Hillary Clinton Seen As A Lightning Rod That Diverts Attacks

Hillary Rodham Clinton returns to her hometown of Chicago for the Democratic National Convention this weekend by every available index the most controversial, unpopular first lady in modern American history.

No one in the White House argues that is a good thing. But as it turns out, they have come to think that it may not be such a bad thing, either.

Four years ago Hillary Clinton, as a loyal wife and partner, was her husband’s sword, slicing away at critics of his character. Slowly but surely, she has become something else: the president’s shield, absorbing attacks on both of them, and freeing Clinton to seem more popular - and more moderate - by comparison.

After many months in which Hillary Clinton has been at the center of controversies from Whitewater to the dismissal of the White House travel office staff, some of the president’s advisers make it clear that they no longer mind that dichotomy much and, in fact, find it useful.

They suggest their polling shows the public draws clear distinctions between the Clintons, personally and politically, that redound to the president’s benefit.

Presidential aides will not speak about the topic publicly, but this is the calculus: Hillary Clinton’s lower public profile since the failure of the health care overhaul has made voters realize that Clinton alone is president, not his wife.

At the same time, voters see in the Clintons’ confessed marital complexities echoes of their own.

By rising vigorously to Hillary Clinton’s defense, the president can now look strong and chivalrous, in contrast to the chastened, halting profile he presented when Hillary Clinton rose to defend him against Gennifer Flowers on “60 Minutes” in the 1992 campaign.

To that degree, the White House was happy when Bob Dole suggested at the Republican Convention that Hillary Clinton’s book on child-rearing, “It Takes a Village,” was some kind of socialistic tract.

Finally, this distinction has allowed Hillary Clinton to carve out a clear role as the administration’s official, oratorical liberal - as opposed to its surreptitiously influential one. She remains overwhelmingly popular among the core Democratic constituencies that Clinton wants to rally for the fall.

Her whirlwind schedule in Chicago is to take her from a Democratic women’s caucus with Tipper Gore, to a park dedication, to a panel on children with the Democratic Governors’ Association to a fund-raiser for female candidates to a poor Hispanic neighborhood - all on Monday alone.

“In their efforts to demonize her, her critics not only don’t hurt her or the president, but they hurt themselves,” said George Stephanopoulos, the president’s senior adviser.

“They can inflict some damage, but they have not succeeded in erasing her positives, and in fact it makes them appear mean-spirited and small.”

For weeks now, when asked about Hillary Clinton as a potential political liability, White House aides have taken to responding in chorus that her favorable-to-unfavorable ratings are “better than Bob Dole’s.”

In the most recent New York Times/CBS News Poll of registered voters, taken last weekend, 35 percent viewed Hillary Clinton favorably and 37 percent saw her unfavorably, compared with 29 percent favorable and 32 percent unfavorable for Dole.

Still, the scene on the South Lawn of the White House last week as Clinton signed a bill to expand access to health insurance summed up Hillary Clinton’s altered state. The measure settled for far less than the sweeping overhaul that Hillary Clinton had proposed, and she sat not beside the president on the platform, but discreetly in the front row of the audience.

Still, when Clinton thanked her for her efforts, the sympathetic invited audience responded with a standing ovation and sustained applause.