Posted on 12/01/2007 8:56:35 AM PST by ElkGroveDan
When the hostages had been released and their alleged captor arrested, a regal-looking Hillary Rodham Clinton strolled out of her Washington home, the picture of calm in the face of crisis.
The image, broadcast just as the network news began, conveyed the message a thousand town hall meetings and campaign commercials strive for — namely, that the Democratic presidential contender can face disorder in a most orderly manner.
"I am very grateful that this difficult day has ended so well," she declared as she stood alone at the microphone.
Little more than three hours later, just in time for the 11 p.m. local news, Clinton reaffirmed that perspective. In New Hampshire, she embraced her staffers and their families, and lauded the law enforcement officials who brought a siege at her local campaign headquarters to a peaceful conclusion.
It was a vintage example of a candidate taking a negative and turning it into a positive. And coming just six weeks before the presidential voting begins, the timing could hardly have been more beneficial to someone hoping to stave off a loss in the Iowa caucuses and secure a win in the New Hampshire primary.
Aides said Clinton was home Friday afternoon, getting ready to deliver a partisan speech in Virginia to the Democratic National Committee, when she was told three workers in her Rochester, N.H., headquarters had been taken hostage by a man claiming to have a bomb.
Police later arrested 47-year-old Leeland Eisenberg of Somersworth, N.H., and charged him with kidnapping and reckless conduct. They said he walked into the office, demanding to speak to Clinton and complaining about inadequate access to mental care.
The aides said Clinton immediately canceled her trip and began working the phones. She later told reporters she had New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, a fellow Democrat, on the phone in eight minutes.
Over the ensuing five hours, as a state trooper negotiated with the suspect and hostages were released one-by-one, Clinton continued to call up and down the law enforcement food chain, from local to county to state to federal officials.
"I knew I was bugging a lot of these people, it felt like on a minute-by-minute basis, trying to make sure that I knew everything that was going on so I was in a position to tell the families, to tell my campaign and to be available to do anything that they asked of me," the New York senator said.
At the same time, the woman striving to move from former first lady to the first female president was eager to convey that she knew the traditional lines of command and control in a crisis, even if the events inside the storefront on North Main Street were far short of a world calamity.
"They were the professionals, they were in charge of this situation, whatever they asked me or my campaign to do is what we would do," Clinton said.
Along with taking charge while giving the professionals free rein, Clinton offered up a third dimension to her crisis character: humanity. She said she felt "grave concern" when she first heard the news of the hostage-taking.
"It affected me not only because they were my staff members and volunteers, but as a mother, it was just a horrible sense of bewilderment, confusion, outrage, frustration, anger, everything at the same time," Clinton said.
It was a thawing moment for a stoic figure who once snapped that she opted for professional life instead of staying home to bake cookies.
She buttressed it with one final message. Clinton sought to use the sad moment as a national teaching opportunity, another skill often employed by presidents.
She paid tribute to the thousands of believers who set aside their lives every four years so they can propel presidential campaigns on little more than blood, sweat and tears.
"They believe in our future. They work around the clock. They are so committed to their cause, and I just want to commend every one of them from every campaign who really makes what is a sacrifice and a commitment," Clinton said. "A lot of them postpone school, leave their families, move across the country, and I'm so grateful for them every single day, and I'm especially just relieved to have this situation end so peacefully without anyone being injured.
Class dismissed.
___
Doubtful but perhaps she might have some words on how to ride a husband's career into power.
FNC's Carl Cameron during one of the broadcasts got a bit tongue-tied and talked about "the families of the hostage-takers" when he meant "the families of the hostages."
“a regal-looking Hillary Rodham Clinton strolled out of her Washington home, the picture of calm in the face of crisis.”
The AP press does not either worship Hillary Clinton.
They are just extremely fond of the ground on which she walks.
As opposed to her sputtering indecisiveness when asked if she supported drivers licenses for illegal aliens in NY state. Nothing like reporting a rehearsed, stage managed appearance in the time of ‘crisis’ for the newswhores.
Glenn 'Kneepads' Johnson, AP
Which reminds me, last month we had a fire down the street from us, right at the end of the cul-de-sac, I am proud to stay that I remained calm. I can now run for president :-).
I think that was the face of indifference to the “little people”.
Re: “Bar alert or MILF alert?”
The greatness of the ladies that lunch ;-)
Are you referring to the hostage taker or the author of this piece of Hurlery Hype?
Easy to do when you're HOW MANY MILES AWAY from the action?
LOL......she is some kind of BS trash ain’t she........;O)
I think even some real old blue dog democrats (both of em) vs the seditious socialists (the rest of em) infesting that party are sick of her crap......
Best thing we can hope for is that she gets lots of free publicity and lots of press because every time she opens her yap we win points.
Let her self destruct.....
Someone on Hannity’s site wrote that it looked like a setup to either make H look good or garner sympathy for her - which actually had crossed my mind, since NOTHING happens around her that is not perfectly scripted -
The writer was considered by others to be either paranoid or just a little imaginative but the thought did cross my mind too.
I would put nothing past her. If it’s evil and obviously scripted, she is probably behind it.
“It affected me not only because they were my staff members and volunteers, but as a mother, it was just a horrible sense of bewilderment, confusion, outrage, frustration, anger, everything at the same time,” Clinton said.
I really love the “as a mother” bit.
Amazing humanity, this candidate. She’s really just like you and me. No, really.
this language is sexist. can anyone imagine this kind of language being using about a MALE? she didn't CRY! isn't it AMAZING???
wait this is how it would go for a male...lordy, lordy, he's CALM! he's walking like a KING! he doesn't FREAK in the face of a crisis! he didn't run screaming down the driveway!
SEXISTS!
Agree....there are folks that would love to bitch slap her hourly , 7 days a week for a year I am sure.......she ain’t worth going to jail for IMO. Kind of like as soon as Rats took congress we started seeing all the school shootings being used to promote gun racism ! Black guns are evil etc ! There’s no connection there at all I am sure.
Just as there are no connections regarding this incident and her safety.......
As I stated above let her self destruct. She’s doing a better job at killing her party than real conservatives ever could........
First of all, the AP reporter should be fired on the spot for writing such drivel. Most disgusting thing I've seen from the MSM in quite some time. ...possibly ever.
Secondly, some guy with a couple of flares who'd already been neutralized isn't even a remotely a crisis situation, so remaining calm isn't exactly a trick.
My same comment from another thread regarding one or two of these clintins....”Oh puleeeze...enough regarding this or these hacks!!!”
It was risky of him to walk in and ask for a referral in person, after all. He should have just called or sent an email if he wanted to know which doctor she goes to.
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