Hillary is 'Too Busy' for Lunch with Bush
Source: The Times of London
Published: 4/28/01 Author: DAMIAN WHITWORTH
HILLARY CLINTON has turned down an invitation to join President Bush for a lunch to celebrate his first 100 days at the White House.
The New York Senator said that she was too busy to make her first return to her former home for the lunch party on Monday, leading a stampede of Democrats to busy themselves with other engagements. Mr Bush has invited all members of the House of Representatives and Senate to join him for the lunch, which is being billed as a way of showing bipartisanship. The Democratic leadership has already begun to use the landmark date as an excuse to accuse the new Administration of talking about working together but failing to do so.
However, Mr Bush may be able to turn their failure to attend to his advantage by claiming that he reached out to them and was turned away by intransigent devotees of “old-style” Washington politics.
Mrs Clinton’s excuse was that she is to be the main speaker at a New York Building Congress lunch at the World Trade Centre and she could not reschedule that just to meet the President.
Dick Gephardt. the House Democratic leader, and Tom Daschle, the Senate Democratic leader, have also said that they have other commitments and the rank and file have mostly decided to follow suit.
The White House would obviously like as many Demcocrats as possible to be seen at the event, but even if a handful of moderate Democrats turn up Mr Bush will be able to make political capital. By holding them up as examples of sensible members of the Opposition who are ready to pursue a bipartisan approach, he will seek to portray the rest as working against the interests of the American public.
With the Senate split 50-50 and the Republicans holding only a small majority in the House, Mr Bush has vulnerable Democrats in his sights ahead of next year’s congressional elections. His national tour to promote his tax plan focused on areas where Democrats are facing stiff opposition and this week he held his first fundraising event as President, raking in $700,000 (nearly £500,000) for Tim Hutchinson, the Republican Senator in Bill Clinton’s home state of Arkansas.
Ari Fleischer, Mr Bush’s spokesman, was vague about the number of Democrats expected to attend on Monday and while he sought to give the impression that the President would be gracious towards the no-shows, he clearly indicated that the snub would not be forgotten. “This is a first for Washington, this lunch. It’s what Governor Bush did on a regular basis in bipartisan Texas and it’s what President Bush hopes to create in an ongoing, increasingly bipartisan fashion in Washington,” Mr Fleischer said.
“I think the President will be understanding if not everybody can make it for this first lunch. He hopes the Democrat leadership will be interested in coming. If they can’t, he’ll be understanding. But this is how you start to change the tone in Washington and the President will continue to push to change the tone through events like this.”
Mrs Clinton, who does not have to worry about an election next year and in any case represents a state that voted strongly against Mr Bush, has shown little inclination to forget the bad blood between the Clinton and Bush families. This week, as part of the annual Take Our Daughters To Work Day, a group of daughters of New York Times journalists were granted a rare interview with the former First Lady. Asked what she liked best about Mr Bush, she laughed and said: “I don’t know him that well.”
The girls also persuaded Mrs Clinton to show them the contents of her handbag, but found only glasses, brushes, make-up and vitamins “which I need to keep going.”
Mrs Clinton, who has made some surprising friendships in the Senate, including
with the senior Texas Republican Kay Bailey Hutchinson, said, however, that
bipartisanship did exist in the Senate, where all the 13 women in the upper
chamber meet once a month for dinner: “We have the best time. That’s
when we talk about all the inside information that really matters — where
to get a good haircut, how to find time to yourself.”
HENCH adds: Her stench won't be missed by the REAL grown ups in the White House. “We have the best time. That’s when we talk about all the inside information that really matters — where to get a good haircut, how to find time to yourself.” BLLLLGH! Sorry ladies, but the Founding Fathers were right on when they gave the right to vote and serve in the Congress and White House SPECIFICALLY to men ONLY.
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