Bill Clinton talks of youthful romance and ambition
AMES, Iowa – Bill Clinton harkened back today to the days when he and Hillary were dating in order to make the case that she’s not a calculating politician who has had her eye on the presidency for years.
When they met at Yale Law School and started “going together,” Clinton said he recognized his new girlfriend as one of the great talents of their generation. He told her to “dump me,” and then go work at a big law firm in New York or Chicago as a springboard to run for office.
Before several hundred people at Iowa State University today, he recounted that the young Hillary Rodham laughed and answered, “Oh, first I love you and second I’m never going to run for anything.”
When she eventually moved to Arkansas and married him, “I was a defeated candidate for Congress with a $26,000 salary and $42,000 campaign debt,” he said. “Now if she were half as calculating as some people have said, that’s a really bad way to run for president.”
The version of their romance Hillary Clinton described in her autobiography, “Living History,” is actually rather different. She doesn’t tell that story at all, but describes how she turned down his marriage proposals countless time, because she was confused about her future, scared of commitment in general “and of Bill’s intensity in particular.”
Finally, he rashly bought a house in Fayetteville in order to convince her that they had to live in it together.
Back to 2007 and Bill Clinton’s talk in Ames: he also offered another reason not to hold it against his wife that her health care reform bill failed in the early 1990s. Why? Well, he said, Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon all tried to reform the health system and failed. The Clinton administration, he said, was the first to get as far as presenting a bill to Congress.
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Its time the media stopped the unbiased reporting for the Clinton campaign! Does Oprah own CNN or MSNBC?
Hillary has been attacked since this started by ALL the candidates running, democrat and republican, and has continued to be a strong, intelligent, completely capable leader with compassion and conviction, she makes me glad to be a woman! I’m ashamed of obama and Edwards for damaging their own party, is why Huckabee is gaining. All this playing with oprah will put a republican in the White House for certain. WOMAN OF AMERICA, THIS IS OUR TIME! STAND UP AND BE COUNTED, THERE IS NO LIMITS. Let the media say what they will about Clinton, it’s solely because she is a strong woman and that scares men like obama and Edwards. My dear grandmother is 86 and my youngest daughter is 10, both are extremely excited that a woman can be President of this great country. My daughter asks why a woman has never been elected before, because men didn’t allow it. I urge all women to really look at the issues and this country and vote for Clinton. Keep in mind all media outlets are selling papers and trying to attract viewers, they love nothing more than candidates going after each other, when WE THE VOTER do not like it at all, I still believe that any of the democrats running are good candidates, I truly feel Clinton’s connections and clout with foreign countries is what we need ASAP. I do not feel confident that oprahbama biased support of obama will help him. We already see voters joking and billing it as the oprahbama show. She completely overshadowed him. She spoke well this weekend, but he failed to impress or add anything. That’s not good for this country. Oprahs is not the woman running for president, to help this country…its CLINTON. Give her the chance ladies! She has a long long record or public service helping children and minorities. Stick together and let’s make history for our mothers and daughters and ALL THE COURAGOUS WOMAN SENT TO THIS USELESS BUSH/CHANEY WAR!