European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 10, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday May 10, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 13 in a suite at the Waldorf As big As All outdoors Hillary Rodham Clinton sits on a sofa and talks about Whitewater commodities trading her daughter her friends Why most men favor Long hair and whether she should give regular news conferences at the White House. A i can see people saying a who does she think she is having press Confer. Encis a a said Clinton whose conversation is now liberally larded with anticipated objections to the Way she leads her Public life. A a \ a a it has been a difficult time in the difficult life of the woman who Anna Quindlen Calls herself a a transitional figure in americans political mythology. She gave a news conference in which she denied knowing of anything untoward in the transactions that enabled her to turn $1,000 into nearly $100,000 in the volatile commodities markets. And she went on Larry King live and faced questioning about allegations by Paula Jones a former Arkansas state employee that the president while gov Cranor had sexually harassed her. Clin Tom who normally Speaks in cogent paragraphs replied with the negative Sam Grunt a huh uhf when asked if the charges upset or bothered her. Its been difficult sometimes not to believe that she has modulated  to make her strength Gunthr calcining that in terms of image she is still veering Between making policy and making cookies the seated posture and pretty in Pink sweater at the news conference the trip around the aisles of a Safeway this week pushing a cart. She denies the calculation or the contradictions. She says the sweater went with the longer skirt she chose because her Shorter ones would have made for potentially embarrassing camera angles. A i done to know if i can convey to you what its like living in the White House when you re our age and you have so Little control Over your own life a she said of the supermarket experience. A and you can to do something As simple As going to a store without it being a major production As my father used to say a a Federal  and i Felt great talking to this produce manager about  its not so great talking to reporters who wonder whether there was something fishy about her trading profits. A i hear it All the time a she replied a but i done to hear it from people who know about the commodities Market in 1978-79, when clerks in Back offices were making More Money than i made appear she says she and her husband invested through friends Jim Mcdougal in the Whitewater development and Jim Blair in commodities because they were confident a these were people that we did no to believe would Ever take advantage of us in any  she says its ridiculous to think her successful trades were linked to Blair a position As counsel to Tyson foods Arkansas a biggest business. A a those people who say somehow this a was a favor to me from Tyson foods a year after 1 did it Tyson foods was supporting my husbands opponent in the 1980 gubernatorial election a but unlike some of her supporters she will not explain away criticism As sexism and she says she is not trying to have it All the last living superwoman a but 1 do want everything that i want a she said flatly a i want to be who i want to be and i done to want to be told 1 can or cannot do something that is natural and part of my  As she always does she sounds intelligent and straightforward. If she is dissembling about the couples. Investments she does it uncommonly Welt. Those who come determined to Pierce the facade with a pen discover facade is not much in evidence. She laughs. Oflyn and easily. Three times she seems prickly. Once she said a i m not going to Tromp my daughter around and exhibit her like some  Possession so that other people know Jio a much 1 care about her.�?�. Noting her concern that her news Eon Feruce fell unexpectedly on the Day of a nato ultimatum to the serbs she said a it proved that t did no to know what was going on in foreign policy so Pul that to rest. I Wasny to sitting in the meetings talking about what nato was going to  and of the juror about her investments she concluded �?o1 now know that anybody can say  new York tit it is a. A new right of death raises Specter of victims the right of privacy has had another offspring some people would say illegitimate inasmuch As the father is a phantom in the View of constitutional experts a figment of the imagination of Justice Harry a Black Mun who fathered the right of privacy in 1973, when he declared that the voters do not have the right to pro acct the unborn. Comes now judge Barbara Rothstein of the . District court in Seattle and she strikes Down a 140-year-old Washington state Law prohibiting a doctor from assisting a patient to commit suicide. Rothstein appeals directly to Roe is. Wade the abortion decision of the supreme court. Her reasoning is that just As the court has established that abortion is the exercise of a right of privacy so should the right to end ones life be protected As the exercise of a right of privacy. A the suffering of a terminally ill person cannot be deemed any less intimate or personal or any less deserving of Protection from unwarranted governmental interference the that of a pregnant woman a the judge said. But she did not end there. She said that its of for the Law to discourage and presumably prevent suicide in certain cases. A obviously the state has a Strong legitimate interest in deterring suicide by Young people and others with a significant natural life Span ahead of  but that Isnit the Case when you Are talking about somebody suffering terminally. A but this is a can of Worms is it not just to begin with it Isnit possible to prevent some one who is Able bodied from committing suicide Fie or she can borrow the children a pistol aim it at the head and pull the trigger. Or jump out of the window. What one can to do in the state of Washington  30 other states is ask the doctor for a knockout Pill. If Rothstein is Correct henceforward in Washington and indeed elsewhere a. Rothstein is a Federal judge not a state judge a doctors can give you a lethal prescription. But then begin the equivocation. This would be forbidden if you Are a a Young person with a a significant life Span ahead of you. And of course the decision by Rothstein came Only a Day after the current trial of or. Jack Kevorkian. He was acquitted on a  jury found that As the doctors lawyer pleaded Quot he Wasny to engaged in helping to kill the patient he was merely engaged in diminishing the patients pain. But these Are the problems one runs into when planting rights and attempting to reason through their applicability. What right does the state have to Tell the doctor that he can to help the Man who did the decathlon yesterday William f. Buckley to commit suicide today what right do the voters of the state of Washington have to ordain that tedium Vitae Isnit a sufficient excuse for ending your life Why does no to the dejected Young Republican have a right to despair and end it All when Bill Clinton is elected president Quot to display ones own cards in the matter the author of these words believes most profoundly in the desirability of death Over protracted useless suffering. But there is a Point at which one is supposed to yield to higher Laws. The tradition in America is that the people will vote collectively on such matters and just three years ago the people of Washington state rejected an initiative that would have Given to doctors the right Rothstein has just now Given them even As the voters Over the Span of generations had voted to protect unborn life but the judge in Seattle has now discovered a fresh right obviously susceptible to abuse and has de dared incompetent the franchise of the people renewed As regt by As three years ago. Its Furi to set about discovering fresh rights but there Are victims As we have seen. Unborn babies Are the most conspicuous. But now add problematic death wishers corrupt doctors a and the sovereignly of majority Rule. C Universal pres