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Nussbaum was feeling good about progress on the nominations of Ruth Ginsburg for the Supreme Court and Louis Freeh for the FBI. "We're feeling good," he said. "This is coming together." Thomases wondered if the "we" really included Foster. "Help take the weight off his shoulders," she said. "You've been focusing on Ginsburg, and Vince is carrying the load."
Foster had turned to Thomases to express frustration over the travel-office report, and she had become something of a confidante. Now she tried to reassure Foster, but he said he needed to talk to her "off the campus," somewhere they wouldn't be seen. Thomases suggested 2020 O Street, a private rooming house where she sometimes stayed in Washington.
When Foster arrived that evening, Thomases thought he looked a little better. He mentioned that he and Lisa were going to get away for the weekend. But then he began to unburden himself.
He mentioned how overworked he was and how he lacked the time and the support staff he was used to in Little Rock. If he didn't get more help, he said, he was afraid he'd "let the President and Hillary down." Predictably, he brought up the travel-office affair, adding that he didn't trust presidential aide David Watkins, whom he feared might fabricate or embellish the facts to cover himself, possibly at the expense of the First Lady.
But then the conversation took a curious turn. One thing he had not missed about his life in Little Rock was Lisa, his wife. The marriage had not been what he'd hoped for, and it hadn't been for years. She was completely dependent on him, and this had become a burden. He found he couldn't confide in her. Lisa's recent arrival in Washington had brought this to the fore, just when Foster needed someone to lean on.
Thomases didn't know what to say. Foster seemed calm, dignified--but infinitely sad.
It wasn't only his marriage that was in trouble. Foster was already brooding about his relationship with Hillary, which was turning out to be much different from the close friendship they'd enjoyed at the Rose firm. The new dynamic had been made painfully clear to Foster in an incident that seemed trivial on the surface. Soon after arriving in Washington, Hillary had complained to Foster about the Secret Service agents. They were stationed inside the family living quarters on the second floor of the White House, within earshot of just about everything that happened. They were career officers, not political appointees, all holdovers from the Bush Administration. Hillary, in particular, had the sense that some of them didn't like her and Bill, preferring the more staid Bushes. Hillary told Vince she wanted their own people installed in the White House detail.
Foster discussed the First Lady's concern with Watkins, the Hope, Arkansas, native who had come to the White House with the Clintons. But Foster didn't see any immediate cause for concern. Suddenly replacing the White House security detail could in itself have led to unfavorable press.