People may not seem to remember, but before there was Hilary, there was Elizabeth Dole. During the early bit of the 2000 U.S. Presidential Race, I was working at a country club--one of several that I would work at in the coming years. That particular day, I ended up being the server for one of Elizabeth's breakfast campaign fundraisers. As she was in Florida campaigning, guests had to make do with her husband, Bob Dole.
My sole job was to make sure there was enough coffee, cream, rolls, and fruit juice available to make people feel well-fed and happy enough to part with a good chunk of change. Dutifully, I hovered by the breakfast table as Bob Dole gave his fundraising speech. That was back in the day when he was doing those erectile dysfunction commercials for Viagra.
"Some of these guys on CNN, they even frighten me," I remember him saying as I checked the supply of decaffeinated coffee.
Afterward, I briefly met him...he introduced himself and shortly after he shook my hand, a secret-service agent swooped down, out-of-nowhere, and flew to the other end of the room in high-speed Batman motion. I was terrified, but when I looked up at Mr. Doles' face, he was still chattering away, as if nothing had happened.
Here was a guy who, faced with the possibility of being first gentleman, said "all I ask is that I have a car to toodle around in and a beeper so I don't get left behind anywhere." He was someone who could have been president if he'd displayed his humorous side early on instead of being so serious all the time.
Elizabeth Dole eventually dropped out of the presidential race. Seven years later, we still have not seen our first female president. And now we face the possibility of Hilary and Bill gracing the White House with their presence {again} in a similar role reversal. Is now the time? Hopefully the American public doesn't support Hilary solely on her gender. I hope we're smarter than that.
But after years and years of Bushes, even the Clintons are looking better all the time. Lately, even our movie choices have been better than our political candidates. Now it's looking like both politics and Hollywood are riddled with sequels.
What if 2012 saw Chelsea Clinton running against the Bush twins? That would be worse than another Rambo ( yet oddly more entertaining...) Even Bill Clinton seems funnier these days... at least funnier than I remember. All I know, from experience, is that no matter who's running, one should always be on the lookout for those shifty-eyed Secret Service agents.
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