratic nomination in which she will be the former president's equal, not his sidekick. She may still be his wife, but she is definitely her own person now and demands the right to be regarded as such.

Her husband, having served his own two terms at the top, gracefully acknowledged the current and past presidents also present in the church. And then he gestured toward his wife, who had joined him at center stage. The crowd, sensing that he was suggesting she is next in line, began cheering. Bill Clinton laughed and mumbled faintly, "no, no." Sitting behind him, President Bush's mouth twitched.

When Bill Clinton ran for president in 1992, Hillary, then a lawyer in private practice, campaigned beside him. The then-future president promised that if he were elected, the nation would get "two for the price of one." Opponents mocked her, saying she was out of sync with mainstream American womanhood and inquiring about her cookie-baking skills.

They mocked Hillary again when she ran for the Senate in New York, calling her a person who had never been elected to anything, who rose to prominence on her husband's coattails. This time, however, voters noticed her political skills and she was handily elected. Since then, she has received good reviews as a serious, hard-working legislator.

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=449612&category=OPINION&newsdate=2/11/2006