Enter Hillary.
The re-election of President George W. Bush and the defeat of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D.-S.D.) will affect the future plans of Hillary, that's for sure. First and foremost, she becomes one of the frontrunners for the Democratic nomination in 2008, and will probably have to compete with fellow liberals such as John Edwards and Howard Dean. A dream ticket for the Democrats may be Hillary for president and new Illinois Sen. Barack Obama as her VP, although the party may want to stay away from another ticket with two senators on it. The defeat of Daschle will shake up the Democrat Senate leadership, and it's reasonable to think that Hillary may want a piece of the action. She already chairs the Democratic Senate Steering Committee, but is said to be looking for a promotion. Senators Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Byron Dorgan (N.D.) are rumored to be interested in the minority leader or Whip race, so Hillary will have some competition, but the fact remains that opportunities for advancement will be available for her. Of course, Hillary will still have to be re-elected to her N.Y. Senate seat in 2006. No one has announced against her, but former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and current Gov. George Pataki are both interested in the race-and in the 2008 GOP presidential nomination, and either Republican would be a formidable opponent.
Death Diet.
Hillary said recently she was concerned about her husband's low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet was unhealthy before he was diagnosed with heart disease, but he brushed aside her worries. "I didn't think it was healthy, but I know so many people who are doing that now. I'd say, 'You really think you should have a cheeseburger every day for lunch?'" she said on ABC News' "Good Morning America." The former President was an avid devotee of the low-carbohydrate, low-fat South Beach diet, on which he did lose quite a few pounds. Hillary said she began to think something wasn't right when he became fatigued on walks. "We were walking our dog, and we were walking up this hill near our house and he said he was too tired. I nagged him some, I said you should go see somebody about this, but he was so convinced it was nothing," she said. Bill also talked recently about his heart operation, and described dramatic visions of Hillary and Chelsea he experienced while he was unconscious during surgery. "I saw dark masks crushing, like death masks being crushed in series," he told ABC's "Primetime Live." He continued, saying that "then I'd see these great circles of light and then like Hillary's picture or Chelsea's face would appear in the light and then they'd fly off into the distance." Hearing about those visions was "so moving to me," said Mrs. Clinton, and she was also pleased with her husband's attitude after the surgery. "When he came out he said, 'We had a nice time in Iceland didn't we?' And 'Didn't you love Ireland?' Those first few hours, particularly the time right after I got to see him, I will treasure forever, because he kept holding Chelsea's and my hand, he kept telling us how much he loved us," she said.
Spreading the Flu Blame.
Hillary has been attacking President Bush for-in her view-causing the flu vaccine shortage. She accused the administration of being "asleep at the switch" and for overseeing a general deterioration of our health care system. "They're more interested in tax cuts for the rich than for flu shots for everyone who needs them, and we've really paid a big price for their negligence," she told reporters. "This should be a wake-up call. This administration has their priorities wrong." She claimed that during the 2003 flu season she and others recommended changes that would have prevented this year's shortage, but the Bush Administration didn't adopt the recommendations. Hillary also announced that her office released a flu vaccine resource guide that informs New Yorkers where they can get shots. Ironically, some health care experts trace this years flu vaccination shortage to Hillary herself in 1994, when a Democratic-controlled Congress took her advice and enacted a vaccine-buying program, which placed a cap on the price that American vaccine manufacturers could charge. This program then lowered the profit margin, which, when combined with the ever-present threat of lawsuits, forced many companies to cease manufacturing the vaccine. We were then forced to import vaccines from other countries, such as Canada and Great Britain. In another interesting twist, despite the shortage across the nation, Hillary noted that her husband was able to get his flu shot.
