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Hillary sworn in as first First Lady senator
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HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON took her first oath of government office on Wednesday, becoming a US senator at the same moment that her husband became the first American president with a spouse in the Senate.
Though she ranks 97th in the 100-member Senate in terms of seniority, the first lady was plainly first among equals during the swearing-in ceremony in the ornate chamber on Capitol Hill.
As the 10th senator to be sworn, all eyes followed her promenade from her seat in the rear of the hall to the desk where Senate president Al Gore, the Democratic vice-president and failed presidential candidate, administered the oath and gave Mrs Clinton a kiss on the cheek.
President Clinton sat in the front row of the gallery, holding daughter Chelsea's hand, as Mrs Clinton was sworn. Others in the gallery were Mrs Clinton's mother, Dorothy Rodham, and Tyler Clinton, the first couple's six-year-old nephew.
“Ecstatic!” the president replied when asked his mood at a ceremonial picture-taking session afterward. “I'm so happy.” 、；
Mrs Clinton's answer to the same question was simply “great”.
The ironies came thick and fast: Senator Clinton's inauguration occurred in the same room where her husband was tried and acquitted on impeachment charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
The new senator got big bear hugs from some of her colleagues who voted to convict the president. Republican Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, at 98 the oldest Senate member, was particularly effusive, walking from behind his desk in the front row to grasp Mrs Clinton by the waist with both hands as she stepped away from the central desk where she was sworn.
For once, the president was on the sidelines as the first lady took centre stage. At the traditional reenactment of the ceremony for official pictures, which took place amid the red brocade draperies in the smaller Old Senate Chamber, Clinton held the gilt-edged Bible while his wife placed her hand upon it.
(SD-Agencies)
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