Friday, July 17, 1998

Hillary's new cause calm but valuable

White House political advisers prefer that the first ladies' pet projects be noncontroversial no-brainers. No vocal, powerful lobby opposes literacy (Barbara Bush), drug eradication (Nancy Reagan) or mental health (Rosalynn Carter).

There's a temptation to think of it as something of a comedown for first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to go from reshaping the health care system to saving an old opera house in Pittsfield, Mass., that is now a paint store. To be fair, President Clinton has appropriated his wife's best issue -- child advocate.

But because Mrs. Clinton's newest cause, historic preservation, is noncontroversial makes it no less important. In the opening of a swing through eastern historical sites, the first lady attracted a $10 million contribution toward restoring the original Star Spangled Banner in Washington, $62,000 to restore a statue of the anthem's author in Baltimore and $5 million to restore and preserve Thomas Edison's labs in Menlo Park, N.J. She will hit a half dozen other sites before winding up her tour Thursday.

Preservation is not very dramatic. Many donors find it much more satisfying to build something than take care of something. Maybe that money would have been raised without Mrs. Clinton, but not so efficiently or in such large chunks.

First ladies bring to noncontroversial causes the qualities that they lack by definition: excitement, glamour and publicity.