WASHINGTON: As the only first lady ever elected to the US Congress, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton knows how to work a crowd — including the Republicans on Capitol Hill who voted to oust her husband from the White House.
Since taking office in January 2001, the New York Democrat, a leading voice on a number of liberal causes, has found common ground and shared concerns with many of the most ardent and conservative foes of former president Bill Clinton.
In fact, she has sponsored nearly 200 measures — on issues ranging from health and homeland security to laid-off workers and safe drinking water — with three dozen of the 50 Senate Republicans who voted in 1999 to convict Bill Clinton of at least one of two articles of impeachment stemming from his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky.
Many of these Republicans had also helped kill a decade ago the huge health care plan Hillary Rodham Clinton drafted as a proposed centrepiece of her husband’s administration.
Stephen Hess, a congressional scholar at the Brookings Institution, offers this assessment of the former first lady: “I think it would be hard to find another member of Congress who has reached across the political aisle as often.”
Clinton, a favourite target of the political right wing for criticism and ridicule, said some might find it unexpected. “It probably is a little bit surprising,” she said.
But, she explained, “I have had a good time working with and getting to know some of my Republican colleagues.”
“There are a lot of good ideas out there. Democrats don’t have a corner on good ideas,” she said. “Occasionally the Republicans even have a good idea and I try to build the coalitions to actually get something done.”
After a relatively low profile during her first two years in Congress, Clinton is now seen as a rising political power as she reaches out to Republicans as well as Democrats.
She is a skilled Democratic fund-raiser, helps promote the party agenda as head of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee and is seen as a possible 2008 White House contender.
During her 2000 senatorial campaign, Clinton was dogged by questions about whether she could peacefully coexist on Capitol Hill with Clinton bashers.
“She has surprised a lot of Republicans,” said a Senate Republican aide. “They found she isn’t quite the ideologue they thought she was, and have found she is a very pragmatic.
“I’d guess her husband encourages her to reach out to Republicans,” the aide said. “I guess the Clintons see the wisdom of it. It makes them look open minded.”
Clinton, told of the remark, replied: “My husband wants me to be an effective senator. He knows that requires compromise and coalition building.”
“He gives me good advice about what kind of issues I should be promoting,” she said. “I listen to him most of the time.”
TOO LIBERAL?: Many Republicans believe Clinton is too liberal to be elected president. Others are not so sure.
“I take her seriously,” said Senator James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican. He said he disagrees with Clinton on most key issues in Congress, but sponsored a few pieces of legislation with her, including an environmental education bill.
“She’s very focused and very determined, and given her ability to raise money, I’d say she is very formidable.”
Inhofe said: “I would have guessed I would have been the last person in the world who would feel at all friendly with Hillary given all the problems I had with her and her husband during their years in the White House. But I would say we’re now even friends.”—Reuters
