This is the first Tuesday after the Democratic primaries and it is blistering hot in New York. For days it had been rainy and cool and then suddenly, perhaps because it's the last days of school, and god is a harsh school-mistress, the weather broke hot like blazes.
We had been out of town, there was no food in the apartment and we were trying to beat the heat. I was heading to the grocery store. My girlfriend was trying to ride the subway before temperatures on the platform reached Hades levels. It was early. We had been awakened by the sound of our AC laboring like a jet engine at the end of a runway.
We stopped for a quick breakfast at our local diner. After eating much too fast, I handed the check and my credit card to the owner at the cash register. He asked, "Do you have to go?" He says it to everyone, eyes twinkling over the half glasses teetering crazily on his nose.
Then, for the first time, he noticed my last name on the credit card.
"That woman," he grumbled, "she is my neighbor up in Chappaqua and she's not nice."
"Why? What did she do?"
I was thinking all the cable trucks and secret security details must be a pain in the neighborhood.
"I said hello to her once on the street and she ignored me. She's no good."
We had to go.
Already I had read some article with dire advice from other also-rans about how to handle the depression that is to come. My local NOW chapter has told me to send her a letter of thanks for all she's done. What are they, my mother? Of course, I thank her. I'm just not going to bug her for a few days.
On this hot, ordinary Tuesday morning, I hope Hillary Clinton slept in, put on her bathrobe, padded downstairs for coffee, in her own hair with no makeup, didn't read any papers or watch any TV and maybe just sat quietly and watched peonies bloom in the backyard.
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7 Comments
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I can certainly relate to this post. Gosh, I sort of knew the depression would set in and I'm trying not to think about it. I don't know what to do now. I do support the Democratic Party but I'm a bit mixed up as to what's next.
I like the idea of putting on a bathrobe and having coffee. It reminds me of a story Hillary told after she had just gotten into the White House as First Lady. She came downstairs to the kitchen to make Chelsea some scrambled eggs. The staff didn't want her to do that - they wanted to make it for her themselves. All Hillary wanted to do was be a good mom and make her daughter some eggs. I sort of felt sorry for her. I guess now she's able to make those eggs herself.
Annette | June 11, 2008 2:25 PM
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She still has a great job! She's still a prominent Senator! She still has a lot of work to get done making the world a better place and a terrific platform from which to do it!
(And she's not a senator from one of those lame states, like Indiana...)
Alex Blaze | June 11, 2008 3:07 PM
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Hear, hear!
Serena Freewomyn | June 11, 2008 10:53 PM
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Ya know, sometimes I am glad I have a rare and mispronounced name with no towns or counties named after it :).
I hope she stays in the senate where she can really get something done. I only wish she had come home to Illinois and been senator from her birth state and, oops, would have BEEN Barack Obama. Just Sayin!
Robert Ganshorn | June 11, 2008 11:37 PM
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Actually, that's an urban legend. The First Family's living quarters upstairs has it's own kitchen area. When they cook for themselves, they do it there. There's no reason why she would have gone to the big industrial kitchens instead of her own private one.
Somehow I don't picture Hillary as content to sit and watch flowers bloom...
Bil Browning | June 12, 2008 7:31 AM
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But being the lioness of the Senate? I see that! The vice presidency would be a demotion for her. The two longest serving democratic senators are ill. Who is more prominent in the Senate than she?
Robert Ganshorn | June 12, 2008 8:52 AM
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But being the lioness of the Senate? I see that! The vice presidency would be a demotion for her. The two longest serving democratic senators are ill. Who is more prominent in the Senate than she?
Robert Ganshorn | June 12, 2008 9:19 AM
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