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The arm's-length strategy toward the press reflects her staff's careful management of the First Lady's image -- or rather, images, as she veers between the high-profile policymaker and the casual sports fan chatting with David Letterman's mom, live from Lillehammer. At times, in fact, her staff seems to be trying to make her appear less influential than she is. A year into the heavy health-care work, her staff still takes conspicuous pains to showcase her traditional First Lady doings, visiting schools and hospitals and entertaining, while keeping the details of her private work schedule from public view.
Such behavior inspires the conservatives' charge that she is trying to have it both ways, hiding her power and her liberal agenda behind a traditional role. In a way, Hillary Clinton, the feminist champion, has had a hard time living out that old feminist slogan "The personal is political." Politics is more personal for her than for any First Lady in modern memory. Some of her defenders attribute the attacks on her as the predictable assault on a strong, outspoken feminist. "It's a small but pathetic gang of right-wingers who hate Hillary not because of what she's done but because their mammas didn't breast- feed them," said adviser Paul Begala last week.
Some of Hillary's aides see her frustration and exhaustion growing, especially as the health-care marathon drags on and on, with ever diminishing chances of Congress's passing a program that even resembles the one she worked so hard to develop. "There have been days when we would tumble onto a plane at the end of a day," a staff member recalls, "and she would say, 'I hurt from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet.' "
Most upsetting is the fact that her husband's agenda, for which she too has fought so hard, is embattled by a mess arising mostly from her own misjudgments. With midterm elections looming, the effect of Whitewater on Congress will be to loosen the President's already fleeting grip on party discipline and make it harder for him to flex his legislative muscles. And it hands the defenseless G.O.P. a badly needed stick. "We don't want to be distracted from the big issues that we're working on," said Stephanopoulos. "That's not going to stop the Republicans from trying. They can't run on the economy. They can't run on health care. They can't run on welfare. They can't run on crime. So they're trying to exploit this issue. We shouldn't make mistakes to allow them to do that."
A politician who brought to the White House a reputation for slickness may have particular trouble getting some moral traction -- especially if those around him are afraid to confront his demons. A top Administration source said there is only one group capable of changing Clinton's mind about the way his White House runs: "What it will take is for the Wise Owls -- Vernon Jordan, Warren Christopher and Lloyd Cutler -- to walk into the Oval Office and say, 'Get the amateurs out, or we're going to lose the presidency.' " The ^ official sighed deeply and continued, "I can't believe we're at this point. It breaks your heart."