ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 3, 1996 TAG: 9612030039
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: ELLEN GOODMAN
SOURCE: ELLEN GOODMAN
AFTER A brief pause to re-elect the president of the United States, we return to our regularly scheduled programming. Welcome to another episode in the national soap opera entitled: ``Whither Hillary?''
Last summer, you recall, the public's attention was glued to the Hillabeth Competition, a well-hyped popularity contest between Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Dole. It turned out that the candidates' marriage mates had even less effect on the outcome of this election than the candidates' running mates.
Now, however, Elizabeth Dole is scheduled to return to the Red Cross and to a life juggling a high-powered career with a newly and reluctantly retired husband - more about that another day. But she has a job.
What about Hillary? In two weeks' worth of postelection traveling, the question that I heard most often was, ``What will Hillary do in her (sic) second term?''
Of course, if Kenneth Starr and others have their way, Hillary will spend the next four years testifying before committees, if not juries. But outside that circle, there is more advice about what she should do with her life than what she should do with her hair.
For openers, there is the group that thinks she should follow Elizabeth Dole's lead and take a real job. Pat Schroeder wrote her a note suggesting that she get out of town, hop the train to New York and head up a foundation.
Then there are the folks who suggest that the author of ``It Takes A Village'' ought to take on her own dysfunctional village, the District of Columbia. Still others say she should take on the global village, as an international advocate for women and children.
Her husband mentioned at least once in his offhand style that she could help reform welfare reform. But this is the same guy who walked with her into the propeller of health-care reform. Which some people in my sample actually think she should return to.
Meanwhile, the Hillary-as-senator crowd believes that she should spend the next four years building her own political career. The Hillary-as-Eleanor crowd thinks she should use the platform of first lady to be the ``voice of the voiceless.'' Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin says, ``As long as there are people who are against her, let it be for the good reason that she's fighting for the underdog.''
After fielding a fleet of these advisers, my own script for the future direction of the saga is a bit more radical. Whither Hillary? My episode would read: Whithever She Wants To.
When I asked about her plans in October, Mrs. Clinton said she hadn't even thought beyond the election. I found that answer cautious and wholly improbable.
Hillary Clinton is at a stage of life many of us know well. That same afternoon, she described her daughter's last year at home with a wistful, self-deprecating humor. ``I kind of follow her around like a puppy dog when I'm home. You know, `Everything all right? Anything I can do for you? Well, maybe I can help you clean up your room.'''
Every parent overseeing college applications and the dreaded essays this fall knows all about this bittersweet year when we hold tight to the familiar role of parent while trying to imagine where we go next.
In her second term, Hillary Clinton will turn 50, Chelsea will go off to college. A nest is no less empty because it is in the White House. This is a time when nearly every woman takes stock. How many stop, finally, living up to other people's expectations and start, finally, figuring out what they want?
This moment in Hillary Clinton's personal life dovetails with her husband's political life. The first lady spent the last four years filling a job description that changed with every news cycle. Everything she said was dissected for hints about the ``real Hillary.'' Everything she did was scrutinized for its effect on her husband's career.
Even her supporters have had too much of a stake in the first first lady from her generation and background. ``Whither Hillary'' was studied as if she were the text or test case of Every-boomer-woman.
No, she can't be a Cabinet member or co-president. But she can figure out what comes next - at her own pace and in her own very capable judgment.
During the campaign, Hillary haters and fans would either hiss or sigh at the prospect of this first lady released from the restraints of re-election. Well, this is one lame duck who has won the right to fly.
- The Boston Globe
LENGTH: Medium: 82 linesby CNB