TERRE HAUTE — Hillary Clinton shook one more hand, climbed into a chauffeured Chevy Suburban and rode away along Wabash Avenue.
Secret Service agents gave a last glance, joined the motorcade and sped off. The national press stuffed laptops and tripods into bags, checked the BlackBerrys and vanished, too. Gone in 3 hours and 13 minutes.
Suddenly, Terre Haute was just like it was before a presidential candidate came to visit Thursday.
Indeed, many of the nearly 1,000 people who thronged into and around the Saratoga Restaurant came to see the spectacle of a former first lady of the United States who’s trying to become the president herself. Plenty of others, though, waited for hours in the crisp, chilly March air hoping this woman could somehow improve their lives, or at least our nation’s fortunes.
That seems like a lot to expect of one human being, a 5-foot, 6-inch lady who — smartly dressed in a dark blue pantsuit — looked like someone who could be your kid’s middle school principal or an exec at the local bank.
Yet that’s the burden this 60-year-old baby boomer must shoulder. The same goes for her Democratic rival Barack Obama, and presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. They’re not faith healers, but the list of predicaments Americans present them with grows with every campaign stop.
As Clinton told cheering supporters gathered in the parking lot behind the Saratoga, the presidency is “the toughest job in the world.”
Can the person sitting in the Oval Office really affect life here?
Vickie King, a 50-year-old Realtor from Terre Haute, didn’t hesitate to answer that question as she stood in line outside the Saratoga, waiting to catch a glimpse of Clinton.
“Look at the last eight years — you tell me,” King said.
The last eight years were relived repeatedly Thursday, as the New York senator heard Wabash Valley residents explain the difficulties they’ve experienced because of the nation’s withered economy, the high cost of health care, gas prices, layoffs and the war in Iraq. Clinton and her host, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, offered answers for each dilemma and criticized the performance of President Bush and his administration in the process.
There’s little question the Bush presidency has been a costly, painful disappointment for millions of Americans. Repairing it all will certainly be “the toughest job in the world.”
After listening to an auto worker from Greencastle, Clinton explained how she’s tried as a U.S. senator to assist auto companies in transitioning to new, cutting-edge vehicles with better mileage and alternative fuel flexibility. Bayh, sharing the speaking duties and looking like the vice presidential possibility he’s rumored to be, emphasized that Clinton is committed to leveling the nation’s foreign trade deficit in the auto industry and others. Clinton, he said, will enforce trade laws with other nations.
“This current administration has just rolled over, and we’ve got to change that,” Bayh said.
Moments later, Bayh explained to the restaurant crowd that the Chinese had purchased a Valparaiso plant that produces the magnetic guidance devices used in smart bombs. Bayh said he and Indiana Congressman Pete Visclosky unsuccessfully fought to get the White House to stop that deal.
Nodding as she listened, Clinton said, “You get the feeling with the Bush administration, this is all hunky-dory — if it comes it comes, and if it goes it goes.”
She added, “If I am president, we’re going to look into all of these trade agreements.” The crowd applauded.
Clinton offered her solutions to questions about the nation’s other ailments. A young girl asked Clinton if she would address global warming more aggressively than President Bush and not consider it “a hoax.” She answered, “That is something I will do, and take very seriously.”
A northern Indiana county sheriff asked her about cuts in Homeland Security funding. Clinton responded that New York knows that situation intimately. “We’re the highest risk, and still we have to fight for everything we get,” she said.
There were sad tales of people struggling to pay for adequate health care, college tuition and gasoline.
Then came the inquiry that will ultimately determine whether Clinton, Obama or McCain will affect lives here in Terre Haute, Indiana and the rest of the nation. A young boy asked Clinton what she was going to do about the American soldiers in Iraq. “Are you just going to leave them there to die?” he said.
“I’m going to bring them back home,” Clinton answered, softly but firmly.
The audience clapped heartily. Then Clinton added, “We have to do it carefully and responsibly.”
No other promise made by this one individual woman on a 193-minute visit to Terre Haute, Indiana, is more important, or more difficult.
Clinton was right. It is “the toughest job in the world.”
Mark Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com or (812) 231-4377.
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