Charges continue to haunt Hillary Rodham Clinton

0 Comments | Insight on the News, August 19, 1996 | by John Elvin

During. the years she was separated from her roots to the point at which she emerged a slogan-shouting student leader who shook up the staid Wellesley campus protesting curfews, the ban on men in dorms, the volume of mandatory coursework, the lack of minority representation and so on. By her third year she had jumped on the Eugene McCarthy presidential bandwagon and in her final year capped her undergraduate career by getting in the face of patrician Republican U.S. Sen. Edward Brooke of Massachusetts.

Following guest commencement speaker Brooke's characterization of student protests as "a perversion of democratic privilege," Hillary, the first-ever student commencement speaker at the school, put aside her own prepared remarks and railed away at the black Brooke in defense of her generation's idealism. Biographers say some elders present thought it rude, but she received a standing ovation from her peers.

Though there is little doubt that she was radicalized and feminized during those years, there is a further clue to the future Hillary in an academic adviser's comment that she was a "pragmatic liberal." Viewed from that perspective, her political victories on campus -- such as election to the presidency of the student government in her junior year -- could be seen as stemming more from her reading of the mood on campus than from her personal convictions. Had she clung to her conservative roots, her campus triumphs would have been unlikely Seen that way, it is not so ironic that some years later, delivering the commencement address at the University of Maryland at College Park, she practically would mirror Brooke's remarks in counseling graduates toward moderation in political behavior, urging that they become "a steward of democracy." Hypocritical, or merely political?

Radicalized or pragmatized, Hillary went on to Yale Law where, through the machinations of fellow classmate Robert Reich, she met Bill Clinton. Though it might seem that their common ground was ideological, a reading of the tomes that have emerged to shed light on the relationship indicates the bond more was one of competitive spirit. Hillary's father, Hugh Rodham, lived his life and raised his family in accordance with a military program he had supervised, named for champion boxer Gene Tunney, emphasizing conditioning and self-defence. Clinton, it almost goes without saying, thrived on the rewards of competing as reflected in the eyes of adoring fans and more intimate associates. Both Bill and Hillary, peers say, craved winning above all else.

Having experienced political loss in her work for McCarthy, Hillary joined Bill during the Yale years to work on the antiwar campaign of McGovern. Biographers suggest that this further experience of identifying with a loser forged her desire to bring down Nixon. Her attitude during those years well may be summed up in a statement she made during one of her early forays to Washington, working on the staff of Sen. Walter Mondale's subcommittee on migratory labor. According to Morris, she confronted one of the evil capitalists who came to testify, Coca-Cola President T.J. Paul Austin, with the words: "We're going to nail your ass."