While her husband builds a bridge to the next millennium, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton has been quietly planning her own role for the next four years.
She has revealed few details of that role, but in recent weeks she has dropped some hints of the essential approach she plans to take: high octane in content but low key in style.
While she has mentioned her concern about the effect of new welfare regulations on women and children, and her interest in helping states and municipalities to handle them humanely, she has framed that involvement more in terms of a subdued advocate rather than that of an aggressive activist.
During her trip to Asia last November, the first lady said she was considering a “formal role” in her husband’s second term–a phrase that set off shock waves among Republicans and other critics and a flurry of denials from the White House.
But what she said, in context, signaled she may have concluded that discretion is the better part of successful policy implementation.
Mrs. Clinton said she was contemplating “a formal role that would make sense in terms of reporting to the president, kind of like what I did on the (Persian) Gulf war disease–go out, listen to people, maybe write him some memoranda.”
She said her office quietly had become a point of contact for people concerned about gulf war syndrome.
Having emerged as one of the most controversial first ladies in history during her husband’s first term, failing in her effort to spearhead his health-care reform program, Mrs. Clinton adopted a low profile during the second campaign, and she steadfastly adhered to it during this inauguration.
Compared to her strong inaugural presence four years ago, the first lady’s appearances and public utterances have been relatively few and discreet time this around. She gave only two interviews during the inaugural weekend, to C-SPAN and CBS’ “Sunday Morning,” respectively.
Filling in for her husband, who was preparing his inaugural address and conserving his voice, she did stop by a party for Arkansas supporters, dropped in at a Women’s Inaugural Ball and made a brief appearance at the MTV-Conde Nast party.
Perhaps her most substantial speech of the weekend was the 10-minute address she made to a luncheon for newly elected congressional women hosted by Emily’s List, the fundraising organization for female Democratic candidates.
Greeted by a cheering audience of some 2,500, she was introduced by Emily’s List President Ellen Malcolm as “our role model.”
“Who better to celebrate the power of women than the woman who has used her power to help so many,” Malcolm said of Mrs. Clinton.
Given a second term to define herself for Americans and history, Mrs. Clinton clearly seems to have power on her mind, but is shifting the way in which she wields that power and even talks about it.
“It is important that there be a balance of power between men and women” in political and private life, she told the luncheon group, repeating a somewhat conciliatory theme she introduced during her Asian trip.
“Women do not seek power over men,” she said. “They seek power over themselves.”
In the C-SPAN interview, she said, “I want to bring the discussion about women and power out of the dark recesses and put it into the bright light, and let women begin to talk about what they want out of life.”
Shivering along the inaugural parade route Monday, Sandy Butterfield, a health-care consultant, said, “I believe that the first lady should do whatever her education and background allow and, certainly, Hillary Clinton is well-qualified.”
Butterfield, 52, said she hoped Mrs. Clinton would not downplay her role in the second term.
“I know it’s controversial, but I think she needs to take an active role, not just in terms of issues involving women and children, but in any issues in which she’s qualified.”
